An illusory vision The modern era of economic reforms and globalisation brings in its wake certain changes in society, which, unfortunately, are not always favourable to its development. Highlighting the drawbacks of liberalisation in a society where the majority of citizens are poor and unlettered, Gobardanga Naksha's production Ghorar Dimer Gappo offers a look at some of the practical aspects that need to be considered prior to introducing programmes of socio-economic development. In the play, Gana, Pada and Mana represent the country?s poor, who toil hard to make ends meet. With no aspiration for a better future, they barely manage to sustain themselves in the present. The village priest represents the opportunists in society and betrays the inner pretensions of our political leaders. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the naive, unrealistic dreams of the villagers are responsible for their downfall, thus proving the utter futility of launching reforms in the village. Direction: Ashis Das. Event: Play in Bengali, Ghorar Dimer Gappo, produced by Gobardanga Naksha When: Today at 6 pm Where: Bharatiyam, EZCC, IB 201 Salt Lake

art

Till December 31 at CIMA Gallery; 2 pm - 7 pm: Contemporary Forms: CIMA Annual Exhibition. Featuring works of Akhilesh, Aku, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Arun Bose, Sumitro Basak, M.F. Husain, Rameshwar Karmakar, Madhuri Kathe, Bimal Kundu, Paresh Maity, Rm. Palaniappan, Pampa Panwar, Manu Parekh, Kingshuk Sarkar, Joydip Sengupta, Shakila, Lalu Prosad Shaw, Paramjit Singh, Arpita Singh, Chintan Upadhyay, Uday Kumar Mondal, T. Vaikuntam, Yusuf and others. Till December 31 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 1st floor Orbit Enclave, 12/3A Picasso Bithi, Hungerford Street; 3 pm - 7 pm: Works of G.C. Chakravarty, Gopal Ghose, Jamini Roy, K.H. Ara, N.S. Bendre, Nirmal Bhadra and Sailoz Mookherjea. Till December 31 at Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall, Indian Museum; 3 pm - 8 pm: Annual exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the students of Bengal Fine Arts College. Till December 31 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: 45th annual exhibition of works by the members of Society for Contemporary Artists. Till January 1 at Gallery Chemould, 12F Park Street; 10 am - 7 pm: The Eye Within presents My Country Village, a solo exhibition of paintings by Sudip Banerjee. Till January 1 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of painting and works by Italian artist Sergio Barletta. Organised by Consulate General of Italy in Calcutta. Till January 1 at Government College of Art & Craft, 28 Jawaharlal Nehru Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: The 141st Annual Exhibition 2005-06 ofr Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta. Till January 2 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8B Middleton Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Mirror of Mind, a painting show by Bappaditya Roy Chowdhury, Nafisa Khatun and Partha Protim Das. Till January 7 at Gallery Kanishka?s; 11 am - 8 pm: Futurestrokes, an exhibition of the works of students of the visual arts faculty of The Indian College of Art and Draughtsmanship. Till January 7 (except Mondays) at Victoria Memorial Hall; 10 am - 4 pm: The French Embassy in India, the French Association, Calcutta and the Victoria Memorial present the exhibition, enkibilalinindia. Till January 8 at Academy of Fine Arts; 12 noon - 8 pm: The 70th Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition by the members of Academy of Fine Arts. Till January 31 at Arts & Ideas Designshop, UZ 213 Swabhumi; 12 noon - 8.30 pm: Arts & Ideas presents Down to Earth, an exhibition of Bengali pottery. Participants: Arun Mukhoty, Gourab Malakar, Manik Das, Manoj Kumar Das, Mousumi Roy, Payel Sarkar, Partha Dasgupta, Soumen Basu and Tanmoy Das.

DRAMA

Till December 31 at Bijon Theatre; 6 pm: Beadon Street Shuvam presents Shuvam Natyamela. Today: Jatiner Juto (dir: Tirthankar Chanda/Shamit Bandyopadhyay) and Chhinath Bohurupee (dir: Shyamal Sarkar). n Till December 31: The 8th Ganga Jamuna Natya Utsab organised by Aneek. Today at Madhusudan Mancha, 6.30 pm: Bhalo Rakkhoser Galpo (dir: Kousik Sen) by Swapnasandhanee. December 30 at Utam Mancha; 6.30 pm: Nandikar presents Sojan Badiyar Ghat. Dir: Goutam Halder. January 1 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Rang-Roop presents Tagore?s Sesh Raksha. Direction: Seema Mukherjee.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 30 at Birla Academy; 6 pm: Prabasi presents an evening of Tagore songs by Rajeshwar Bhattacharya, Rakhi Sarkar, Dr Tania Das, Sanghamitra Chakraborty and Malabika Sur. December 30 at Mama Mia Gelato, 59 Ballygunge Circular Road; 8 pm - 10 pm: Mama Mia Gelato - Karakoe Evenings with vocalist Francis Lepcha. December 30 at Rabindra Sadan; 9 pm: Night-long musical programme in memory of Radhakanta Nandy. Participants: Sipra Basu, Swapan Choudhury, Tarun Bhattacharya, Gobindo Basu and Molly Roy (Kathak). Till January 8 at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, 3 Regent Park: Aspiration 2006, a celebration of dance, music and various aspects of culture. January 1 at Sree Satyanandan Devayatan, 1 Ebrahimpur Road, Jadavpur; 6.30 pm: Indian classical vocal recital by Amit Chaudhuri.

EXHIBITIon

Till December 31 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace (1st floor); 10 am - 7.30 pm: Crafts Council of West Bengal presents Burra Din, an exhibition featuring Christmas decorations, lamps, gift items, household items, artifacts and jewellery. Till December 31 at Weavers Studio, #24408937: Weavers Studio?s End of the Year celebration with woollen woven shawls & scarves.

TALK

December 30 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Pradyot Kumar Mukhopadhyay will speak in Bengali on Dharma, Darshan O Vijnan. December 30 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19A & B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Dr Sasanka Bhusan Bandyopadhyay will speak on Shvetashvatara Upanishad.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till December 31 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre; 2 pm - 7 pm: Neon Tigers ? Asian Mega Cities, and Heimat ? Contemporary German Landscapes: Photographs by Peter Bialobrzeski.

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

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