The bard’s muse Pragya presents an evening on Tagore’s tryst with his inspiration, reflected through select readings and songs by reputed performers like Rakhi Sen, Dipak Rudra, Sumana Bhattacharya, Subroto Sengupta, Ananda Gupta and Dr Sudeshna Basu. Like a true visionary, Tagore never spaced out life and death, a beginning and an end. His only muse has been life which has manifested itself in different facets for the bard. He heralded humanity and love above everything. His tremendous zest for life amidst all melancholy found expression in verses, novels, short stories and, of course, music. Life for him was like a boundless ocean where he was a solitary sailor. In fact, Tagore was always a traveller in quest of love. Ideator Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee will weave together the musical evening with excerpts from the poet’s Chaturanga and Chokher Bali. The repertoire of songs would range from Bhalobashi bhalobashi to Ratri eshe jethai meshe diner parabare. Event: Songs and readings from Tagore by eminent artistes When: Today at 5.30 pm Where: Uttam Mancha

art

Till December 30 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road; 10.30 am - 7.30 pm: The Pageant of Life, paintings and sculpture by well-known artists. Till December 30 at Artists Circle, 46 Circus Avenue; 2 pm - 7 pm: Earth Voices, solo exhibition of paintings by Bankim Banerjee. Till December 31 at Gallery Katayun, 4A Auckland Square, Flat #21; 3.30 pm - 7.30 pm: Different Strokes, works by contemporary Indian artists. Till December 31 at Samokal Art Gallery, 23 Gariahat Road, 1st floor, Gol Park; 4 pm - 8 pm: Recent paintings by contemporary artists. Till December 31 at Angan Art Gallery, 11 Fern Place; 3 pm - 8 pm: Drawings and paintings by eight renowned artists. Till December 31 at Gaganendra Pradarsasala; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Saroj Sarkar, Jayanta Mukherjee and Tapan Pathak. Till December 31 at Sculpture Gallery, C/26 Bapuji Nagar, Jadavpur; 5 pm - 8 pm: Sculptures by a group of artists.

drama

Till December 31: Aneek hosts 9th Ganga Jamuna Natya Utsab. Today at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Theatre Passion presents Bhablai Bhalo (dir: Romaprasad Banik) and at 6 pm: Nehru Children’s Museum presents Anubhab (dir: Romaprasad Banik). At Madhusudan Mancha; 3 pm: Bandhab, Nagpur presents Apna To Bhai Aisa Hi Hain (dir: Dr Debasis Naha) and at 6.30 pm: Ritwik, Baharampur presents Deshadrohi (dir: Gautam Roychowdhury). At Purbashree, Salt Lake; 6.30 pm: Sansaptak, Delhi presents Debanampio (dir: Tarit Mitra). December 30 at Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, IB-201 Salt Lake; 6 pm: Bandhab Natya Samaj, Bengali Association Nagpur and EZCC present Panchhi Aise Aate Hain (Hindi). December 30 at Proscenium’s Art Centre; 6.30 pm: Play in Hindi, Jo Such Nahin. Dir: Anjum Rizvi.

performing arts

December 30 at Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, IB-201 Salt Lake; 5 pm: EZCC presents Loknritya Samaroh with Bihu folk dances of Assam, Bhangra folk dances of Punjab and Siddhidhamal folk dances of Gujarat. December 31 at Abanindra Auditorium ground (behind Calcutta Information Centre); 10.30 am: Bhawanipur Baikali Association presents Diner Prothom Gaane, a collage of performances based on Tagore songs, classical music, dance and readings. Participants: Paromita Biswas, Sangeeta Dutta, Soumik Dutta, Preeti Patel, Parambrata Chatterjee, Dr Ananda Gupta, Pramita Mullick and others. Anchor: Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee. Till January 1 (except today) at Vidyut Bhavan, Salt Lake; 5 pm - 9 pm: 20th Salt Lake Music Festival.

talk

December 30 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Samiran Chandra Chakraborty will speak in Bengali on Veda Parikrama. December 30 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Paramatmananda will speak in Bengali on Manovijnan O Atmatattwa.

book release

December 30 at Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi Sabhaghar; 5 pm: Arunima Prakashani hosts the release of Bhalobashar Dui Diganta, four volumes of a compilation of prose and verse works by veteran and young authors and poets. December 30 at Abanindra Sabhagriha, 1/1 AJC Bose Road; 6.30 pm: Somenath Chattopadhyay will re-launch Kalidas Ray’s prose classic, Prachin Banga-Sahitya.

celebration

Till January 7 at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, 3 Regent Park: Aspiration 2007, 32nd anniversary celebrations of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture highlighting partition of Bengal and Sri Aurobindo’s return to Bengal. Featuring various cultural programmes.

video theatre

December 30 at Muktangan; 7 pm: Monirath and India Foundation for Arts present Sottor/Uttor, a video theatre created by Santanu Bose and Debalina.

photographs

Till December 30 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre; 2 pm - 8 pm: Just By The Way: Rocks Clouds and Nudes, photographs by Raghu Rai. Till December 31 at Boi-Chitra, College Street Coffee House, 3rd floor; 3 pm - 8 pm: Photographs on Calcutta by Arun Ganguly.

exhibition

Till December 30 at Finesse, 11/1B New Road, Alipore; 11 am - 7 pm: Sujata Weaves and Prints presents tussar sarees in various colours and weaves from all over India. Till December 31 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace, 1st floor; 10 am - 7.30 pm: Burra Din, crafts, textiles and demonstrations.

reading

December 31 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 11 am: Professor P. Lal reads Sanjaya’s report of Bhima defeating Drona, reinforcing Arjuna and Satyaki, and forcing Karna to retreat after a skirmish, in the 355th weekly session of his sloka-by-sloka English transcreation of Vyasa’s Mahabharata.

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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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