Theatre is a world of fun, fantasy, drama, adventure, romance, tragedy and the likes of life. “Theatre is like drinking water, a necessity of a creative life. The stage, light, actors create in me a breath for life,” said Shomshuklla Das, director of her latest play Sometimes, which was performed at the National Gallery of Modern Arts, Mumbai last week.
All artistes need to reinventing themselves from time to time and Das is no exception. Having written and directed three plays in the last three years, all of which were brooding and heavy-handed productions, life in general and communication with people around inspired Das to write Sometimes.

My earliest memories of the saint-composer Tyagaraja go to my childhood of course. My late mother Padma’s hauntingly beautiful Ela nidayaradu (Bala kanakamaya), still resonates in my mind. Those who knew her and loved her music, always ask me to sing this kriti for them. One of the first kritis I learnt was Intanuchu in Guntakriya. It was so simple, so melodious. I learnt it fast and remembered it forever. As a child, I would sit through hours of cutcheris, falling asleep in the cosy comforts of the cushioned chairs of Shanmukhananda Hall. But I had been awake enough to listen to M.D. Ramanathan sing Giripai in his unique bass voice.

The second, they say, is always the most difficult. Whether it be an artiste’s second album, an author’s second book, a filmmaker’s second film, a collegian’s sophomore year or even a second date, the second edition seems to be that acid test that really proves mettle. It wasn’t any different for Baajaa Gaajaa — the music expo — that made its debut last year and held its second edition at the Ishaanya Mall in Pune’s Yerawada area from February 5 to 7.

The pinnacles of nature can come alive in post-card size paintings. In 2.5 x 3.5-inches paintings, miniaturist Bireswar Sen captured the majesty of nature in all its beauty and grandeur. Looking at his painting, you are amazed to see the woods, the caves, the mountains, the oceans, clouds, lakes, rocks and skies spring to life in watercolours. Sen’s small canvas encapsulates the sheer vastness of the landscapes he paints, in all its entirety, enormity and glory.
In The Sun Worshipper, you notice a distant, looming figure raising his hands against the sky, which is illuminated by sun while the beautiful bends of the mountains in the foreground create poetry of its own.

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
So said the greatest writer of all times Shakespeare. And Palette Art Gallery’s “New Order of Beauty” had one thinking about the many moorings of beauty in today’s world. Intriguing how Rohit Gandhi always manages to give us a show that keeps us guessing, keeps its scent of refreshing candour and also shows that it’s good to be unpredictable.

The scourge of terrorism has plagued India for far too long and it has become a global menace. Almost 200 innocent lives fell prey to the bullets of the terrorists during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai and India’s soul bathed in its very own blood. Artiste Narendra Borlepwar had witnessed this violent occurrence from very close quarters. Whatever he witnessed disturbed him to an extent that left him almost incapacitated to do any work.

Nature educator Natwarsinh Rathod cleans the mouth of Rajasaurus narmadensis dinosaur model at the Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park in Ahemdabad on Wednesday.
     PHOTO: AFP

Actors Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan at the premiere of their film My Name is Khan during the 60th Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

It’s everywhere you look. Heart-shaped balloons, heart-shaped chocolates, teddy bears holding heart-shaped ‘I love you’s’ — V-Day is the tackiest, most in-your-face holiday and all the lovey-dovey couples are loving it. But if this profusion of festive junk is making

In about AD 270 the Roman emperor Claudius, banned marriages because love and marriage and the ensuing obligations, kept young men from going to war and fighting for Rome. A certain priest, St. Valentine married young couples secretly and became very