Citygritty 8212; Pune

A time to thinkIf entertainment and the display of young talent shapes most youth festivals, this one promises to be different. Fergusson...

A time to think
If entertainment and the display of young talent shapes most youth festivals, this one promises to be different. Fergusson College will host a five-day youth festival called Muktachhand8217; starting December 7, where the emphasis will be on providing role models for youngsters. 8220;Through this festival, which has been organised by the students, famous personalities will speak to the students about their experiences,8221; says principal V N Magre.

An interview of famous Marathi author, Vishwas Patil, three entrepreneurs who made it big 8211; D S Kulkarni, Prasanna Patwardhan and Ram Kolhatkar, Everest climbers Hrishikesh Yadav and Surendra Chavan and an evening of poetry conducted by Sudhir Moghe are some of the programmes slated for the festival. A discussion has also been scheduled on what seems an interesting subject 8211; Resident Non-Indians8217;.

The festival will be held at the college8217;s Amphitheatre at 6.30 p.m. Seems like a time for youngsters to put on their thinking cap.

Ethnic chic
After Calcutta, Mumbai and Delhi, Rachna Khemani now has designs on Pune. This Calcutta-based clothes designer plans to present her creations at a two-day exhibition of ethnic and western wear beginning December 7. 8220;I believe in experimenting with blends of fabrics and subtle colours,8221; she says. Although she also designs Western wear, she believes saris and blouses to be her forte. There8217;s just one way to find out 8211; visit the Sakshi Art Gallery on Boat Club Road.

Children8217;s crusade
The walls of the art gallery at Thacker House on East Street came alive with colourful splashes on December 5 and 6. A poster painting competition for children between 11 and 13 years had been organised by the Lions Club District 323-D2, which saw 1,500 posters being displayed. The posters had been selected from 12,000 entries sent in by 37 schools in the district.

Doves and flags of different countries, symbolising world peace, arranged in a circle in the background of the globe, seemed to be a particular favourite among most participants. And little wonder 8211; because the theme of the poster competition was Planting The Seeds Of Peace.8217; The first prize was bagged by Ridhi Kinkar from the Kataria High School, while Kaushik Subramaniam from the Dr. Kalmadi Shamarao High School, Tanvi Tapadia from St. Helena8217;s School bagged the second and third prize respectively.

Some milk and snakes!
Half-way into the 80th birthday celebrations of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar at Yogapuram, Ambrosia, and the first half of Sunday was earmarked for kids. The theme for the morning8217;s activities was children8217;s yoga, and accordingly, there was a talk and demonstration on that subject. For an hour and a half from 8.30, this was followed by an informative snake show by Neelimkumar Khaire, director, Katraj Snake Park.

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In the post-lunch session, it was time for some frolic and games, and entertaining the children was magician Sanjay Raghuvir with his magic wand. A bagful of asanas and games, all packed together!