Citygritty 8212; Pune

Taek that!
The Kamayani School for the Handicapped initiated a unique experiment two years ago when its students were taught Taekwondo. Today, eight of them 8211; Indranil Dange, Prashant Kadam, Prashant Kank, Raju Lalwani, Balvir Atre, Abhijit Marathe and Dyaneshwar Palwe 8211; have earned green belts, a sign of expertise in the art. Says Principal Mrinal Dharwadkar, 8220;Santosh Salunkhe, a Taekwondo expert who lives in the vicinity, approached me and said he would teach the children free of charge. Our managing committee decided it would be a new activity, and we went ahead with it.8221; And though the Limca Book of Records has cited that the students have yellow belts, they have now progressed to the green belt stage and are all set to earn more honours.

Ha! Ha! Happy New Year
Imagine a buffalo laugh, a dog chuckle, or a bee giggle. According to Osho, this would not be funny but scary. Man, he believed, is the only animal capable of laughter. An exercise we seem to have forgotten. On January 1, the Osho Commune International will usher in the New Year with a laughter meditation programme. Visitors will be led into this form of meditation by Swami Krishna Prem, an American-born sannyasin, who will begin with a few jokes. Thirty minutes of laughter will be followed by 15 minutes of silence. Not a bad way to begin the year. Besides, it is better than having the buffaloes guffaw.

Portrait of life
If you see Madhubala striking a playful pose at the Balgandharva Kala Dalan, don8217;t be surprised. Life-like pencil portraits of her and other film-stars, including Meena Kumari, Kajol and Juhi, share space as part of city-based art organisation Kalavishkar8217;s four-day exhibition which ends today. Miniature paintings in Mughal and Rajasthani styles, landscapes and some strikingly life-like paintings of animals and birds in oils, poster colours, water colours and pencil are on display. One eye-catching panel displays portraits of music maestros Pandits Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Zakir Hussain and Allah Rakha where the light and shade effect have skillfully lent verisimilitude to the portraits. This is the sixth painting exhibition jointly undertaken by the organisation8217;s students, and besides the 24 artists whose work has been prominently displayed, there is also a separate children8217;s section.