Citygritty 8212; Pune

Guiding lightYoung and ambitious students often do not know whom to turn to for guidance and end up being confused and disturbed. All t...

Guiding light
8220;Young and ambitious students often do not know whom to turn to for guidance and end up being confused and disturbed. All they need is a willing listener who will guide them in their hour of need,8221; says Dr. Vasant Pethe and he should know. As former professor at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pethe has come across scores of such students, and in a bid to help such youth, has started the Mukta Vyaspeeth, Sanskar Kendra.

8220;In today8217;s changed scenario, where both the parents work and teachers do not have enough time to pay individual attention to them, students need someone to guide them in matters concerning their studies, their feelings and ambitions. Those who come to the city from smaller towns may have problems of adjustment.8221;

Now Pethe, through the Mukta Vyaspeeth, hopes to offer counsel to students free of charge if they contact him at his residence at Dashabhuja Ganesh Society, opposite Paud Phata, Karve Road.

Pethe explains that this novel service has been inspired by his own teacher, Prof. P.G. Sahasrabuddhe. 8220;He would guide us students in all matters during those crucial years and it helped us tremendously,8221; says Pethe, who thinks it is his turn now. Students, are you listening?

Premiere stuff?
Tungzsten, the new kids on the music block, will be on air soon with the music video of a song from their eponymous album. Music buffs can catch the city-based band, featuring guitarist Shitalchandra Kulkarni and singer Sanjay Subramanian, on Music Asia8217;s World Premiere programme from March 14 to 20.

They claim to be 8220;the first band in the country to come out with a self-titled twin audio cassette album and Compact Discs in their debut attempt on their own label, getting recorded in their own recording studio.8221; The song will also be aired on MTV and Channel V.

The Web signals green
If you need to know any green8217; news, then ecopune.com is the site to go to! Launched by people working in the field of environment and nature education like Bhushan Sathe and Aniruddha Chaoji, it currently has profiles of nine organisations 8211; Institute of Organic Farming and Rural Technology, Nisargavedh, Bhumata, Zhep, Econet, Ranwa, Kalpavriksha, Gomukh and High Places.

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It also features articles related to nature activities like camps and treks, along with a column on birds by Milind Gupte. 8220;Since people working in these areas in Pune cannot often meet personally, this is a platform for them to exchange ideas and views,8221; says Sathe, who has designed the website. It has also invited articles by citizens. Some green to shade the information highway!

Kids8217; show
With their kids8217; summer workshops becoming a runaway success, the Entre Nous team came up with the novel and much-welcomed dramatics workshop for kids conducted by Rucha Humnabadkar, the actress of the Hyderabad Blues fame. After eight exhaustive sessions, it is now time to show the results to the world, well, at least to Puneites. So, on March 15, from 6 to 7 p.m., it will be showtime by the kids who attended the two-month workshop where Humnabadkar attempted to unveil their latent talents.

The children, aged between five and 13, will be putting up two one-act plays, produced and directed by their teacher, at the Nehru Memorial Hall. And since kids do have that extra something that is missing even in seasoned artistes, the plays should certainly be worth the one-hour time span they demand of you.

Food for thought
According to the Indian almanac, Gudi Padwa ushers in the New Year. On March 17, the eve of Gudi Padwa, Pune8217;s literary glitterati has organised an event to remember at Sunset Terrace, Sharada Centre. Humourist P.L. Deshpande will be felicitated on this day. The works of the renowned Marathi litterateur will be enacted by theatre personalities like Bhakti Barve, Prashant Damle, Shrikant Moghe, Sukanya Kulkarni and others. Mohan Agashe, Nandu Bhende, Ravindra Sathe, Shriram Pendse and Shrirang Godbole will enact episodes from the play, Teen Paishyacha Tamasha. Besides this, there will be songs from films. A quiz round on Deshpande8217;s works will also be conducted by Sukanya Kulkarni. The programme starts at 7 p.m., breaks for dinner at 10 p.m. and will continue till the New Year is brought in with fireworks. A supper theatre with a difference?