Citygritty 8212; Pune

A woman8217;s canvas
8220;Amateur women painters need to be given the opportunity to display their talent. We have held three such exhibitions in 1998 and have found that most of the women who take part have the talent but not the encouragement to paint,8221; says artist G.S. Thakur.

It is to provide them with this chance that he is organising a group exhibition of fine art paintings by women artists of Pune under the aegis of Smt. Gangadevi Memorial Kala Mandir. The group exhibition of fine art paintings will be held at the Rabindra Kala Kunj from May 16 to 19 and entries have been invited for the exhibition.

Those interested should submit paintings measuring less than 60 by 75 cm. that are suitably framed without a glass as also their bio-data at the Rabindra Kala Kunj on May 13 and 14.

Taken in by tech!
Here8217;s something that might interest you if you have some free time between your other camps these holidays 8211; two workshops in the latest multimedia technology. These are being run by Uma Dongre and are meant for children between five and 16 years. The first workshop will be held for those between 10 and 16 years from May 1 to 5 between 5.30 and 6.30 p.m. The second will be on May 1 and 2 between 10 and 11 a.m. This is for children aged five to 11 years.

Uma promises training in two- and three-dimensional graphics packages, animation, web page designing, MIDI Musical Instrumental Digital Interface, drawing and painting. For further details, she may be contacted between 9 a.m. and 12 noon.

Jazz a la Fopeano
Jazz visits town on April 25, in the garb of Wendy Fopeano, an improvisational vocalist based in Colorado, USA. She will be accompanied by Rocky Vaz and the Temptations.

Fopeano sings within the jazz tradition but also picks songs from other styles and subjects them to improvisations. She learnt music formally on the trumpet, bass, piano and guitar before she realised that her true calling lay as a vocalist. So for some true sounds in the jazz tradition, it8217;s destination Jazz Garden.

Big on talent
All those wanting to know who will be crowned the Jaihind Mr. Pune 8217;99, Man of the Millennium, will just have to wait till May 2. The contest has been postponed so that the young contestants can be taken around to all the happening joints of Pune. The purpose 8211; so that Puneites can have a dekko at these 24 men of the moment. The venue for the final will be Mundhwa8217;s The Garden of Eden.

But before the grand finale, here8217;s a word on one of the preliminary rounds. Mohammed Ali Shah bagged the Mr. Talent title in the talent round held at Hotel Pride on April 21. He enacted a scene from the play, G.B. Shaw8217;s Androcles and the Lion. The judges were Abhijit Sanyal, Grasim Mr. India, 1999, and Cory Walia, ace hairstylist.

Voice of the women
How often have women writers felt sidelined during literary meets? In response to that rather rhetorical question, the Suvarna Jyoti organisation has organised a women8217;s literary meet Mahila Sahitya Sammelan. To be inaugurated at the Balgandharva Rangmandir by Vasant Bapat, president, Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, the meet will be convened by Vandana Chavan and presided by Shantatai Kirloskar.

Various poetry recitals, kavi sammelans, live interviews and solo performances are on the agenda. On the discussion panels are Leena Mehendale, Neela Khandge, Dnyanda Naik, Tej Nivlikar amongst others. Here8217;s to the word of the woman!