Citygritty 8212; Pune

Baker's delightIf you have a sweet tooth, this will interest you! The Masterline Bakery Service a division of Hindustan Lever is organi...

Baker8217;s delight
If you have a sweet tooth, this will interest you! The Masterline Bakery Service a division of Hindustan Lever is organising a cake decoration contest for all artisan bakers on November 18, at Hotel Aurora Towers, Camp. The contest is aimed at developing and nurturing the creativity of talented master bakers. Says Maloy Chakravarty of Hindustan Lever Ltd, one of the organisers, 8220;This is also aimed at promoting cake as one of the key baked goods category.8221; What he means is that this will create awareness for the millennium celebrations, when many, many cakes will be baked. Smart strategy. The event is open for all between 2.30 and 4 p.m.

Click, click
Children8217;s Day has come and gone. There was a time when it remained within the schools as a fond remembrance of Chacha Nehru. But, now it is party time at some of the hip hotels. That8217;s a sign of the yuppieness in our country. But Navneet, a leading publication house of children8217;s stuff, has gone a step further to announce a contest for them up to November 20. At the cerfkids.com, a children8217;s day carnival awaits the mouse-clicking fingers where one can mail an E-card to a friend or pin-a-joke on the virtual bulletin board or express your views in the opinion poll and there are loads of children8217;s events. Of course, the prizes will follow. In what promises to turn education to fun, all that your little one has to do is go click, click.

Return of the first love
Following the lull in presentation of new Marathi plays during Diwali, the stage is set afire with a string of new productions. The first in this line-up is Tu, Tu, Mee, Mee by Shri Varad Vinayak Productions, which was held at Bharat Natya Mandir on Sunday 14th November. The play depicts bickerings over small things, handles the age-old problems of couples, wherein the initial euphoric mental state during courtship turns sour after marriage, and their respective longing for the 8220;good old days.8217;.

But then fate has a different game to play. Two couples conveniently land up as neighbours. The fun starts when they realise that the 8220;first loves8221; of their college days are amongst themselves i.e. the wife of one, with the husband of the other and vice-versa. This adds fuel to the fire. When the power of the 8220;first love memories8221; overrules anything right in the institution of marriage.

The writer, Kedar Shinde has made a good go at this play. Not that the script is extraordinary but it definitely attempts to deviate from the conventional patterns of presentation, by using cinematic form. Strobe lights, spur of the moment dances and songs sung by the likes of Tyagaraj Khadilkar and Uttara Kelkarrenowned playback singers, three well-orchestrated sets on movable disks are accredited to the designer Rajen Bhise and his team.

Actor Vijay Chavan, adds brilliance to the script, presenting himself in various roles. With each character he enacts, his voice, his behaviour, expression, stance, change, gives the studious theatre-goer a chance to see what characterisation is all about. Catching tunes and dances, and good support by the cast, especially Ankush Chaudhary as Vijay and Bharat Jadhav as Vitthal add colour. Overall an entertaining play.