Citygritty — Pune

Fine edgeMystery. Reality. And the Joy of Nature. Dhananjay Sastakar tries to presents these themes in his orchestrated paintings, where ...

Fine edge
Mystery. Reality. And the Joy of Nature. Dhananjay Sastakar tries to presents these themes in his orchestrated paintings, where his workmanship takes the lead. Sastakar is a well-known illustrator and painter from Pune, and teaches at Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya. He is holding a solo exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery from August 30 to September 5. In his show, Sastakar presents several themes in which nature, fantasy and reality come alive in a rich and exuberant style. His Foliage series is a mystical landscape with larger-than-life trees, creepers, leaves and the occasional flowers and birds. In contrast, his series on chawls unveil realistic settings and a sombre mood. The compositions are a maze of forms – doors, windows, wooden railings, clothes, arranged in a manner which evoke a feeling of forlornness. Sastakar presents another monochromatic series that explores the dreams of an underwater world sea-life, full of mystery and charm. The artist has used his imagination to create simple and stylisticcompositions.

Get painting And while on art some more of it! The Chitari Academy of Fine Arts plans an exhibition of paintings during the Ganpati festival. Interested painters in the city are invited to submit their works for the group show, based on the theme of Ganpati as well as general paintings. The artists are invited to deposit two paintings (not more than 90 X 90 cms) in size along with the bio-data by September 11 at the Rabindra Kala Kunj art gallery, above the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hall, from 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 4.30 to 6 p.m.

With open heart
Tilak Smarak Mandir was full when Poona Hospital conducted a recent open session on reversal of heart disease. The programme, inspired by Dr. Dean Ornish and undertaken by the Poona Hospital, is meant to reverse the condition of heart ailments through a systematic combination of exercise, aerobics, yogasadhana and sidhasamadhiyoga. The interactive session saw people asking Dr. H.V. Sardesai, a leading medical expert and Dr. Jagdish Hiremath, cardiologist, questions about the programme. “We did not expect such a tremendous response. We will now hold more programmes open to the public,”said Chandmal Parmar, trustee, Poona Hospital.

DJs’ peace pipe
Tuesday, August 17. All roads led to the Poona Club, where the war of the DJ’s was held. It was the most hyped event this season with the biggest names in music present to nuke the Puneri crowds. Organised by DMC (Disco Music Club), the event is being held in six major cities, Pune being one of them. The winners of all rounds will battle for the international event in Mumbai, and the winner of the Indian leg will go to New York for the finals.

There were live performances by Rahul D’Mello who sizzled the crowds with an amazing rendition of Bryan Adams’ Summer of 69. Also another newcomer, Abbey, blew the crowds to bits with a Ricky Martin act of Livin’ La Vida Loca. MTV veejays Nikhil Chinappa and Mini Mathur hosted the event. The war was divided into two segments, the Vinyl (turn tables) and CD round. The show was organised by Times Music, Smirnoff and Wizcraft, but failed to draw the large party animals. Rather mysterious! The music, different to the home crowd, was taken pretty well. They needed no coaxing to dance to the beat and rhythms.

DJ’s like Ryan Beck, Gabriel, Faruq and Lloyd from Mumbai proved why they were considered the best with the smooth handling of the mixers. As the night came to an end the honour went to Zuber of the Pegasus Bar, with DJ Gabriel Mendes and DJ Piyush Mehta were the runner-ups. Shehnaz High honours Dr Prakash Kumta, the principal at DS College, Karve Road, has recently completed the daunting task of doing his Ph.D in homeopathy, something which very few people attempt.

He is only the second Ph.D holder in the city of Pune after Dr Gholap. “Actually, in India the facility of doing a Ph.D in homeopathy is limited, it’s available in a few cities. I completed mine from Pune University in 1998, after 7 years of work on the effects of homeopathic treatment on colitis. You see, there are varieties of colitis and hence the homeopathic cures are many. It took much time to experiment and observe,” explains Kumta. The Dr Vasant Pai Gold Medal was also conferred on Kumta on August 20.

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Spelling harmony
The Limca Harmony Show is well into its 10th annual show, which tries to tap young talent in the field of dance and music. Organised by the Rotaract Club of Poona South, prominent colleges participated in the two-day event, on August 20 and 21. The competition was divided into — solo singing category (filmi and non-filmi), western singing and group dance. The groups had different sets of judges. The chief guest was Shama Bhate, well-known Kathak dancer. The highlight of the event was the group dance by the Cummins College girls, who danced away with the first prize for their well-choreographed medley.

Slow down
We live a fast-paced life where stress and the pressures of a modern lifestyle invariably take their toll. But, have you paused and wondered whether the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow is really worth it ? Are we losing out on satisfaction and happiness? To address and analyse these questions the Prajit Memorial Trust will host a series of talks by psychiatrist Dr. Ulhas Luktuke. The inaugural session will be conducted at the Apte Prashala, Apte Road, Deccan Gymkhana on August 29 at 5 p.m. Psychiatrist, social worker and counsellor Suvarna will also be present.