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Event

‘Koffee With Kahani’ goes off with a bang

The Metrognome and Silver Innings hosted their first storytelling event for senior citizens at Borivli and got a great response.

It was a simple enough task – write a story, then present it to an audience. There were just two conditions – a senior citizen must write the story, and he or she must team up with a youngster to present it to an audience.

Navanita Parmar presents her love storyWhat was the need for this? Says Sailesh Mishra of Silver Innings, who we teamed with for ‘Koffee With Kahani’, a storytelling session over snacks and coffee, “When we were young, our grandparents told us stories to amuse and educate us. Sometimes, they made up stories on the spot. This activity helped generations bond with each other. These days, though, with families going nuclear and even with grandparents and youngsters glued to TV sets, the art of storytelling is lost. There is hardly any conversation between our elders and us. So this activity will, we hope, bring back our storytelling tradition in a fun way.”

We set December 28 as the date for participants, and selected three great love stories written by Navanita Parmar, Jimmy Dordi and Arun Pandya. The teams set to work, working with youngsters Sanket Jalgaonkar, Renu Jain and Sadaf Surti to present their stories. Of the three, Navanita’s story was a fiction, with the other two stories were real life incidents.

The turnout for the event was great – a mix of senior citizens and youngsters turned up at the Veer Savarkar Udyan, Borivli, to hear and watch three love stories. All three stories were great – Navanita’s moving story was set in the backdrop of mental illness and separation, Jimmy’s story was a hilarious reenactment of his own honeymoon 45 years ago, and Arun’s story was a fun flashback to the time that he as a young man shared a few magical moments with a stranger in the monsoon. Hemendra Jimmy Dordi collects his winner's trophy with his teammate Renu JainBengali provided background vocals to set the stories to music – in Navanita’s story, the gifted singer even provided siren sounds!

The audience voted for Jimmy’s story as the best of the three.

Said Arun, “This was a fun exercise and we enjoyed our rehearsals, too. All three teams would rehearse their lines together and suggest ways to better each other’s presentation. There was no spirit of rivalry at all.”

If you or someone you know would like to be a part of the next ‘Koffee With Kahani’ event, drop us an email at editor@themetrognome.in/silverinnings@gmail.com and we will get back to you with the event schedule, registration process and rules. 

(Pictures courtesy Sailesh Mishra)

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Event

Art discusses human existence

A week-long group exhibition at Nehru Centre Art Gallery will discuss the question of existence; four city artists will participate.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

'Krishnamay Radha' by Harshada TondwalkarFour Maharashtra-based artists will, from December 24 to 31, discuss the concept of existence – through a series of paintings in oil and water colours on canvas.

The paintings are on various topics within the same theme, and the participating artists are Dilip Kolte, Anil Jadhav, Amol Sule and Harshada Tondwalkar. While Dilip, Anil and Amol will showcase landscapes and figurative paintings in oil, pen and ink on canvas, Harshada’s compositions centre around the theme ‘Krishnamay Radha’ (see pic on left). “My work shows the extent to which Radha immersed herself in her love for Lord Krishna,” says Mumbai-based Harshada, adding that her eight canvasses took her about a year to prepare.

Head to the ‘Circular Gallery’, Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Worli, from December 24 to 31, 2013 to view the artists’ works.

(Pictures courtesy Harshada Tondwalkar)

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India Art Festival starts today

500 senior and upcoming artists, over 30 Indian galleries will participate in the the four-day festival at Nehru Centre, Worli.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The third edition of the acclaimed and feted India Art Festival will kick off at Nehru Centre, Worli, today. The festival will see 500 senior and upcoming artists participate; there will also be painters represented by 30 art galleries from across the country.

Artistes such as Mumbai-based Prakash Bal Joshi and Anjlie Vellody will showcase their works at the festival. This year, the Festival includes the ‘Public Art Space’ in which a few art galleries are participating, apart from the segment ‘IAF Conversations’, a panel discussion chaired by Ranjit Hoskote.

The  India Art Festival – India’s contemporary Art Fair is on from December 19 to 22, 2013 at the Nehru Centre, Worli. 

(Picture courtesy Anjlie Vellody. The image depicts Vellody’s work, ‘Laxmi on mobike’)

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An Able woman in a Nano

An evening of discussion on Vanessa Able’s book had the author lavishing praise on India, its people and the Nano.
by Nidhi Qazi

“There’s a feeling that something is at stake.”

“I met nothing but warmth.”

“I felt a sense of emptiness when the journey ended.”

Vanessa Able at the talkThese and many more such experiences came alive in an evening hosted at the British Council, India Bulls, for journalist Vanessa Able, author of The Nanologues, a book about her experience of travelling more than 10,000 kilometres driving the Tata Nano across India. The discussion, facilitated by Rakhee Geelani, a writer, and Vardhan Kondvikar, Editor, Lonely Planet Magazine, India, made for a fun narrative of Able’s journey.

Why did she choose Nano, of all cars, to undertake such a long journey? She said, “I had read so much about the car. From the fact that it was not just a car, but a piece of truly local engineering with a significant price tag; to the fact that it represented hope which cut across the social spectrum made this car worth driving.”

Able chose to do a road trip in a car because she felt that a car drive gives a different kind of energy and “one sees a different level of life depending on the means of transport one chooses.” The fact that she did the entire journey on her own did not make her feel lonely, because as she put it, “I am someone who enjoys my company the best. So I kept talking to myself.” Probably that explains the title of her book.

The author also went on to describe her experience of being a woman driver unaccompanied on the roads. “I know that many women in India do face dangers when they travel unaccompanied, but it’s not just in India. Incidents keep happening in Australia, USA , the UK and all other countries, too. You just got to be smart. But talking about India, I met nothing but warmth. We also need to see that a lot of people around do try to make you feel safe and protected, but unfortunately such incidents don’t get highlighted.”

What was the highest point of the journey? Able replied, “From the start to its end, this journey’s been on a high. Though initially, coming from England, I did get shocked at the roads and driving culture and traffic did play on my nerves, but as time passed, I adapted, got into the journey fully and tried engaging with the landscape as much as I could.”

With the journey’s end, Able felt a sense of emptiness, desolation and not to forget, achievement.

And that signalled the end of the evening, hosted for the author who feels “it takes a little bit of gumption, a whole lot of patience, and the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano, for one woman to drive in a land where bullock carts vie for space with SUVs on eight-lane super-highways, where GPS systems fail to give directions, and where a blessing from the gods is considered better road insurance than safer driving.”

(Pictures courtesy Vandan Kajaria, The British Council)

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Nancy Powell visits Thane

US Ambassador Nancy Powell marked World Aids Day this year with a visit to a hospital in Thane district, Maharashtra.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

To mark World AIDS Day, US Ambassador Nancy J Powell visited the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Thane district to see firsthand the work that is being done to combat HIV-AIDS. The Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital offers HIV testing and counseling services, as well as free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, to persons living with HIV who are clinically eligible for treatment.

The United States Government is a partner to the State of Maharashtra in tackling the HIV epidemic through the project, ‘HIV/AIDS Partnership: Impact through Prevention, Private Sector and Evidence-based Programming (PIPPSE)’ that is implemented by the Public Health Foundation of India. During the visit, Ambassador Powell noted, “It is powerful to see firsthand the extraordinary work that is being done to combat HIV/AIDS. I am proud of our partnership with the State of Maharashtra in tackling this challenge. This joint effort is one of many examples of the deep partnership between the United States and India to address global health issues.  By working together to prevent, detect, and respond to disease threats, the United States and India are working hand in hand to address some of the most difficult health concerns of our times.”

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Palestine, in a lecture

When was the last time you pondered over Palestine’s ground realities and when the violence would stop? Do it today.

Today, November 29, Jnanapravaha gives Mumbai the chance to engage with the realities of life in occupied Palestine through the work of well know Palestinian conservation architect and writer Saud Amiry.

Saud AmirySuad Amiry has lived most of her life between Amman, Damascus, Beirut and Cairo and now lives in Ramallah, Palestine. Amiry is the founder of Palestinian NGO RIWAQ, a winner of the 2013 Aga Khan award for Architecture. Riwaq documents, conserves and rehabilitates historic buildings and centers in rural Palestine. She is also the author of Sharon and My Mother in Law, which won the prestigious Premeo Viareggio award.

“Reality or non-fictional life in Occupied Palestine is the biggest fiction and hunting fantasy,” Amiry says. In this visual presentation, she will share with the audience her two worlds: the architectural world of her organization RIWAQ and the private and very personal world of her writings. Using “black and white” humour, Amiry brings to life the absurdity of everyday life in Occupied Palestine. Amiry’s talk co-incides with the launch of her new book, Golda Slept Here, published by Women Unlimited in India.

The presentation will be followed by a conversation between Saud Amiry and Anil Dharker, Founder, Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest.

Head to Jnanapravah, Queen’s Mansion, G Talwatkar Marg, Fort. Tea will be served at 6.30 pm, followed by the lecture at 7.00 pm. Seating is limited and entry is on first come first serve basis, so be there on time if you don’t want to miss it.

Compiled by Medha Kulkarni

(Pictures courtesy www.facebook.com/JnanapravahaAtMumbai and www.umbriajournal.com)

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