Animal challans: HC for speedier disposal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 16
The Delhi High Court today directed the Delhi Government to ensure that challan cases booked under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act should be disposed of expeditiously.

A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising justices Usha Mehra and Pradeep Mandrajog observed that such cases should be decided on the same day, if possible, so that impounded animals underwent minimum stress.

The court also directed the government to issue circulars in this regard to special magistrates concerned.

The Bench told the Delhi Government to request for two ‘mobile’ special magistrates for the purpose, and asked the Court Registrar to put up the case before the Chief Justice for his consideration.

They asked the authorities to take proper care of animals while they were in custody, find a place to house them and provide fodder and water to the animals.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi informed the court that steps were being taken to modernise the existing Idgah Slaughter House here. To meet the rising demands in the Capital, it was contemplating shifting the slaughterhouse at Ghazipur, it informed.

The Bench directed the MCD to frame and notify as early as possible bylaws to regulate the functioning of slaughterhouses on the guidelines suggested by the Justice J. D. Jain Committee.

The Station House Officer of the Sadar Bazar police station submitted an affidavit saying police posted at the Capital’s borders had been instructed to take action on any vehicle found violating the Transportation of Animals Rules. Saying no further case survived in the matter, the justices disposed of a PIL filed by the People for Animals (PFA), an NGO headed by former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi.

Professionals join hands to give Gurgaon a culture centre
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 16
In an attempt to help the burgeoning National Capital Region of Delhi `find its soul’, a group of senior professionals from various companies in Gurgaon have come together to launch the Aravali Centre for Art and Culture.

Finding its genesis in the fast paced growth of the city and the almost total absence of any activity that is both entertaining and culturally enriching, the Aravali Centre is a community initiative that aims to fill this vacuum.

Says Ashok Ogra, media consultant and former vice-president of Discovery Channel and founder member of the Aravali Centre, “Despite the peace and tranquillity that Gurgaon offers, it has precious little by way of culturally enriching entertainment or a form that appeals across age groups. With the launch of the Aravali Centre for Art and Culture, we look forward to present Gurgaon with some of the finest performers from around the country.”

“As a first step in this direction, internationally acclaimed danseuse Mallika Sarabhai has agreed to formally launch the centre on January 19 at the DLF Community Centre, Phase-1 and perform her critically acclaimed recital, `Passing Clouds’, exclusively for the residents of Gurgaon,” he added.

The Arvali Centre’s initiatives are intended to go well beyond organising cultural programmes by nationally and internationally renowned artistes. At its core is its desire to recognise and promote innate talent across diverse socio-economic strata through a continued process of exposure and education. This will include formal and informal programmes for learning and practising art and can be accomplished through regular courses, workshops and lecture/demonstrations. Talent search, scholarship programmes, exhibitions and a host of performances by budding artistes are some of the activities that the Aravali Centre will embrace in time.

The centre is also planning to set up its own facilities, including a library, an auditorium, an art gallery, a lecture hall and an exhibition hall for Gurgaon residents.

As Aniruddha Ganguly, country manager of one of the business lines of engineering major Alstom and secretary of the Aravali Centre puts it, “We want the centre to be all embracing. We welcome participation from both residents and corporates who are based or residing in Gurgaon. To give it the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of a corporate body, the centre plans to be incorporated as a company under Section 25 of the Companies Act. It will then have the character of a voluntary, not a profit-making, organisation.

“Our aim is to provide a platform for the appreciation, cultivation and propagation of art and artistic expression in the areas of visual arts and performing arts in Gurgaon. Our charter is to bring the best artistes to Gurgaon to entertain, inform and inspire talent, thus enriching life in our community,” Ganguly added.

ARTSCAPE
She is a deft wielder of the brush
Garima Pant

An artwork of Ramesh Rana. An example of Anil Gaikwad’s virtu. Recollection of a Monument — The workmanship of Apurba Majumadar.  A shadow of the divine perfection — Representative art by Tirthankar Biswas.  Gouri-Ganesh-II — A painting by Paresh Hazara.

Celebrated painter and print-maker Rini Dhumal is currently in the Capital to exhibit her new paintings and to launch her new book of original prints, ‘The Ancestral Tapestry’.

Rini studied Fine Arts at the M. S. University, Baroda and has been a part of its eminent faculty since 1984. She has participated in several solos and group shows in both India and abroad.

Born at Itakumari in the district of Rangpur in West Bengal, forty-eight-year-old painter and print-maker Rini belongs to a zamindar family. Though her family stayed at Itakumari even after the Partition, it was in the aftermath of the bloody communal riots during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war that forced the family to leave Itakumari.

Her definition of art is, “I believe in art, which speaks a universal language – which has a life of its own – one with a certain degree of permanence, which portrays the feel and flow of life with all is coloured nuances and experiences. Certain playfulness permeates my works and portrays a deep inner psyche of the female, its joys, its traumas, the language is sensual, not merely cerebral.”

As a teacher and artist, she sincerely feels the importance of total dedication and commitment to the student and not collides with personal gains in the outer world of fame and success.

The pictorial language in her works deals with myths and dreams – images from the real world and the subconscious with symbolic references – flying females which to me are associated with sexual desires, trees, fruits etc. The female is not dormant but vibrates with a latent power.

Colour plays a vital role in forming a total art language. It is the colour that speaks to me and has an instinctive relationship with nature and the world around.

The handling of multimedia has given me the flexibility in manipulating the potential of each of them. There is an organic interplay of energy between figures, objects and space.

Each medium speaks its own language and expresses a significant expression within the frame through colour and line and the transparent psyche. I have no inhibitions regarding any technique.

From an artistic point of view, prints have been a highly popular medium of expression. There have been close links between prints and people’s lives. Today, as contemporary art is developing towards even greater diversity, their role is bound to become even more important than in the past.

The role of a print-maker is twofold. It requires a disciplined exactitude and a sense of aesthetic beauty. It is most important that a print communicates its message clearly and is accessible to everyone.

One has to make a conscious effort to make the public or art lovers want to own a print, make them understand that it is as relevant as the original painting itself.

Her new book, ‘The Ancestral Tapestry’, is a volume of evocative prints and texts that holds together skeins of personal memory, ancestral roots, childhood bonds of events and places that gave meaning to the years of growing up, the shaping of my life.

An ardent nature lover

Paresh Hazra is exhibiting his paintings at Gallery Art Indus till January 15. A graduate from the Govt College of Art, Kolkata, Paresh Hazra has held about 30 shows in different metros and abroad.

Presently, he is exhibiting his paintings on old egg tempera. He says, “Since my childhood, I have been playing with colours, sometimes on paper, or on the wall, or on my notebook, even on my thighs, leg, and palm, which my daughters have also inherited.” He adds: “I have made nature my guru and thought of myself as one her beloved students. I left my village when I was 19 years and headed for Kolkata, where there is no end to the lanes and by-lanes.

I struggled a lot to survive and I was never frustrated, as painting is my destiny and it’s forever.”

Gems of Bengal

The formal opening of Gallery Vintage was added with colours as a group exhibition of paintings, graphics and sculpture by eminent artists of Bengal titled, ‘Gems of Bengal’.

It is a rare collection of art from the culturally rich lands of Bengal. Fifty artists were participated in the exhibition, including Paritosh Sen, Shyamal Dutta Roy, Robin Mandal, Suhash Roy, Bikas Poddar, Apurba Mazumdar and so on.

According to the gallery director, Dipto Narayan Chatterjee, ‘Gems of Bengal’ is an attempt to present an overall view of contemporary visual art in Bengal. West Bengal is the land of artistic expression and its painters are the painters of the society.

Life is a work of art

An exhibition of paintings by Anil Gaikwad at the Anant Art Gallery is on view till January 30. He believes that his works are just a reflection of experiences of his life. This is his solo exhibition after his stint in the Capital a few months back he was a participant in a group show titled as ‘Dhund’.

A product of Indore School of Arts, Anil has participated in various group shows across the country and has won many prestigious awards. Through his works he tries to visualise the meaning of life and says that ‘Life itself is a work of art through which unconsciously the paintings appear’.

Art and nature

A pleasant interaction between art and nature was on display recently at the 5th solo exhibition of artist Ramesh Rana at the Triveni Art Gallery. He has been in love with and in awe of nature since childhood. For the past 15 years, he has been a major contributor in the field of art and one can always find trees, vegetation and water in his paintings. With the passage of time he has shifted his focus from nature to just rocks. Rocks have always appealed to his fascination because of their original shape being carved by nature, which remains untouched and undisturbed by the humans.

He has tried to create his own world of rocks and his efforts have paid rich dividends thus giving concrete shape to his imaginations.

His paintings give a different yet definite kind of language to the solid, concrete forms of matter.