How long does it take one to get used to a new trend? If you ask us, we would say almost as soon as the trend gets underway. Till not so long ago, we were accustomed to the trend of sharing a cup of tea with the likes of Raghu Rai or Anjolie Ela Menon or Jatin Das and talk art. Having done it a few times, we now take it as if it has always been the case with us and so is buying art-related books at such dos. Thanks to the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, which has furthered both these trends. And others have been quick to follow. Zazeen Art Centre-47, for one. Besides giving a platform to lesser-known artists, the centre has been trying to popularise art books too.

Zazeen Art Gallery showcases its collection

Now, you would ask, why? Do not we enough art books in our tried and tested bookstores? We do. But a quick survey at these bookstores showed more on coffee-table genre and mostly on those big names — Salvador Dali, Michelangelo or much controversial M. F. Husain and Amrita Shergil to name a few. Then, there are books on topics that have mass appeal (read Khajoraho sculptures, Kamasutra, Pahari paintings etc).

“One does not find many books on particular artists or art history because the scope is limited to a particular segment, artists and students. And, bookstores would naturally keep stocks of books that holds appeal for a wider readership,” says Tirthankar Bhattacharjee, art historian and patron of Zazeen Art Centre.

True. And while at the national level, the Lalit Kala Akademi and National Museum have been the sources where one could turn to specific art books, the city too, according to Tirthankar, is gearing up to fill the void. “Our Government Museum and Art Gallery has a nice research-based volume on its entire Gandhara sculptures and also nice catalogues on artists and reproduction works of the rare volumes,” he says.

Tirthankar, though has started small, by keeping a few selected volumes at his gallery, he has plans — to bring out a catalogue on all known and lesser-known artists in the North.

Chairman of the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi Diwan Manna, who has already added quite a few volumes on Paresh Maity, Anjolie Ela Menon, Sanat Kar, Shyam Dutta Roy, Avtarjeet Dhanjal and Paramjit Singh, has a heartening piece of news to share — ‘Though we have started in a small way for the obvious reasons, we are trying to keep those books which are not usually available in local bookstores.”

About time too! Now that the stage one, popularising art among the masses, is over, it’s time to bring on stage two, i.e, acquainting art lovers with artists of substance so that they can tell good art from bad art when they see one.

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The National Craft Mela, which is to be held from October 24 to November 2 at Kalagram, is all set to attract the dwellers of tricity and educate them about the real Indian art and craft, especially the rural art. In addition to this, many other activities have been planned for the mela including different cultural programmes of various states of the country with special attraction for food lovers.

While the tricity is known for its availability of multiple cuisines and many food festivals are held from time to time, one can savour a variety of food at the National Craft Mela. In order to enhance attraction and enjoyment among all, Chandigarh Hotel Association has decided to hold the "Food Festival" during the National Craft Mela.

According to Home Secretary, Ram Niwas, "With the onset of National Craft Mela, the participating hotels and restaurants in Chandigarh will kick off a Food Festival to tingle the palate of people from different segments." The Food Festival will offer very sumptuous and appetizing cuisines.

According to D.K. Tiwari, IAS, managing director CITCO, Chandigarh Industrial & Tourism Development Corporation will put up "CITCO DA VEHRA" during the Craft Mela, in which various delicacies of Northern India will be served. During this period of Craft Mela, CITCO would extend special 15 percent discount on food at Hotel Mountview and Hotel Shivalkview. CITCO would also hold Punjabi Food Festival at Baithak, Kalagram during this period from October 24 to November 2.

According to Manmohan Singh, president, Hotel & Restaurant Association of Chandigarh, many events have been finalised for the first National Craft Mela. The Lahori Food Festival will be held at Metro 43, Healthy Food Festival at Metro 35, Dum Pukht Food Festival at Khyber Restaurant, Biryani Festival at Western Court (Chandigarh/Panchkula) "On the Banana Leaf Festival" at Sundarams, Best of Maya Palace- Mirchi Kum Festival, Ice Cream & Dessert Fest at Aroma, Oriental Barbeque Festival at Purple rice, and the Szechuan Nights Festival at Chop Sticks 2. All the hotels and Restaurant will exclusive put forth their specialties.

In addition to this, Chandigarh Hotel & Restaurant Association has also planned to organise music programme outside the Food Festival participating restaurants, for one evening at each unit throughout the festival period.

If a few abundant pans, glasses could speak about the bleakness of life, then this is it — a photograph titled Kitchen in Bali by ace photographer Diwan Manna, which we saw in the recent annual exhibition of the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi. This, later we learnt happens to be just one of the kitchen series Diwan has been working on, first in the city and later in Jakarta and Bali.

As we could not help but marvel at the selection of the subject, we were told about the history of his kitchen series by Diwan himself, how the idea germinated in a dhaba in Sector 16, which he frequently visited in the 80s. ‘Darkness in the lives of those dhaba employees’ is exactly what motivated him to click them and in the process, he ended up capturing their ability to be happy despite all odds, their self-respect and their dignity of labour. “Dance of Life”, as he describes them, dominated his works in the 80s and 90s and still continuing, though not with that intensity. “Whenever I come across a good kitchen (don’t mistake good for chic Western ones) I freeze them in my camera,” says Diwan. So, what we gather by ‘good’ is the composition like in the Kitchen in Bali with utensils thrown carelessly, a rooster searching for morsels gives one the feel that the place has just been vacated by its occupants. As for colour, his series comes in black and white.

Diwan’s abundant kitchen in Bali reminds us of one we had seen something in the similar line a long time ago, Vijay Ozo’s mud kitchen with a little girl and a burning chulha that made news by winning by an Unesco award in 1985.

The story of Ozo’s success will remain incomplete without the mention of his friend Dev Inder. They both were together in this project to capture the true essence of Punjabi kitchen and Dev Inder too came out with his own series and one of his photograph bagged the Kodak Award for Photograph of Excellence in the amateur category way back in 1987.

Dev Inder’s ‘Beautiful India’ happened he was roaming around in the villages of Punjab. It was his endeavour to preserve the mud kitchens with chulhas, which thought would soon be a thing of the past. “In a traditional Punjabi household, one enters through a kitchen and anybody entering this sacred area has to remove his shoes before going in. And a woman sitting there in front of the chulha is an integral part of the scene. It gives a serene feeling,” says Dev Inder. In the process of doing his series, he came to know learn about different forms and colours being used in different regions of Punjab. The photographs, about 60 frames, were exhibited in Delhi two years back as part of the Punjabi Fair.

Be it the universal ring as depicted by Diwan’s kitchen or the true blue Punjabi flavour as captured by Oz and Dev Inder, if the kitchen is left in the right hands, it can appease to one’s sense in more than one ways, and now we know it is not just about gastronomical.

If Mohammad would not come to the mountain, the mountain would come to him. So what if people of the city would not visit art galleries, Government Museum and Art Gallery is making sure that art reaches out to them. Hence is the concept of mobile exhibition. How does our artist community like this unique way of making art popular?

An Italian art expert is looking to put an end to decades of speculation regarding a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, claiming it maybe hidden in a secret cavity behind a palace wall. University professor Maurizio Seracini alleges a clue in a huge artwork in Florence's historic Palazzo Vecchio appeared to suggest that The Battle of Anghiari, painted by Leonardo in 1503, his largest work, lied beneath.

"I have been searching the documents for years and I have not come across anything, which suggests that the painting was destroyed, damaged or removed. There is no evidence to hint that it is not there," said Prof Seracini.

"It was considered by Leonardo's contemporaries to be his foremost masterpiece. It represented the highest achievements in art reached at the time, during the early Renaissance," he added. The expert has finally been given the permission to use state-of-the-art equipment to determine if the artwork, believed to be three times the size of Leonardo's Last Supper, was painted over with the fresco. — ANI

The Punjabi University’s zonal youth festival started amidst much fanfare at GSSDGS Khalsa College, Patiala. It began with a cultural extravaganza, including giddha and creative dance that filled the atmosphere with vibrant colours and energy. But what is interesting is that not just the participants, the audiences too were in a festive mood.

And for Punjab the “Golden State” of India it has a rich and vivacious culture. Versatility is the keyword of its legacy and where on one hand you could see guys and girls dressed in traditional attire like kurta pajyama and Patiala shahi suits, on the other there were youngsters who preferred trendy attire as per the latest fashion.

Vibrant colours were a hit among youngsters. Students were largely influenced by clothes film stars wear in movies. And for men they were competing with women in all grounds, including beauty.

Gagandeep Singh, a student from Khalsa College said, “The patterns of the dress you wear are just like your handwriting. It creates an instant impression on others. Moreover, it reflects your personality in a great way. So I am very particular about what I wear."

For the girls they wore branded tees to halters paired with jeans and skirts, which is quite different to the traditional attire of Patiala. Navroz Kaur said, “It’s not that we are running away from our culture, but change is needed. I generally wear a blend of Indian and western clothes and wear what suits me, not follow the trend blindly.”

In an exciting evening at the Taj Hotel-17, Golf pro Amrit Inder Singh showed that his skills were not just limited to the golf course but his drive also included skilful and tasty cooking. Amrit Inder Singh, who is also the coach of Jeev Milkha Singh, was adjudged the winner in the Carlsberg Men Can Cook contest and his coveted prize was a one years supply of Carlsberg beer! The other celebrity contestants who also cooked up some delicious dishes included well-known artist Shiv Singh, forward-thinking agriculturist Bhagwat Singh, rallyist Hari Singh, Jessi Grewal and Amit Ahuja. 

Merging beer with food the cookery event broke away from the idea of having beer with your food, to having beer in your food!

For the event an assortment of ingredients was displayed for the participants to choose from, which they could blend with the distinctive taste and unparalleled smoothness of Carlsberg beer and create a dish within the allotted time period of half an hour. Carlsberg Men Can Cook also focused on endorsing culinary art amongst men, cheering these beer enthusiasts to enjoy their favourite beer in new and interesting ways! The aim of the exercise was to have fun, learn how to work as a team and to explore the possibilities of one’s potential as a creative cook.

 The judges panel, headed by Karen Anand, adjudged the Dahiwala Chicken of   Amrit Inder Singh as the best. A close second was the Chhauni Chicken of Bhagwat Singh while Hari Singh ate away the third prize with his Garlic Prawns.

For other contestants Shiv Singh prepared Chicken Kebab while Amit Ahuja  and Jassi Grewal decided to go the way and made Iranian Allo Cuckoo and Iranian Prawn respectively.

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Gurcharan Das is a short man with twinkling eyes and a puckish expression that flits between constant amusement and ill-concealed impatience at the mobiles that ring and an audience that keeps hopping around, during his talk on life’s hurdles that keep us from living it in the most moral way we can.

As people whisper and a flunkey passes notes to the on-stage liaison officer, the author invites questions from the audience. A couple of die-hards stand up and spout such profundity, that even the venerable writer is foxed. The author tries to answer the best way he can and is finally stumped when an overwrought gentleman recounts losing his children to an estranged spouse, inspite of being a good and law-abiding citizen throughout his life. The story proves what Gurcharan is reiterating via the chapters of the Mahabharat: The Difficulty of Being Good. Human frailty is universal and comes in the way of our notion of goodness. The idea certainly makes me understand my baser emotions and motives better. I also realise what I suspected all along, that Dharam has many facets and your truth might not necessarily be mine or vice versa.

Gurcharan’s parents named him “Ashok Kumar” after the great thespian. However, at age three, the toddler sat down at the feet of a Guru who renamed him Guru Charan Das. Numerology will prove that the alias changed the course of his life.

My parents knew the family well and visited them occasionally at their Sector 9 home. Ma recalls that theirs’ was a household where the visitors talked a lot, on every subject, to the three siblings, rather than to the parents. In her view, this is the ultimate in intelligence, imaginative parenting, leading to independent, uninhibited progeny.

Gurcharan suggested, through his columns, that Narendra Modi ask for forgiveness from the Muslims of Gujarat. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu suggested the same to the South Africans. The idea once accepted washed a bloody slate clean towards a better future. Many of our leaders do not have the stature to follow suit. Maybe, some day when we do read our spiritual texts with greater zeal, we shall be able to improve ourselves and the governance that ensues. After all the state is a mirror of whatever our families and we are.

The evening ended with cocktails and generous snacks. I often wonder if most of us go to enlighten the mind or in anticipation of the goodies that follow? Whatever the reason, once our tongues loosened, most of us headed towards the corner where Gurcharan’s book was on display. Ma had already read two massive tomes of Raju’s Mahabharata. I felt the new interpretation, in view of modern day politics and people, would be befitting material for her very sharp mind. The celebrated author was kind enough to write a few personal sentences for Sharda Dutt, as he autographed the book.

The British Council Library promises to facilitate interactive sessions with five new authors over the coming months. We look forward with anticipation to the cerebral fare in the offing. With the Tagore Theatre putting on the best regional plays; the Sangeet Natak Academy catering to people’s poetic and musical souls and the Arts College putting up wonderful exhibitions, Chandigarh is on the way to becoming a hub of artistic expression.

He may have successfully completed four decades in the film industry, but Bollywood's 'Shehenshah' Amitabh Bachchan says that he still faces pre-release jitters because he is a "huge pessimist" by nature.

The 67-year-old actor better known as the Big B, will be seen playing a flamboyant genie 'Genius' in his upcoming film Aladin and said that the negativity sets in before each release. "I am a huge pessimist. Every time I do a film I feel like it is going to be a big flop," Bachchan told reporters during a press conference at New Delhi to promote the Eros production, which also stars Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh and newcomer Jacqueline Fernandes.

The megastar also confessed that he gave a hard time to his director Sujoy Ghosh, but finally stopped meddling when he saw the first two reels of the film. "I was constantly yelling at him, telling him 'You have not got this right, you have not got that right'... And two days ago I pressurised him to show me something of the film and he showed me two reels and that forced me to zip up," said the actor adding that it was Sujoy who put the 'joy' into the movie. — PTI

Bollywood super star Amitabh Bachchan will formally launch a free mobile diabetes testing unit of a UK charity in Goa next Sunday. The Mobile Diabetes Assessment Unit, complete with testing equipment, a bed and washing facilities will travel across Goa in India providing free diabetes testing.

This follows the successful operation of a number of testing camps across the state. Fourteen million people in India have been diagnosed with diabetes. Leicester East MP Keith Vaz, a former minister, launched the charity Silver Star in January 2007 after a routine diabetes test came positive.

Already well-established in the UK, with two bases covering Leicester and London, the charity launched its Goa office in March this year. Vaz, founder of Silver Star, said, "It is predicted that by 2025 India will be the diabetes capital of the world. "Work needs to begin now to prevent this from happening. Silver Star has had such great success in the UK, where the Mobile Assessment Unit performs free testing nationwide. Amitabh Bachchan will be in Goa on Sunday, October 25 to launch the bus." "Bachchan, who turned 67 last week, has worked with the charity for some time. He launched the Leicester based diabetes centre in August 2008 where he was tested for the condition himself", Vaz added. — PTI

The 11th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival (MFF), beginning October 29, will screen 200 films from 56 countries. The Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI) committee comprising veteran Bollywood producer-cum-director Yash Chopra, Amit Khanna, actor Shabana Azmi and actor-turned-director Amol Palekar unveiled the line-up for the 11th annual Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) on Tuesday.

Yash Chopra said he hoped the Mumbai Film Festival would compare with Cannes and Berlin in the future. "The festival has come to such a level that today you can say that it's really of international level. But every festival takes its own time. Take for example Cannes, Berlin, all these festivals took considerable amount of time and if we look at our festival...It will take its time, but, I strongly believe that with all the best intentions of the people behind the festival, who are helping monetarily, creatively, the festival will gain a higher position in the next five to six years," he added.

Best debutant film director would be given $150,000, a whopping sum by Indian standards. "The quality of films that we have got in this festival are really remarkable. We are giving $150,000 to the Best Debutant Film Director because we really want the Mumbai Film Festival, to become a showcase piece for the young and the new and the innovative," said Shabana Azmi.

Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh's The Informant, a dark political comedy based on true events, will open the MFF. — ANI

Thousands of ecstatic movie buffs assembled in Sumerpur town of Rajasthan to have a glimpse of their favourite Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Salman visited Sumerpur on October 19 on the invitation of Rajasthan's Tourism Minister Beena Kak who had promised her electorate of bringing the macho star to this place if she was voted to power in the legislative assembly elections.

The presence of Salman Khan proved to be a hug crowd-puller, as the local fans covered almost every possible nook and corner for a glimpse. Salman, on this occasion, asked his fans to live amicably and vote for secular politicians. "Work hard, get educated, do good things, follow the path of truth and live peacefully and with harmony. Never ever give votes to politicians in lifetime who ignite animosity between Hindus and Muslims," said Salman Khan.

Meanwhile, Salman's fans were thrilled to find the star amidst them.

"Today, I'm so happy to see Salman Khan. I really liked what he spoke," said a girl. The occasion was utilised to popularise the green drive by planting 21,000 saplings for which Salman Khan gave a cheque of Rs. 5,00,000. — ANI