The best green cover
A BEST bus stop at Samata Nagar Road in Kandivli East is covered under overgrown creepers.
Brushstrokes from history on canvas
Meenakshi Nihalani
Mumbai-based artist and sculptor, Meenakshi Nihalani (above), will be the 2025’s first recipient of The Emerging Artist Solo Award (TEAS) at Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art (AMCA), Colaba on October 9, at her debut solo show at the gallery. The date falls in the same week as the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi (October 2), whose letters from the Champaran Satyagraha, and their impact on the Indigo farmers during the British Colonial era, inspired her project. Anupa Mehta, (inset) gallerist and curator, told this diarist, “This award [by AMCA] celebrates the work of a promising artist whose practice addresses subjects of socio-political and economic relevance.”
Hand prints in time
Gulammohammed Sheikh, Mappamundi, 2003-2004, digital collage; (right) Tonga in a Cityscape, 1963, lithograph. Pics Courtesy/artist and Vadehra Art Gallery
They know him as an artist, poet, and historian, but it is Gulammohammed Sheikh’s seven-decade-long passion for printmaking that takes centrestage at the ongoing two-part retrospective, Gulammohammed Sheikh: Hand Prints | Mind Prints at the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation (JNAF) at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. “Few artists have had such a deep involvement with printmaking, unless they are printmakers themselves. He enjoys the artisanal process. In fact, I did not know it myself. He has made over 1000 copies for little magazines through the years,” curator Pushpamala N shared with us.
Korea’s Nobel nod for Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh in a moment of repose. Pic/Ashish Raje
The last time this diarist met with author Amitav Ghosh, the Padma Shri-awardee was chatting over a cup of Muscatel Okayti at a Bandra café, about his essay collection, Wild Fictions (HarperCollins). We were delighted with the news that he has been awarded the 14th Pak Kyongni Prize — Korea’s literary Nobel. “It is a profound privilege to be a successor to writers like Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Antonia Byatt and Ismail Kadare, and to be associated with the memory of Pak Kyongni, South Korea’s most beloved writer of the 20th century,” Ghosh shared in a note. Ever the zeitgeist chronicler, he added, “The story of how the hallyu wave hit India, via Manipur and the Northeast, is a particularly fascinating one because it is a reminder that we live in an era when the world is being remade in many different ways, sometimes without our being aware of it.”
Growing pains for this ballad
After a five-year-run through Mumbai, and international stages, Dr Ulka Mayur’s (below) Ballad of Desires will drop curtains on September 20. “In the last few shows, I felt that we were beginning to exhaust our repertoire,” Mayur admitted, adding that the main reason was more technical. “Over time, there is a need and ambition to mount bigger shows. The rigmarole of putting up shows in smaller spaces was beginning to wane. There is also the danger of falling into a comfort zone. We wanted to come out of it, and look at a larger scale. You have to push the boundaries,” she said.
Patrons need not worry though, for the ennui only seems temporary. Mayur added, “In theatre, we never say never. Perhaps a year or two down the line, we might think of bringing it back. We might even upgrade it and stage it on a larger scale. You never know.”
Lace up for a fitter Navratri
Female members of the group during a traditional run. Pics Courtesy/KDR
Runners from Kalyan-Dombivli will dress to the nines in traditional attire this Saturday to ring in the Navratri festivities. “The fun doesn’t stop there. Throughout the nine days, we will take up interesting challenges centred on the number nine. Think running nine kilometres, or running in groups of nine,” shared Suraj Shetty (right) of the Kalyan Dombivli Runners (KDR) group.
Kicking off from the KDMC Ground, the group will head to 90 Feet Road before charting a return journey. “Every year, we formulate unique ways to celebrate the festival. On October 2, we will felicitate the quirkiest out-of-the-box ideas runners come up with,” Shetty told us. A fun change from running in circles, we think. Those keen to join them this year, can log on to @kalyandombivli_runners.
