The city — sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Debuts and finales
Intermedia artist Justin Ponmany made his maiden entry as curator last Thursday at Colaba’s youngest gallery, Akara Art. For this exhibition, Ponmany dipped into the gallerist, Puneet Shah’s collection to weave a narrative of works by Vivan Sundaram, Sudhir Patwardhan and Nalini Malini, among others. Ponmany, modest as he always is, walked us through the show, and said, “It’s my first curation that has materialised, and I have allowed myself the liberty to move away from the usual assuredness.
Abhay Maskara and Justin Ponmany
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Curating from collections is different from curating through something more intimate to oneself, so I had to find my way around it; when I thought I did, it felt a lot better... I find it amusing that in cricket you have a pitch curator, because here you can curate a pitch.” Incidentally, the show, titled Travelling in Two Boats at the Same Time, spoke volumes about things that were happening just down the road from Akara Art.
Gallery Maskara’s final show opened to the public on Thursday too. While it was heartening to see thick crowds at Abhay Maskara’s decade old establishment, it’s impeding closure sent across ripples in the art fraternity. Perhaps the younger entrants into the gallerists’ circle have something to think about?
When the sufis inspired the yogis
A new book in town recently caught the attention of this diarist. At the outset, it seemed academic, but US-based Carl W Ernst (in pic), a professor of Islamic studies, has a surprise for yoga aficionados in his newly released title, Refractions of Islam in India (Yoda Press).
What he talks about is the links between Sufism and Yoga. We caught Prof Ernst during a visit to Mumbai, and asked him to throw some light on the subject. He was more than willing. “By the 12th century, there were sufis entering India, and their shrines had open kitchens, where yogis would come to get a meal,” he says, of their earliest interactions.
“What they realised was that they had many things in common. The yogis were developing an elaborate notion of the body and breath control, and the sufis became interested in that. Similarly, the yogis were very interested in the symbols of power in the sufi experience.” Prof Ernst’s work is part of a 30-year-long research. For keen followers of this subject, here is more food for thought.
Jai remembered at Brisbane’s Gabba ground
The true spirit of cricket was displayed recently at the Gabba in Brisbane. No, it did not concern two teams in a match at the Queensland capital, but four upcoming fast bowlers and a cricket consultant with a heart.
ML Jaisimha
IDBI Federal Bowling Foundation bowlers, David Mathias Tushar Deshpande, Minad Manjrekar and Prasidh Krishna, who are in Brisbane to sharpen their pace bowling skills, were taken by the Foundation’s guide Makarand Waingankar to the Gabba to pay respects to former India batsman ML Jaisimha, who passed away 17 Julys ago in Secunderabad.
A bouquet of flowers was placed on the turf. If you are wondering about the Brisbane connection, it was at the Gabba where Jaisimha scored 74 and 101 during India’s 1967-68 Test tour of Australia. Jai, as he was known to his mates, played those two glorious knocks, shrugging off jet lag after landing in Australia as replacement for the injured BS Chandrasekhar.
The performance did not prevent Australia from winning, but MAK Pataudi’s men didn’t give in as easily as they did in the first two Tests at Adelaide and Melbourne.
Man-to-man
Pic/Sayed Sameer Abedi
(Centre) Actor Jackie Shroff and (right) Fazal Qureshi seem to be in deep discussion as (left) jazz musician Loiuz Banks and (extreme right) theatre actor Denzil Smith look on. They were at an event to pay tribute to late Ustad Alla Rakha at Bandra’s St Andrew’s auditorium.
From Italy, with love
If you visit Prego, the Italian restaurant at The Westin Mumbai Garden City, it’s likely that Chef Antonello Cancedda will sing a song for you. Cancedda, who hails from the historical city of Genoa, northern Italy, has a passion for strumming the guitar and belting out famous Bollywood melodies for his diners. “I was inspired to take up singing because my father was a tenor.
Chef Antonello Cancedda
And I always enjoyed cooking, so I honed both skills simultaneously,” says the 54-year-old. The diners, he says, are usually thrilled to see the chef croon in his endearing Hindi. “I normally sing Paani Da (Vicky Donor), Chura Liya (Yaadon Ki Baraat), Neele Neele Amber (Kalakar) and Give Me Some Sunshine (3 Idiots),” he says. Talk about being multi-talented.
Romania gets Punjani tadka
You might have watched the svelte Romanian singer, Otilia, croon Bilionera in the pool — a song that received almost 40 million views on YouTube. Now, Mumbai-based DJ Tarun has remixed the international track in Punjabi.
“Europeans are very fond of Punjabi music. Tracks by artistes like Punjabi MC, Sukhbir still play at clubs back in Romania. So, I decided to add a Punjabi tadka to the track with dhol beats,” he says. Produced by the international music label, Roton Music, the video has crossed 40,000 views in two days.
“The reaction has been fabulous. The song will soon feature on radio stations in Romania and India,” says the 31-year-old. Balle Balle, we say.
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