nightlifemumbai

Entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. Life needs some entertainment. Relax yourself visiting exciting events in Bangalore at weekend and entertain yourself. Ek-Sham Rafi Ke Naam Date: 15th Sep 2012 Time: 5:00 pm  Venue:  Chowdiah Memorial Hall Rotary Bangalore Rajajinagar and Bhairavi Trust presents Ek-Sham Rafi Ke Naam, a high-spirited evening with the renowned singer Tagore Das. It promises to be a magical evening filled with some soulful music.The proceeds from this event will goes towards helping underprivileged patients through -Affordable yet high quality dialysis, Pediatric Heart Surgeries & Helping dyslexic children.Lead Singers are Tagore Das and Sangetha Balachandra. Nikhil D'souza Live Concert Date: 15th Sep 2012 Time: 7:00 pm Venue: Phoenix Market City Nikhil D’Souza is a guitarist/singer-songwriter from Mumbai. The genre might be loosely defined as pop/alternative with folk influences. The music has a full melodic quality to it mainly due t...

- by Deepa Krishnan Spotted a mom with a whole bunch of schoolkids tagging along. They were on their way to our nearby municipal school. The kids were all dolled up and taking a snow tableau. Snow in Mumbai. With coconut palms :)  I asked, "Who made it?". "Me of course!", the mom said. "What is the school going to do with it?", I asked. "They are having a party", she replied, and all the kids giggled together. Pure joy.  My New Year is made.  And then they walked off all together, with much anticipation (and lipstick) :-D

- by Deepa Krishnan Today I went to the independence day celebrations at my school. And I learnt what freedom means. The girls from my school presented an energetic, physically demanding - and very liberating show. The audience - students ranging from 5 years to 15 years - shouted out their encouragement. The mutual energy was infectious and electrifying. In an exhilarating flash, I realised something: this generation of girls has a sense of personal body freedom that my generation simply did not have. We would not have leaped with so much abandon. We would not have tossed our heads back and postured so defiantly; and if we had indeed done so, I don't know if the audience would have cheered us on so wildly. The background music was a patriotic song - a soldier's song, a man's song, really. But the girls gave it their own interpretation. My photos really don't do justice to what I saw. These girls were not doing the usually Bollywood dances with sexualised poses. They ...

- By Deepa Krishnan It's fun to explore the markets during Diwali. So much buzz! I walked through the area from Plaza Cinema to Hanuman Mandir, then did a short side-foray into Ranade Road. See the walk photo album here on the Mumbai Magic Facebook Page.

- By Deepa Krishnan With Diwali around the corner, the streets of Bhuleshwar have lots of red chopdis (account books) on sale. Larger businesses may have switched to computers, but these cloth-bound books are still used by many smaller shops. Try going into Mangaldas Market, for example, and you will spot traders writing in them. On 23rd October this year (Diwali / Lakshmi Pujan Day), businesses will close their old books, offer prayers to the goddess of wealth, and start the new year on the 24th.  Here is the opening page of the book; listing the calendar year. It says in Gujarati script, "Diwali to Diwali, Samvat 2071". The calendar followed by Hindu Gujaratis (and also Jains) is the Vikram Samvat, which was established by King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, following his victory over the Sakas in 56 BC. The Vikram Samvat or Era is therefore typically 56 or 57 years ahead of the Christian Era. Currently we are in 2071. The page also lists Calendars based on the conventions followe...

By Deepa Krishnan For the last 6 years, NCPA has been organizing a Marathi Film Festival to showcase critically acclaimed and national award winning films. This year, I went with my friend Kiran to attend the screening of Shrihari Sathe's "Ek Hazaarachi Note".  The films screened at the festival are sub-titled in English. Although I can follow spoken Marathi well, it helped to have sub-titles, especially since Ek Hazaarachi Note is set in Vidarbha, and there were many nuances of the rural dialect that I could not otherwise follow. NCPA's Marathi Film Festival is called 'Nave Valan', meaning, New Directions. Valan actually means "turning"; and the festival's name aptly reflects the new-wave of Marathi films that we have been seeing recently. There has been a new-found interest in Marathi cinema since 2004, when Shwaas was selected as India's official entry for the Oscars. Budgets for Marathi cinema have increased; and we are also seeing an inc...

- By Deepa Krishnan I had a fabulous time at the Girgaum Chowpatty Visarjan this year. Actually it took me completely by surprise, because they have enforced a STRICT ban on drums and noise. I went there expecting to be deafened by the noise. In fact, I even bought ear-plugs! But in spite of the thousands and thousands of people, there was no crazy noise. There were no big drums and no clang-clang-clang to burst the eardrums. The processions were colourful and full of tamasha, there were people singing with small cymbals and chanting "Ganpati Bappa Morya! Pudhchya Varshi Laukar Ya!". But we did not go deaf with the noise! At a couple of places there were horrible loudspeakers, where sponsors were distributing free drinks and food, and they thought that gave them the right to shout over the speakers. But overall, it was not an assault on the ears. The police have a very major presence and are very helpful to direct people and maintain crowd control.  This is our group, at C...

- By Deepa Krishnan I was walking along Dadar Kabootarkhana yesterday, and I spotted someone going from stall to stall, with the Goddess balanced on the head.  It is summer now, and this is the time of rashes and other skin ailments. Mari-aai, also called Mariamman, Renuka, Ekvira or Yellamma, is a major folk goddess in the Deccan/South India. She is very powerful - her wrath can bring disease, but she is equally capable of blessing people. She cures all ailments, especially the pox, she blesses the infertile with children, and brings prosperity to the village. There are several temples to this powerful goddess in Maharashtra - but if you cannot make the journey to the temple, then "no problem" !! You can get the blessings of the goddess right where you are, because she comes a-visiting, assisted by nomadic intermediaries. The person carrying the goddess was a hijra, a third gender person. In exchange for a few coins, many stall-owners at Kabootarkhana were receiving be...

- By Aishwarya Pramod General scene at Rampart Row Queen of Hearts sarees and fabric stall (run by mother and daughter) Inability of my mother to resist red saree at Queen of Hearts Self getting suckered by awesome indigo prints at Mura Collective from Delhi Cute pig I bought for my window-sill: Laquercraft from Chennapattana, sold by Varnam Mother taking artsy photos of me and cousin Random art plus environmental messages Random art plus grandparents KEC Greengames - reviving traditional Indian games to improve children's motor skills and emotional intelligence One more general public General public under tree (it was hot today) Festival Summary: Heat and crowds. Random art. Some nice stalls. Next time I'll try to go for the events.

- By Deepa Krishnan Today I went with my cousin Lavanya to the India Non Fiction Festival. I have been reading 'From Dongri to Dubai', the story of organised crime in Mumbai, so it was great to see and hear the author S Hussain Zaidi. We heard some amazing anecdotes, all the more impactful because they were couched in very  no-nonsense terms. Hussain Zaidi's book is very 'Bambaiya' in character. Only in Bombay would you have three underworld brothers from the Christian quarter of  Byculla called the Johnny Gang, with names like Bada Johnny, Chota Johnny and Chikna Johnny :) As you may have guessed, the youngest was very good-looking. And only in Bombay would you read an anecdote like this one: Apart from the Johnny Gang, there was a rival gang from Byculla's Muslim area. Ibrahim Dada was the leader of the gang. He once went to the passport office where he met Maria, a receptionist from the Byculla Christian locality. When he and Maria started dating, Bada Johnny...

- by Deepa Krishnan With Diwali around the corner, the kilns at Kumbharwada are going non-stop. If you go now, you will see women and men working round the clock, selling the diyas and decorative pots that have been made specially for the festive season.  I went on Saturday. Here is what I found: With every available open space taken up, these diyas were being dried on top of a taxi Large quantities of standard type diyas were being filled into gunny bags and loaded into trucks for sending to other parts of the city        They were being given a last wash in geru (red colour) and dried before packing. Decorative diyas had been made using fancy moulds. Some of them were ceramic as well. I found a girl deftly painting designs with acrylic paint. She was super-quick and efficient. Her mother sat nearby doing the base colours. They made a pretty picture, lined up in a row Women managing the shop. Behind the shop is the home and the kitchen. And behind that is the w...