AAW #169

Listen to soulful renditions of poetry by musicians Shyamal-Saumil and poet Ankit Trivedi, or celebrate author Umashankar Joshi’s 108th birthday this week. The Hindi comedy play ‘Last Over’ is here. And a talk by Pritzker winning architect BV Doshi. 

 

While we’re all still clueless about when the monsoons will truly arrive in Ahmedabad, the city is abuzz with many events that can bring tranquility to your creative soul. How about travelling to the snow-capped mountains of ‘Kaashmir’ through Valji Solanki’s photography exhibition? Or exploring how graduate students of NID have made 14 chairs inspired from different states of India?

You can also celebrate the life of legendary Gujarati author Umashankar Joshi on his 108th birth anniversary at a Book Exhibition. Or attend Yugdrashta, a talk show by Swati Joshi and Satish Vyas. Listen to playwright Saumya Joshi talk about creative narration of stories or hear Pritzker Prize winning architect BV Doshi talk about Breaking the Barriers at Tagore Hall.

Beloved Gujarati poet Tushar Shukla will be narrating his poetry, alongside the musical duo Shyamal-Saumil and singer Aarti Munshi, at the show Mausam Chhalke this Friday. Poetry enthusiasts can also listen to the Gujarati language poet Ankit Trivedi reciting Gujarati verses. Theatre buffs, meanwhile, can look forward to Last Over, a Hindi comedy play about two fathers vying for a ticket to the cricket World Cup. The show stars ace actors Rakesh Bedi and Ananth Mahadevan. Film buffs can watch a special screening of Guru Dutt’s classic film Pyaasa.

Our inspiration for this week’s Ahmedabad Art Weekly is Ahmedabad-born Padma Shri Bachubhai Ravat. The Gujarati art critic and editor worked in the editing and publishing department of the Navjeevan Prakashan Mandir in his early years. For decades, he edited for Kumar magazine alongside artist Ravishankar Raval. Ravat also pioneered the Budh Sabha literature gathering in 1932, a literary workshop which takes place at Gujarati Sahitya Parishad every week, to this day. The poet was awarded the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak for his works of journalism. He was a believer in metrical poems, once mentioning that poems cannot exist “without metre”. His most notable works are Gujarati Granthasth Chitrakala (essay collection) and Gujarati Lipina Nava Parodhnu Nirman (book on Gujarati script).