AAW #172

Express yourself this Independence Day at Ouroboros’ Open Mic evening or attend a three-day forum on architecture. There’s also a Book Fair for bibliophiles and the Gujarati play ‘Vaaras’ comes to town. 

Art-lovers will be spoilt for choice in the coming days, with four exhibitions in town! At interior designer Bharat Mewada’s solo show, delve into the life of Mahatma Gandhi through 44 sketches. Ravishankar Raval Kala Bhavan is hosting two solo exhibitions by artists Raju Baraiya and Raju Patel, while a group show that’s catchily called MOM: Musing of Monochrome is taking place at Amdavad Ni Gufa next week.

For theatre lovers, we recommend watching Vaaras, a Gujarati play about a man who brings a Christian girl home to meet his family. The play traces what happens when she moves in with the to-be in-laws. Book-lovers, meanwhile, have reason to rejoice! There’s a book fair at Sushilaben Ratilal Hall over the next 11 days.

Those interested in design and architecture would not want to miss the Kurula Varkey Design Forum at CEPT University, a three-day long event full of discussions and talks. Aditi Pathak and Abhishek Agrawat, meanwhile, have organised what promises to be a different kind of talk called Talab.

For those looking to express their ingenious side, look out for Ouroboros Theatre’s Open Mic event on the occasion of Independence Day, and enjoy what surely will be an evening full of music, laughter, poetry and creativity. If you’re a college student or young professional and think you’ve got knowledge of culture, heritage and business, then The Great Indian Quiz Season – 3, by Sanjay Chakraborty of EssKsee Consultancy, is an exciting choice for you next week.

The inspiration for our 172nd Ahmedabad Art Weekly is Balwantray Kalyanray Thakore, a prolific poetry teacher who played a major role in pioneering the Pandit yug in Gujarati literature. Born in 1869, Thakore was fondly known as Ballukaka by those close to him. He wrote Gujarati poems under the pen names Valkal and Sehni. Being a Sanskrit scholar and proficient writer of English, Thakore wrote articles in Times of India and later contributed as an assistant editor for the newspaper Indian Spectator. The literature lover was honoured with a gold medal for his essay An account of the first Madhavrao Peshwa. His sonnet sequence Premo Divas and poetry anthology Bhankaar are amongst the most significant works of Gujarati literature.