AAW #218

The auspicious Rath Yatra day was blessed by rain gods to keep up with the tradition of rain on this day. While the monsoon clouds continue to hover, don’t just drench in the rain but also let the Ahmedabad Art Weekly soak you in city’s flowing creativity. First up is ‘The Rath Yatra Story’ that aims to enrich the young minds with the story behind the annual tradition, albeit with the help of puppets, photographs and other creative mediums. With devotion in air, Bolave Vitthal by Ranjani and Gayatri will be a perfect event to drown in soulful haveli sangeet.

Compartment S4, a young architect firm premiers on Ahmedabad Art Weekly with their maiden event under the ‘Friday Night Conversations’ series. Mexican architect Giovanni Llamas will be talking on the topic of ‘What is Home?’.  There is always something for food lovers of the city. A food festival celebrating Bohri food is happening  in the city. The much loved Ahmedabad Farmer’s Market is back this week, albeit in the rich indoors of Mercedes-Benz showroom.

Visual art enthusiasts looking for an artsy evening in the city have couple of good options – ‘The Woman’ by architect Nikita Vaviya Bhavsar and  Saptrangi – Women Artists Group Exhibition. Theatre lovers are spoilt for choices too. Inspired by Reginald Rose’s famous 12 Angry Men, Trustable Lie is a courtroom drama in Gujarati, while Natyam inculcates 2 plays in Hindi – Titli and Supandi – specially created to enrich young minds. An intriguing storytelling and poetry performance cum recital will take place at Dastan Ae Maaya by Shivangi Tewari.

218th Ahmedabad Art Weekly is dedicated to Gujarati writer, scholar, translator and editor,  Ramprasad Bakshi. Born in 1894 in Junagadh, Bakshi has received tutelage from literary giants  like Anandshankar Dhruv and Narsinhrao Divetia. He later on progressed to be known as a significant litterateur  of ‘Pandit Yuga’ or ‘Govardhan Yug’ – a period in Gujarati literature history that is known for the focus on scholarly writing. The period, considered by many as the ‘Golden era’ in Gujarati literature saw brilliance in poetry, essay, play and biographies. Bakshi’s contribution to the era is significant. Be it Vangamya Vimarsha (1963) which is an analytical study of Sanskrit and Western poetics  or his deliberation on Indian dramatic theories Natyarasa (1959) and Karunarasa (1963), Bakshi brought about lot of knowledge into the Gujarati literature domain. His translated works Gujarati Bhasha ane Sahitya (Vol i & ii) and Rojanishi (with Dhansukhlal Mehta) are a gift to Gujarati readers, as both of these are original works of Narsinhrao Divetia written in English.

He received the Narmad Suvarna Chandrak for Vangamya Vimarsha and later on went on to serve as the President of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad.