Category: Lookit!

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Event

Participate: Flamingos and children’s creative competitions

BNHS, in association with the Mumbai Port Trust, is organising children’s creative competitions in three categories to celebrate Flamingo Festival.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Mumbai is truly blessed to annually host beautiful flamingos every year, and making the occasion even more special is this festival.

BNHS, in association with Mumbai Port Trust, is organising three Children’s Competitions in the categories of Painting, Poetry and Slogan Writing. Winners will be felicitated at the time of the annual BNHS Flamingo Festival that will be held on February 28, 2015.

The competitions are open to children residing in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region only. These are the details and rules:

BNHS Children’s Competitions – Flamingo

Categories: Painting, Poetry Writing, Slogan Writing

Language: English, Marathi or Hindi

Age Group: Students of 5th to 8th standards

Eligibility: Those students residing in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Vasai-Virar, Thane, Bhiwandi, Kalyan-Dombivli, Ambernath, Badlapur, Ulhasnagar, Khopoli, Matheran, Karjat, Uran, Panvel, Navi Mumbai, Pen, Alibaug)

Last Date: Entries should reach BNHS before February 21, 2015 by post, courier or hand delivery

Rules:

– Paintings, Poetry and Slogans should be original

– Each participant can send entries in one or more categories

– Each participant can send only one entry per category

– Paintings should be sent on A3 size white drawing paper

– Poetry and Slogans can be sent on any white paper

– Do not send entries on glossy or laminated paper

– Do not stick anything on the paper

– All entries of one participant in different categories can be sent in a single envelope

– For Painting, any medium such as poster colours, colour pencils, crayons, etc can be used – Computer graphics will not be accepted

– Teachers can collate all entries of their students and send together

– Participants should write their name, age, standard, residence/school address, email, contact number and teacher’s name in pencil on the rear side of the paper

– Three winners will be selected from each category and prizes will be given on the occasion of BNHS Flamingo Festival (Sewri Jetty, Mumbai) on 28th February 2015

– Kindly note that no entries will be returned to participants

Interested? Ask your child to participate in the competitions and send entries to BNHS, Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, opposite Lion Gate, Fort, Mumbai – 400001. Contact number: 022-22821811 (Monday to Friday).
(Picture courtesy Siddhesh Surve)
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Event

School children paint to spread cancer awareness

Wockhardt Hospitals organised a ‘Cancer Awareness Day’ on its south Mumbai premises with an intra school drawing competition inviting Mumbai students.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Wockhardt Hospitals, South Mumbai, yesterday organised ‘Cancer Awareness Day’ with an intra-school drawing competition on its premises. The event invited students from different city-based schools to participate in large numbers and was aimed at debunking the myths and fear about cancer and to spread a ray of hope amongst the survivors.

Explained Zahabiya Khorakiwala, Managing Director, Wockhardt Hospitals,“We set the event theme as ‘Life wins – fight against cancer’, and children in the age-group of 8 to 12 years responded enthusiastically by turning out intriguing and colorful sketches on their drawing sheets. It was such a wonderful experience for both the school children and the Hospital, since children undergoing cancer treatment also participated in the event. We found that the children who had participated in this competition had given a thought and conceptualised with research and read about it.” She added that it is possible that children might not be interested in the subject it it remains restricted to textbooks.

Talking about the Hospital’s preventive and curative program against the cancer, Dr Boman Dabhar,  Medical Oncologist at Wockhardt Hospitals said, “It was an overwhelming experience to witness a huge gathering of students and their schools supporting the noble cause of creating awareness about cancer. As children are the future of the nation, such initiatives create an immense impact amongst the population at large.” He added that cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide today, with an estimated 13 million new cases diagnosed every year. “Numbers are rising and, compared with figures at the start of the new millennium, are expected to double by 2020, and triple by 2030. Yet, according to the WHO, up to one in three cancers can be prevented through diet and lifestyle changes” said Dr Dabhar.

The drawing competition was followed by a street play, ‘Suresh ki Kahaani’ by Ameya Mahajan and his team. Subsequently, a corporate film was played for doctors, school principals and teachers on coping with cancer. Students were awarded for their best drawings and trophies were given as a token of appreciation to the participating schools. Similarly, the principals and teachers of each school were felicitated by the Hospital and were handed out the participating certificates for their respective schools.

Schools participating in the event included St Mary’s High School – ICSE, Regina Pacis, St Lady Engineer High School, NMT English Medium High School, Balmohan Vidya Mandir, KMS Shirodkar High School – CBSC, KMS Shirodkar High School, Sharadashram Vidya Mandir High School, Cankid High School, and Banerjee School.

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Watch

Watch: The Merry Widow – Lehár

Don’t miss this opera screening from The Metropolitan Opera of New York; stars brilliant actress Renée Fleming in the lead role.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The great Renée Fleming stars as the beguiling femme fatale who captivates Paris in Lehár’s enchanting opera, seen in a new staging by Broadway director and choreographer Susan Stroman (The Producers, Oklahoma!, Contact). In an art-nouveau setting, it features a scintillating climax with singing and dancing grisettes at the legendary Maxim’s. Nathan Gunn and Kelli O’Hara co-star and Andrew Davis conducts.

The basis of the story, concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen’s attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – comes from an 1861 comedy play, L’attaché d’ambassade by Henri Meilhac. The operetta was first performed at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 30 December 1905 with Mizzi Günther as Hanna, Louis Treumann (de) as Danilo, Siegmund Natzler as Baron Zeta and Annie Wünsch as Valencienne. It was Lehár’s first major success, becoming internationally the best-known operetta of its era. Lehár subsequently made changes for productions in London in 1907 (two new numbers), and Berlin in the 1920s, but the definitive version is basically that of the original production.

The Merry Widow is on at the NCPA from today, February 2 to Wednesday, February 4, at 6 pm.

(Picture courtesy www.nromusic.com)

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Read

RK Laxman: An uncommon cartoonist

Presenting tributes in words, pictures and cartoons for the country’s most inspired and inspiring cartoonist, RK Laxman (1921 – 2015).
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Though he wasn’t drawing his famous series of pocket cartoons in the daily The Times of India lately, cartoonist RK Laxman’s presence was indelibly linked to the publication. The famous cartoonist passed away at age 94 in Pune yesterday; on a day when the country celebrated its 65th Republic Day, Laxman took the nation’s leave after severe illness – but not before making millions of us chortle for decades.

There is hardly anything to be said about a personality as great as his, and on his passing, all one can do is reminisce about how his work touched one’s life, directly or indirectly. Here’s presenting five tributes in word and caricature to India’s greatest cartoonist.

The Times of India, a collection of RK Laxman’s best works

The Indian Express, cartoonist Unny’s pictorial tribute

Scroll.in, Rajdeep Sardesai fondly remembers the uncommon man

The Hindustan Times, a tribute 

Mid Day, a recent RK Laxman exhibition 

(Featured image courtesy www.thehindu.com)

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Event

Seniors rock the stage at Umang 2015

Our social initiatives partner Silver Inning Foundation and Rotary Club, Rotaract Club of Rizvi Law College host awesome seniors talent show.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Who says senior citizens are just supposed to put their feet up and watch the world go by?

The Metrognome’s social initiatives partner, Silver Inning Foundation put up a breathtaking senior citizens talent show, Umang 2015, at Birla Matoshree Sabhagriha, recently to a packed house and some extremely talented acts. The show’s partners included Rotary Club of Mumbai, Nariman Point, Rotaract Club of Rizvi Law College.

UmangUmang is a unique stage talent show for senior citizens over 55 years of age. This year, the event was included under the Umang Rotary District 3140 Service week.

Said Sailesh Mishra, Founder President of Silver Inning Foundation, “As there are not enough opportunities for the elderly to show their talent, the main purpose of this programme is to provide a platform for them. This is not a competition between the elderly, but a forum to encourage them to demonstrate their hidden talent. We are the pioneers in the country to annually organise this unique talent show for seniors since 2008. Every senior citizen is invited to participate without affiliation to any organisation, community, class, or caste.”

Over time, the fast pace of our lives and changing traditions have dampened the spirits of senior citizens by suggesting that they can no longer contribute to society and benefit from being active. “But we don’t accept this reasoning for our elderly parents, friends, or neighbours. We can help them maximise their health and vitality by keeping them active and involved in the world around them,” Sailesh says.

Vipul Shah of Rotary Club of Mumbai, Nariman Point said, “It was magical to see vibrant and evergreen seniors performing in as many as 27 acts. They were agedUmang from  55 years to 81 years, and they sang, danced, enacted social plays, performed music. The saying ‘Bachpan after pachhpan’ is apt for such a show.”

Siddharth Jaiswal, President, Rotaract Club of Rizvi Law College said, “It was one of the biggest-ever talent shows of senior citizens all over Maharashtra. Seniors wait for this event every year. The hall was packed with 1,000 elders in the audience, as also young volunteers from the Rotaract Club of Rizvi Law College, TISS, Sophia College and Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work.”

The show saw participation from 126 seniors and 20 senior citizens organisations. The associate partners for the show were Dignity Foundation, FESCOM Mumbai, HelpAge India, Harmony for Silvers Foundation, 1298 Senior Citizens Helpline, A1 Snehanjali, The Metrognome and Palliative Care Department, Bhaktivedanta Hospital. The show was co-hosted by Rotary Club of Bombay Pier.

(Pictures courtesy Aaji Care)

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Event

Film journalist says ‘I hate Bollywood’

‘I hate Bollywood’ is Mumbai film journalist Rohit Khilnani’s debut novel, which was launched by Bollywood film actor Amitabh Bachchan.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Amidst a packed house, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan launched well-known entertainment journalist, Rohit Khilnani’s debut novel, I Hate Bollywood at Sofitel, BKC, Mumbai.

At the launch of Rohit’s book, Bachchanspoke at length about a chapter in the book, ‘The Hospital Beat’. The chapter talks about how reporters cover celebrities when they are admitted in the hospital. It focusses on reporters outside Lilavati Hospital when Bachchan was admitted there in 2006. “Of course the media has to do its job, but there have been times when my car couldn’t move because the media had blocked the way,” he said, also recollecting an incident when a reporter had entered the hospital in disguise. “Jaya asked me why am I giving interviews from the hospital room, I told her I have not given any interview. Later we realised that this reporter had entered my room dressed as a doctor.”

To which the author admitted, “Yes, media can be insensitive sometimes!”

Speaking at the launch, Rohit said, “From my 15 years of experience in film journalism, I have realised one thing: everyone wants to know more and more about Bollywood. So I thought of putting my experiences on paper for all those who love or hate Bollywood. Of course, I have made a fiction story out of it so that it entertains the reader. I Hate Bollywood is like a masala film, it has action, drama and romance!”

The novel takes an interesting look at Bollywood from a reporter’s point of view. Born and brought up in Chembur, a Mumbai suburb, in the ’80s, Raghu Kumar has his first brush with filmstars as a child. Ever since, he is intrigued by the workings of Bollywood. In the ’90s, Raghu is hired by popular film journalist Rajeev Mehra for the newspaper The News, where his big story is an interview of yesteryear star Parveen Babi. Thus starts his tryst with journalism. He then moves on to reporting for news channels, where he has his own programme.

But a trap is laid by a senior colleague to trip him up and he walks right into it. It takes him two years to bounce back. Despite doing well, hobnobbing with top filmstars and getting invited to the best parties in town, Raghu still hates Bollywood.

Rohit Khilnani is the Entertainment Editor at Headlines Today. He specialises in Bollywood and has worked closely with the who’s who of the Hindi film industry. He started his career as a freelance writer for India’s leading newspapers, including The Times of India and The Indian Express. He has previously worked for NDTV and CNN-IBN.

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