The Thinking Canvas

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, February 19, 2008 - Debashish Mukerjee cordially invites you to 'The Thinking Canvas', an exhibition of paintings from February 18 to February 24, 2008 at the Jehangir Art Gallery (No. 1) between eleven in the morning and seven in the evening.

The invitation describes this venture as an artistic endeavour to translate the thoughts and images of the mind onto his canvas through colour and form. The invitation further describes that the paintings of Debashish come across as an innocent, lyrical expression, almost child like in sincerity.

When asked about his vocational education, this Delhi based artist married to Nandita Mukerjee says, "Patna, a funny place description for a college, the Government College of Arts and Crafts that later got associated with the Patna university."

Whether liked or not, Debashish's paintings intentions lean towards abstraction with aesthetics widened to suit interiors of patrons. Allow this man associated with myriad creative fields, a rich background, and his thinking canvas to take you on a journey of discovery. Discover the simple!

Author Looses Money and Job Due to Mumbai Police

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, February 15, 2008 - On the eve of Valentine's Day after midnight, an author was detained for no apparent reason at the Marine Line Police Station located in Mumbai. He was travelling home to Goregaon in a Taxi Cab. Early in the morning he was let off with only fifty rupees out of the larger sum of money carried by him on his body to reach his residence. Considering that twice earlier in the same week amounts amounting to Rs. 2000 and more were stolen off the author's body along with other valuables that included information with regards to job telephone numbers, this does not seem a newer happening. The next day the author was asked not to report to work at the advertising agency where he worked as the Copy Chief.

Currently without money and a job, this author's damnation continues here on earth in Mumbai!

Election Results - Maharashtra Mantralaya and Allied Offices Co-operative Bank Limited

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Friday, February 08, 2008 - The Maharashtra Mantralaya and Allied Offices Co-operative Bank Limited completed 78 years this year. Election to elect members under the Chief Secretary Smt. Chitkala Zutshi were held in the last week of the year 2007.

The results were declared in the first week of January in a meeting held at the office of the bank under observation of J. D. Patil, Sub-Registrar of Co-operative Organizations (Mumbai City).

Tushar Purshottam Hirlekar, Vasudev Thimnappa Devadiga, Gajanan Shankar Sawant, Dattaram Laxman Kumbhar, Pradeep Namdev Shirdhankar, Sudesh Rangnath Rozekar, Sunil Bapurao Ravade, Subhash Narayan Gangurde, Shivaji Fakkadrao Landge, Sanjay Yadav Gaikwad, Bharat Wamanrao Wankhede, Pushottam Shankar Pawaskar, Vijay Ramchandra Khedekar, Smt. Swati Suresh Rane, and Smt. Chhaya Sunil Agnihotri are the names of those elected.

Out of these elected members Tushar Purshottam Hirlekar was elected unopposed as the President, and Sanjay Yadav Gaikwad was elected unopposed as the Vice President of the Bank. ###

For more information contact Chief Officer A. V. Jadhav on telephone numbers 22812046, 22793758, and 22835153 or telefax numbers 22025452, branch office numbers 22856940, 22835143, 22835146, 22793367 and 22793986.

Smart and Intelligent Approach Towards Fashion Education – A New Horizon of Fashion Careers Offered by SNDT Women’s University Mumbai

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, February 6, 2008 - SNDT Women's University is committed to the cause of women's empowerment through education, particularly higher education. Thus, it offers relevant courses in formal and non-formal streams. Previously the Indian government emphasized on the crème sectors such as Engineering, Medicine, and IT, but in the past few years, it has been realized that the credits of economic growth also go to the fashion including apparel, jewelry, and also its allied branches such as fashion retail, and apparel manufacturing and merchandising.

This sector is growing rapidly in its various sub-streams. However, against the employment opportunities available in this sector, there is a dearth of adequate and efficient manpower, which might hamper the growth of the fashion industry, and thus the economy as a whole.

Thus, in order to provide the industry with skilled and efficient human resource, and in turn provide the youth with various job opportunities in this sector, SNDT has taken a right step at the right time by introducing new courses for fashion and apparel related fields, as well as the jewelry sector. These courses are U. G. Degree in Fashion Design, U. G. Degree in Fashion Communication, U. G. Degree in Jewelry Design, U. G. Diploma in Computer Assisted Fashion Design, P. G. Diploma in Fashion Design and Logistics, P. G. Diploma in Apparel Manufacturing and Merchandising, and P. G. Diploma in Fashion Retailing. The durations of the degree programs are 3 years, and that of the P. G. diplomas are 2 years. To serve this cause, SNDT has given its affiliation to only those institutions, which already have a strong background in terms of infrastructure and professionally trained human resources.

The fashion industry is fast growing and has equally challenging opportunities as in various other sectors such as IT and Engineering, thus even in this field, competitive and diligent manpower is required. Therefore, in order to serve the industry with industrious human resources, the SNDT University has acquired a system wherein the students will be selected based on an entrance exam so that the most deserving candidates are selected and groomed to be focused fashion professionals of tomorrow. This entrance examination will be conducted on May 11, 2008 on a National level where SNDT has identified 12 examination centers all over the country to benefit all those students who aspire for fashion education.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Chandra Krishnamurthy and her team have done extensive and intensive research on this blooming fashion sector to identify requirements of industry in terms of fashion education, and based on the job prospects available in this field of fashion, the courses have been structured.

SNDT has got immense industry support through the advisory boards of colleges conducted and affiliated to it. To name a few personalities, Mr. Rahul Mehta, President of the Clothing Manufactures Association of India has generously accepted the invitation of being Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the School of Fashion Technology Pune, Shri A. S. Awasthi Retd. I. A S. Former Director Of Higher Education Government Of NCT Delhi, Shri Pradeep V. Mehta - Principal Mehta Consulting LLC USA, Shri A. K. Dadoo - Vice President Reliance Industries Ltd. Panipat, and Members of the Advisory Board of the Satyam Fashion Institute Noida.

Mr. Gautam Banerjee – Renowned Jewellery Designer, Dr. Usha Balakrishnan – Art Historian, Mr. Pushpak Desai – Director, Sundaram Jewels Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Colin Shah – Director, Kama Jewellery, have also contributed to the jewelry design degree programme at SNDT Juhu, Mumbai.

The Honorable V. Chancellor would like to announce this new venture of opportunities for the upcoming women talent of India in Fashion Education that supports the clothing and textile sector of India through affiliated colleges in Mumbai, Pune, Noida, and in Indore.###

Emami Chisel First Art Auction – A One of a Kind Debut to Watch Out for in February

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, February 03, 2008 - Just when the spring is about to arrive in full bloom, Emami Chisel Art is bustling with activities of a new kind. It's adding final touches to the preparation for the long awaited event - the first auction of Indian Modern and Contemporary Art on Feb 23rd, 08 to be held at Emami Chisel Art, Kolkata. The online bidding, which starts from Feb 16, the sale is targeted to embrace bidders from India and around the world."A preview is slated for art aficionados before the hammer actually comes down on the prized collection. One can take a look at the impressive array on February 02, 2008 at Hotel Taj Mahal, New Delhi. Other previews will be held at The Grand Central (ITC) Mumbai on February 10, 2008 and Emami Towers in Kolkata from February 16 - 22, 2008.

For those yet to get acquainted, Emami Chisel Art ( in short ECA) has been formed out of collaboration between two diverse business groups – the reputed Emami Group and Kolkata's well-known art outfit Chisel Art; the parent company of Aakriti Art Gallery. Among the highpoints of the auction are Tyeb Mehta's 'Kali III' (4-5 crore), F.N. Souza's 'Manor House' (1.5-2 crore), M F Husain's 'Safdar Hashmi' (2-2.5 crore) which was painted in reaction to the cultural activist's gruesome assassination. This was also the first painting from an Indian artist to cross the Rs10 lakh mark in 1987. Besides, there's a rare landscape by Raza made in 1953( 80 lakhs-1 crore). The other biggies are J. Swaminathan (80lakhs-1 crore), Bikash Bhattacharjee (Over The Dark Clouds 40-50 lakh), a couple of Manjit Bawa's oil on canvas (40-50 lakhs each), two charcoal drawings by Amrita Sher-Gil (12-16 lakh each), and a bronze head by Akbar Padamsee (16-20 lakhs).

There are some veritable delights too, for example watercolours by Nandalal Bose and Deviprasad Roy Chowdhury. The fresh spring like quality in Shibu Natesan's watercolour and the sensuous study in oil by Paresh Maity are certainly collector's item.

Other important names in this auction include Ganesh Pyne, Jogen Chowdhury, K. G. Subramanyan, Krishen Khanna, Bhupen Khakhar, Himmat Shah, Prabhakar Kolte, B. Prabha, Ram Kumar, Rameshwar Broota, Satish Gujral,Anupam Sud, Nalini Malani, Nilima Sheikh, Amit Ambalal, Sakti Burman, Manu Parekh, Madhavi Parekh, T. Vaikuntham, Ganesh Haloi, Amitava Dhar, A. Balasubramanian, Chintan Upadhyay, G. Ravinder Reddy, Jagannath Panda, Sekhar Roy, Farhad Hussain, and Chhatrapati Dutta.

In fact, Samindranath Majumdar, Sekar Roy, Chattrapati Dutta, P. R.Narvekar, S. K. Shahajahan, Sunil De, and Ganesh Chandra Basu are the first-time entrants in an auction that lists number of works - 89, participating artists - 70, total sale high estimate - 22,48,80,000 (US $57,66,154), and total sale low estimate - 17,77,10,000 (US $45,56,667). From its very inception, the central most idea of ECA and its young team has been to take creativity out of the gallery walls and permeate our homes, influencing our lifestyle and aesthetic sensibilities. From another viewpoint, it's a novel way, a desirable option, to weave our lives around art, which offers creativity and an open forum for meaningful enduring dialogues as values, perception and mindsets go through shifting changes with the spirit of time.

To begin with, the most unique feature ECA has to offer on its debut auction day is the simultaneous bidding process; both physical as well as virtual to all art enthusiasts. It's by far the most ideal situation for art collectors whether they're in India or abroad. As a feast for the eyes and the senses; the auction promises a diverse selection to choose from. It comprises 89 lots of handpicked art works from 70 odd artists across India. With competitive pricing, it will be one of its kinds of gathering where paintings of contemporary young sparks will vie for attention amidst modern masters. Another huge advantage ECA is hoping to leverage for art collectors is that of transparency and tax rebates. Kolkata, unlike other centres, does not levy 12.5 % VAT on art, which means here is a lucrative benefit for art lovers to splurge on art, yet saving a huge chunk of money on tax.

As things stand, ECA plans to stage about three to four auctions every year. With the first one kicking off in February, there'll be two more auctions in September and December this year. "While the debut auction will encompass modern and contemporary art, the others should revolve around different exclusive genres like sculptures, drawings, prints and contemporary art," says Mr. Vikram Bachhawat.

According to Vikram Bachchawat, the director of ECA, "Our focus is to build a collector's base and we have some very significant and high quality works outsourced from collectors in different parts countrywide. They will now be accessible to art lovers."Today contemporary Indian art is on a robust growth curve. The size of the Indian art market, including the auction market, has been pegged at Rs 500 crore. It is growing at 35-50 per cent annually, according to sources.

At the confluence there is a willing audience to nurture and patronise the movement. To reiterate Tagore's words, "…this is a world of wild storms, kept tamed with the music of beauty"; ECA with an event like this is trying to bring artists' voices to the broadest audience. However, there's more to ECA than an auction house. According to Mr. Vikram Bachhawat, ECA has also a full-fledged art centre encompassing a gallery, library, archive, bookshop, publication wing and a future plan for museum. Another significant facet of this project is an 'art banking division' which will be manned by a consultant to guide buyers through the process of parking funds in rare artworks. The works, in turn, will be put up at the auctions when they appreciate and are likely to draw healthy bids," says Mr Vikram Bachhawat.

Before wrapping up, this is to remind all art enthusiasts that, online bidding will begin from February 16, 2008 on http://www.emamichisel.com/, with the final auction being conducted both live and online on February 23, 2008. Watch out for some glorious weeks ahead!

For further details contact Rrhima Naik on 9833227721

(This published News Release has not been authored and edited by Leslie Gregory Fernandes)