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DILI, TIMOR-LESTE: Nawab Mir Najaf Ali Khan, grandson of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, recently visited Timor-Leste as part of an Indian delegation exploring new opportunities for business, investment and bilateral cooperation. The visit assumes significance at a time when Timor-Leste is seeking to expand its international economic partnerships and strengthen engagement with countries such as India. Nawab Najaf Ali Khan’s participation brought together a distinctive combination of India’s historical legacy, business interests and people-to-people diplomacy. Nawab Najaf Ali Khan is a prominent member of the erstwhile Hyderabad royal family and has been associated with heritage conservation, social initiatives and the preservation of the legacy of the Nizam dynasty. He is also the President of the Nizam Family Welfare Association. His public engagements have frequently focused on Hyderabad’s cultural heritage and the contribution of the Nizam dynasty to education, he...

Dharwad:  Recently, was in Dharwad to attend the three-day exhibition, lecture cum demonstration, slides show and interaction program of Prof Babu Jattakar, veteran artist and former Principal College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, Bengaluru.  Gods become alive in brass,   copper,   silver, and gold:  During an informal interaction, Prof S K Pattar, Principal of Government College of Fine Arts, Dharwad made a casual reference of his former student Naveen Shankarrao Kadlaskar, who has made a big name in sculpting the idols of Gods in brass, copper, silver, and gold. The way, he was dealt with made me curious to know more and meet him. However, repeated calls were reverted with switched off mode messages. This exercise went on for a couple of days. Work pressure compels to switch off the cell phone:  On the third day, Naveen Shankarrao Kadlaskar sprung a surprise and turned up and revealed the reasons behind switching off his cell phone. I...

Davanagere:  Shivashankar Sutar, veteran artist and guest faculty member at the University Visual Arts College in the Kala Gangotri campus, recently held a one-man show of his abstract paintings at the Drushyavishwa Kala Gallery here. The solo show drew a huge response from the fine art students, teachers, artists, and art lovers. Lizard,   a favourite in most of the paintings:  Just like fishes in Chi Su Krishna Setty's paintings and horses in painting wizard M F Hussain's artworks, Shivashankar Sutar has developed a close proximity with lizard. He has exhibited 80 paintings, including 22 graphic paintings. By and large, you can find the common house lizard in most of his abstract paintings. Various people have different kinds of opinions and notions about the common house gecko, but not Shivashankar Sutar. Invariably, it is omnipresent in most of his abstract paintings! A variety of colors and compositions:  Prof L K Hanumantachar, former Principal of the Universi...

By Shri Shrikant Joshi. Born and educated in Vijayapura, Industriialist in Nasik. The Teacher Who Could Pat Mao and Still Remain a Guru On 5 September 1888, in the small temple town of Tiruttani, was born a boy who would one day become one of India’s most distinguished philosophers, teachers and statesmen—Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. What is fascinating about Radhakrishnan is that, despite rising from a modest background to become a professor at Mysore and Calcutta, Vice-Chancellor, India’s first Vice-President and second President, he never quite lost the personality of the teacher. There was something almost theatrical about his appearance. He was invariably immaculate—spotless white dhoti, a long coat reaching almost to the knees, black shoes and, above all, his distinctive white turban. The turban became almost inseparable from his identity. Even when he travelled abroad and occupied the highest offices of the Republic, he retained this unmistakably Indian appearance. He carried h...

Dharwad:  Prof Babu Jattakar, veteran artist, former Principal of the College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishat, Bengaluru, did a three-day programme featuring his exhibition of selected pen and ink drawings, lecture cum demonstration, slide show and interactive session with the students of the Government College of Fine Arts, here.  First such initiative of the Chitrakala Shilpi Shri D V Halbhavi National Memorial Trust:  Incidentally, this happened to be the first such initiative of the Chitrakala Shilpi Shri D V Halbhavi National Memorial Trust, under the aegis of the Department of Kannada and Culture, Government of Karnataka. Veteran artists grace the occasion:  The three-day programme also turned out to be a meet the programme of stalwarts in the art field. Suresh Kulkarni, a household name in the art, education, philosophy and philanthropic circles turned up for the lecture cum demonstration programme.  Shower of admiration: Se...