<h2>Animal planet</h2>
<p>A woman glances at soft toys on display at a shop in Bandra West</p>
<h2>Prints on the wall</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Printwork-a_e.jpg" alt="Artworks adorn the walls of Slow Living Room. Pics courtesy/Snickerdoodle Coffeeworks" width="1280" height="720" /><strong><em>Artworks adorn the walls of Slow Living Room. Pics courtesy/Snickerdoodle Coffeeworks</em></strong></p>
<p>One way to brighten up your walls is to use artwork. Visitors to Snickerdoodle Coffeeworks in Kalyan have a chance to enjoy some rare printworks that would not be out of place at a gallery in SoBo.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Vandana_e.jpg" alt="A printwork by VR Patel" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>A printwork by VR Patel</em></strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;Our co-founders Prateek Naik and Nikhil Kasar came across these prints during their visit to the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Bengaluru last year. It was a fascinating experience for us all to learn about printmaking as an indigenous art form in India. This also aligned with the concept of our Slow Living Room, a calming nook within the caf&eacute; dedicated to mindfulness and craftsmanship,&rdquo; shared Vandana Verma (inset), community manager. With six envelopes acquired from NGMA, highlighting graphic prints on different themes, Verma added, &ldquo;We already use the caf&eacute; as a gallery space to showcase different art forms. In the future, we would love to host more artists, collaborate on exhibitions and continue to make the space a hub of creativity.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>Echoes of Draupadi</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Utkarsh-Patel_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>Reviving the lore of a powerful mythological character, author and lecturer of comparative mythology at Mumbai University, Utkarsh Patel (below) launched his newest book, Silencing Draupadi on International Women&rsquo;s Day. &ldquo;Draupadi is undoubtedly the strongest of all female characters from our epics; however she also had to endure the most. In this book, she is representing the voice of all the women who have been silenced from time immemorial, across the world and in various ways,&rdquo; Patel told this diarist.</p>
<h2>A happy coincidence</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Danish-Husain_e.jpg" alt="Danish Husain (in suit) with the cast in a scene from the play, Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon. Pic courtesy/Dan.Husain on Instagram" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Danish Husain (in suit) with the cast in a scene from the play, Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon. Pic courtesy/Dan.Husain on Instagram</em></strong></p>
<p>For theatremaker Danish Husain, performing his ongoing production, Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon last Sunday came with the added grandeur of following poet Sahir Ludhianvi&rsquo;s 104th birth anniversary on March 8. &ldquo;Unfortunately, we could not get the date on Saturday. But it was a delight to perform on Sunday. There is a touch of poetic justice that his birthday falls on what would is International Women&rsquo;s Day, since some of his greatest poems have been for women,&rdquo; Husain told this diarist.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>From Berlin to Mumbai, all colourful and bright</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Colourful_e.jpg" alt="A display of the artist&rsquo;s artworks and installation in the gallery. Pic courtesy/Gallery XXL" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>A display of the artist&rsquo;s artworks and installation in the gallery. Pic courtesy/Gallery XXL</em></strong></p>
<p>Bringing a vibrant burst of colours to Mumbai&rsquo;s art scene, Berlin-based artist Tomislav Topić&rsquo;s (inset) ongoing exhibition, Temperatures - Interactions with Colour and Form at Gallery XXL traces the artists&rsquo; journey from Berlin to Goa and Mumbai. &nbsp;&ldquo;India, and the time in Goa gave me the calmness to concentrate on my process which I was unable to do in my daily life in Germany. It was a good decision for me to get into my painting practice and then also adapt to the colour worlds I found in the city, which are different from the paintings I have produced in Germany,&rdquo; Topić shared with this diarist.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Tomislav-a_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>With about 25 artworks, featuring one installation, six canvases, seven pigment-in-paper works, and more, the artist&rsquo;s first solo exhibition in the city also happened to be his maiden trip to Mumbai. &ldquo;After spending one month in Goa, arriving in Mumbai was a little shocking. It is the biggest and the most intense city I have travelled to. It was a little overwhelming for the first few days but I got into the vibe. As crazy as the city, is and as much as I would love to come back one day, and seems like I might be back, I am sure there will be many chances to display more works and installations in India,&rdquo; he concluded.</p>
<h2>A French stage for Mumbai</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Workshop_e.jpg" alt="A moment from the workshop. Pic courtesy/AF Bombay" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>A moment from the workshop. Pic courtesy/AF Bombay</em></strong></p>
<p>Last weekend, a group of eight students from Alliance Fran&ccedil;aise de Bombay spent a sunny day in the premises of their Santacruz centre, attending Sun and Sc&egrave;ne, a one-of-a-kind theatre workshop in French. &ldquo;It was sometime last year when I started thinking about bringing theatre to French classrooms. We wanted to incorporate theatre in the language in a way that the students do not only know how to read French but also how to react in it,&rdquo; Iram Sultan Premji (below), French teacher and interpreter at the institute told this diarist.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/mar/Iram-Premji_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>With various exercises, the students of the institute shined bright under the Saturday sun. &ldquo;We decided to conduct the workshop in an open set-up so that the students feel free to do what they want &mdash; which is what theatre is all about. They were all brilliant in the workshop and seeing their happy responses we would love to conduct such workshops in future,&rdquo; she added.</p><p>
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