KOLKATA Amid seedy bars and restaurants on the way to the Kolkata airport is a modest flat in the downmarket area of Teghoria, where sits Kartick Chandra Pyne, unable to control his drool because half of his face is paralysed. Half of the rest of his body too is affected by neurological disorders following a cerebral attack 11 years ago. But 75-year-old Pyne is grateful his right hand is working. For that ensures he still has a steady income.

The 22nd of September this year changed Pyne's life forever. One of his paintings, Bird in a Cage, fetched $10,200 (Rs 4.7 lakh) at a Sotheby's auction in New York. It was one of Pyne's early surrealistic works in the 1970s. He does not know how it got there but his phone has not stopped ringing since. Every art gallery in the city wants a Kartick Pyne, and every buyer wants to have one in his collection.

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With Bird in a Cage (left) Pyne has caught the fancy of the world

For an artist who has spent all his life being true to his art-a lot of folk and some surrealistic-this recognition has been too little too late. Pyne, a cousin of the more famous Ganesh, was not exactly loved by the city's art world and had always been a lone ranger. Born into old money, which he has run out of since, he had enough to get by even if his paintings didn't sell.

"I would give away my paintings to students or people. Now I hear most of the paintings have made their way abroad," says Pyne, proudly displaying photographs of his paintings believed to have been bought by overseas buyers. He has not earned a penny out of these transactions, including the Sotheby's auction. Art galleries have paid as little as Rs 3,000 for his works. After the auction, a city gallery is willing to pay over 10 times that amount for one of his works.

"The art world is unpredictable, and we just don't know when an artist will get his due. Pyne had it long coming," says Archana Roy, director of the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata. Unfortunately, this appreciation is doing little for Pyne, who can do just about two paintings a month. Such is the irony of life.

-By Swagata Sen

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Bar is the place for Martinis

BANGALORE The police may have put a stop to the late night pub-crawling in Bangalore, but the Karnataka capital has not lost its fizz. Its newest plush bar Ice at the Taj Residency is complete with allusions to lightning with optical fibres, starlight ceiling and light curtains. It is open till 11.45 p.m. One can go to town with the Martinis as this is the place for it. There is also a selection of aged malts, cognacs and Cuban cigars, which can be savoured against cool music.

-By Stephen David

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Lambhachiya explores the jute medium to depict waves

DELHI The sights and sounds of one's childhood leave an indelible mark on one's psyche, and often bubble to the surface in strange ways. Manish Nai Lambhachiya, for one, has made the sounds and smells of his father's jute factory the prime inspiration of his exhibition of collage paintings on jute cloth. The works, while being an exploration of this novel medium, are also a discovery of the sound wave-an idea inspired by his father's condition of near-deafness caused by the 2003 Bombay blasts. Another idea Lambhachiya has tried to capture is nature's wrath. The Mumbai floods earlier this year flooded his studio, damaging 40 of his works. Using images of waves, tides and storm-water, he expresses the magnitude of the disaster and its aftermath in an abstract, almost lyrical manner. On till November 20 at the Apparao Galleries, The Garden Theatre, Triveni Kala Sangam, 205 Tansen Marg.

-By Gaurav Rajkhowa

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An ISKCON devotee

MUMBAI India Today Principal Photographer Fawzan Husain's exhibition "Faith" showcases the unshakeable belief in the divine across different faiths in India. "The exhibition is about how people express faith in different ways," says Husain. Some roll on the ground to appease their God, while for others tying a thread around a tree will ensure the safety of their loved ones. One of the most striking photographs on display is of an iskcon devotee against the idols of Ram, Lakshman and Sita. At the Piramal Gallery at NCPA from November 22 to December 8.

-By Aditi Pai

BANGALORE Arpana Caur shows her latest works after a long hiatus. "The Passion With Time", like most of her other works, celebrates the female form. While the works are figurative, the abstract element in the realisation of these works makes for an interesting study. Caur is one of those artists whose "representations are meant to empower women symbolically". Though her forms remain constant, their boundaries and settings make the figures in her work seem like they are set in borderless time lines and a universal landscape that remains contemporary. Caur's use of colours and traditional motifs adds to the universality of the figures. The exhibition will be at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad on November 19-20 and thereafter at the Mahua Art Gallery till December 2.

-By Nirmala Ravindran

Kalyug,
Sa Re Ga Ma
CD: Rs 145

Devi Ahilya Bai,
Music Today
CD: Rs 150

After Paap, the Mahesh Bhatt family has kept the trend of getting Pakistani singers to sing for their films. In Kalyug, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan of Dil ki lagan fame has sung Jiya dhadak dhadak jaye. It is pleasing to the ears. Aadat by Goher Mumtaz is haunting. Anuradha Paudwal has been resurrected by Anu Malik in Thi meri dastan supported by Amit Sana, the Indian Idol finalist. Sana's voice is melodious but needs maturity and depth. Maybe it will come with age.

Devi Ahilya Bai brings you the exuberance of the Maratha Dhangar music. Dhangars are known for a lifestyle that is religious and responsive to nature. Forceful rhythms mark their music. The songs in the album are fused with the richness of classical and folk music of the 18th century. Kalapini Komkali, Keshavrao Badge and Prahlad Shinde have rustic voices. Musicologist Ashok Ranade's score is commendable. The album has a wide spectrum of songs and sounds from the Indian folk world.

-By S. Sahaya Ranjit

Index