World Heritage property Afghan Church's facelift and reconsecration

The Church of St John the Evangelist, better known as the Afghan Church, is a church of Anglican heritage, that belongs to the Mumbai diocese of the Church of North India.[1] Located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, it was built by the British between 1847 and 1858 to commemorate the dead of the First Afghan War and the disastrous 1842 retreat from Kabul.[2] Memorials at the rear of the nave also record casualties from the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The foundation stone was laid in 1847; it was consecrated in 1858, and work on the steeple finished in 1865.[3] The church is located in Navy Nagar in the Colaba area of South Mumbai. It was designed by Henry Conybeare; architect William Butterfield was responsible for reredos, tiles, pews and screen; and the stained glass was by William Wailes.[4] In 2018, it was reported there are some 64 historic stained glass panels in the church in urgent need of restoration So the past 15 odd months the church was being restored to its former glory. A look at the renewed and reconsecrated Afghan Church after it unerwent a Rs 14 crore facelift gifted by World Monument Fund.

Artistic Creativity and Mental Health An Asia Society Talk by Dr David Goldbloom at NGMA Mumbai

#AASRA24X7HELPLINEFORDEPRESSEDSUICIDAL919820466726 #aasradotinfo #AASRA ‘#ArtisticCreativityAndMentalHealth’, with #DrDavidGoldbloom, which was hosted in #Mumbai last Friday. Dr. Goldbloom’s lecture was wonderful and illuminating – he compellingly broke down the age-old stereotype of the “mad” creative genius, demonstrating through research and data how the relationship between creativity and mental health is nuanced and complex. #AsiaSociety #NGMA #RaisaGodrejFoundation #PherozaGodrej #mehlimehtafoundation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4asqo2Sv7Lk

Celebrating Gieve Patel at the Experimental Theatre NCPA

#CelebratingGieve #GievePatel #QuasarThakore #ShantaGokhale #RanjitHoskote #AvanPatel #NCPA #ExperimentalTheatre #havobi #shernazpatel

At the NCPA Experimental Theatre a few days ago, poets, theatre practitioners, painters etc. converged to celebrate the life of the poet, playwright, painter Gieve Patel who passed away two months ago. Excerpts from his play #MisterBehram were enacted in English and Marathi The introduction was done by Shanta Gokhale, in which she spoke of Gieve’s play Mister Behram.

Mister Behram is about Behram, a rich Parsi landowner, also a well-known lawyer and reformist, and his relationship witha Warli tribal man Naval whom he adopted. Later on, he developed an acute physical fondness for the man and even permitted his daughter Dolly to marry him. The play highlights psychological complications in the family set-up, emotional abuse compounded by unfulfilled unspoken sexual feelings. Naval worships Behram given that he is his mentor, and feels compelled to always be in his good books. While Behram's feelings for his family and Naval are far more complicated.

The play was set in 19th-century south Gujarat where many members of the Parsi community owned estates that were home to indigenous tribes. The reading of Shanta Gokhale’s translation in Marathi was presented by #GajananParanjape who Gokhale considers the greatest living actor, #RutaPandit #SaeeLimaye and #AniruddhaKhutwad, who directed the play for its run in Marathi. The evening ended with several readings of poems written by Gieve by poets like #MenakaShivdasani #Arundhati and artists and friends like #AtulDodiya

Happy New Year 2024

Mira Rajput Kapoor was chief presenter at The 6th Artisan Jewellery Design Awards 2023

Mira Rajput Kapoor was chief presenter at The 6th Artisan Jewellery Design Awards 2023 presented by GJEPC on Friday, 19th May, at St. Regis Hotel Worli 7:30 pm onwards at Astor Ballroom with the theme indiamoderne – the world of art meets modern jewellery design for the millennials and Gen-Z. Artisan Awards presented by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) is a way to preserve and maintain India’s 5,000 year old legacy of craftsmanship in jewellery design wherein each district of India has different designs and creativity styles… For eg. Bengali kaarighari or South Indian temple jewellery is unique...

This year's theme has been further divided into three distinct categories with each focusing on different genre, namely, Art of Abstraction, Art of Sculpture, and Art of Print. Jury: The eminent judges included Guest of Honour influencer and jewellery enthusiast Mira Rajput Kapoor; Aparajita Jain, Director and Co-owner, Nature Morte Gallery; Nikhil Mehra of Shantanu & Nikhil; Sajil Shah, Jewellery Artist & Founder, Sajjante; Pernia Qureshi, Co-Founder, Saritoria; Forum Jhaveri, Director of Laboratory Operations, GIA Surat. The jury will select the finest design that marries the world of jewellery and fine art.