Category: BOOKS, ARTS & CULTURE
BOOKS,ARTS & CULTURE
7 & 8 November 2025, NCPA The much loved The Little Festival …. where books are a lot of fun! for children returns this year by popular demand, running alongside Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest at the NCPA on 7 & 8 November from 9am to 1.30pm. In collaboration with the H T Parekh Foundation, The Little Festival […]
BOOKS,ARTS & CULTURE – Page 2
Cancer treatment presents significant emotional and mental challenges for children and their caregivers. Recognizing this, the Third Circle team at St. Judes focuses on delivering comprehensive emotional support to families residing at its centres. Through various educational and interactive initiatives, the organisation promotes the overall well-being of children and their families, offering them opportunities to […]
Come to The Little Festival at Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest…where books are a lot of fun!
7 & 8 November 2025, NCPA
The much loved The Little Festival …. where books are a lot of fun! for children returns this year by popular demand, running alongside Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest at the NCPA on 7 & 8 November from 9am to 1.30pm.
In collaboration with the H T Parekh Foundation, The Little Festival will hold a variety of events and activities for the age group 8-13, involving storytelling, conversations, poetry, art, dance, music, word treasure hunt, workshops, book swaps, philately as well as sessions conducted by teenage writers and moderators. Children from a range of schools including NGOs will be invited to attend. The Binod Kanoria Awards for Children’s Literature will also be announced during The Little Festival.
Award-winning authors, writers illustrators, animators, librarians, including Abhijeet Kini, Bijal Vachcharajani, Bittu Sehgal, Cyrus Broacha, Kavita Singh Kale, Mukta Patil, Nita Luthria, Shalini Pradhan, Suresh Eriyat, will be participating. Ustad Fazal Qureshi will helm a session on playing the tabla, Katie Bagli from the Jane Goodall Foundation will lead a nature trail, Kasim Ansari will conduct tree walks, performative artist Prachi Saathi will tell stories through Bharat Natyam, Anya Hannan (at 14 the youngest writer at the Festival!) will discuss her book devoted to ocean conservation, and a large cast from Gillo Repertory Theatre directed by Shaili Sathyu will perform a play The Ghost of the Mountains.
There will be several themes for the young ones to engage with, including nature, pets, food, philately, science fiction, music, mystery, ghost stories and the environment. The activity-based sessions and book swaps will be conducted in the Doorbeen Tent to be set up in the NCPA grounds, an experience which was greatly enjoyed by the children last year.
Associate Festival Director Reena Agrawal who curates The Little Festival said: “In a world where the screen is proliferating, we are very happy to offer young children the option of interactive activities and exposure in presence to authors, books, arts and culture, live performances and the outdoors. We want to remind them that physical books and the expressive arts of acting, dance and song are as, if not more, spellbinding and magical as the lure of the digital world which surrounds them. We are grateful to the H T Parekh Foundation for their positive support to us in this endeavour”.
H T Parekh Foundation expressed its support: “Partnering with The Little Festival for the second year reflects H T Parekh Foundation’s deep commitment to promoting joyful reading among children. Through Doorbeen, our initiative that focuses on building school and community libraries, the professional development of library practitioners and the development of quality children’s literature in regional languages, we support the same vision as the festival: creating engaging, interactive, and inspiring experiences that help children discover the magic of books and foster a lifelong love for reading”.
Preview Of What’s In Store For Attendees At The Aditya Birla ‘Masters Of Music’ Concert
Art is how we decorate spaces, and music is how we decorate time! To preserve the timelessness of the arts and up the ante for the classical music scene in India, Aditya Birla Group has brought legendary Indian artists together under one roof for an unforgettable, enchanting soirée of Indian classical rhythms with its Aditya Birla ‘Masters Of Music’ concert.
Indian music connoisseurs are in for a sensory treat as renowned names like L. Shankar, Vikku Vinayakram, V. Selvaganesh, Ustad Fazal Qureshi, and Swaminathan Selvaganesh will take the stage to enthral the concert attendees. Here’s everything to know about the sure-to-be spectacular evening:
A Glimpse of The Rich Heritage Of Indian Classical Music And Percussion: India’s diversity is reflected in the rich musical traditions that originated and continue to persist in the country. While Indian vocalists and percussionists have been adopting various styles and instruments from beyond Indian shores, India, for the longest time, has cultivated a culture of innovative percussion playing, enriching the past and the present of Indian classical music. Aditya Birla ‘Masters of Music’ concert will recognise and highlight this globally hailed lineage of Indian classical music and our world-renowned artists.
Grammy-Winning Artists Will Grace The Stage For The Night: The line-up for the soul-stirring evening includes veterans like Vikku Vinayakram, who has brought recognition to the ancient percussion of Ghatam and is known for his improvisatory finesse in playing it with the innovative complexity that is a signature across his various collaborations and discography. His Grammy win in the ‘Best World Album’ category in 1991 brought acclaim of great magnitude to Indian percussion.
The night gets better as globally renowned percussionist, V. Selvaganesh, will also serenade the auditorium with his craft of playing Kanjira. In 2024, his band ‘Shakti’ won the Grammy in the ‘Best Global Music Album’ category for ‘This Moment.’Shankar Lakshminarayana, widely known as L. Shankar, a multifaceted talent will grace the stage with his impeccable vocal and instrumental prowess during the evening. He is a world-renowned Grammy-winning artist who is credited for the invention of the stereophonic double violin. Along with these virtuosos, Ustad Fazal Qureshi will synthesise the palpable energy in the room into the rhythmic magic of tabla playing with an amalgamation of diverse music genres. Swaminathan Selvaganesh, who has gained mastery in playing various traditional percussions like Mridangam, Morsing, Kanjira, and Ghatam, will regale the audience with his alluring performance.
Three Generations Of Percussionists Will Perform Under The Same Roof: Three generations of percussionists – Vikku Vinayakram, his son V. Selvaganesh, and his grandson, Swaminathan Selvaganesh will display their acoustic prowess under the same roof in a performance for the history books, turning the concert into an extraordinary celebration of percussion heritage while leaving an indelible memory in the minds of the concert-goers.
Jamshed Bhabha Theatre At The NCPA Will Accommodate The Musical Aficionados For the Aditya Birla ‘Masters Of Music’ Concert: For more than five decades, the NCPA has been one of Mumbai’s regular cultural abodes, and its Jamshed Bhabha Theatre is a distinguished acoustic auditorium that has witnessed many orchestras and opera performances that require meticulous settings. With the capacity to seat 1,081 people, the theatre boasts a double foyer with superior acoustic settings, giving the attendees an intimate percussive experience of the concert.
A Preview Of What’s In Store For Attendees At The Aditya Birla ‘Masters Of Music’ Concert
Art is how we decorate spaces, and music is how we decorate time! To preserve the timelessness of the arts and up the ante for the classical music scene in India, Aditya Birla Group has brought legendary Indian artists together under one roof for an unforgettable, enchanting soirée of Indian classical rhythms with its Aditya Birla ‘Masters Of Music’ concert.
Indian music connoisseurs are in for a sensory treat as renowned names like L. Shankar, Vikku Vinayakram, V. Selvaganesh, Ustad Fazal Qureshi, and Swaminathan Selvaganesh will take the stage to enthral the concert attendees. Here’s everything to know about the sure-to-be spectacular evening:
A Glimpse of The Rich Heritage Of Indian Classical Music And Percussion: India’s diversity is reflected in the rich musical traditions that originated and continue to persist in the country. While Indian vocalists and percussionists have been adopting various styles and instruments from beyond Indian shores, India, for the longest time, has cultivated a culture of innovative percussion playing, enriching the past and the present of Indian classical music. Aditya Birla ‘Masters of Music’ concert will recognise and highlight this globally hailed lineage of Indian classical music and our world-renowned artists.
Grammy-Winning Artists Will Grace The Stage For The Night: The line-up for the soul-stirring evening includes veterans like Vikku Vinayakram, who has brought recognition to the ancient percussion of Ghatam and is known for his improvisatory finesse in playing it with the innovative complexity that is a signature across his various collaborations and discography. His Grammy win in the ‘Best World Album’ category in 1991 brought acclaim of great magnitude to Indian percussion.
The night gets better as globally renowned percussionist, V. Selvaganesh, will also serenade the auditorium with his craft of playing Kanjira. In 2024, his band ‘Shakti’ won the Grammy in the ‘Best Global Music Album’ category for ‘This Moment.’Shankar Lakshminarayana, widely known as L. Shankar, a multifaceted talent will grace the stage with his impeccable vocal and instrumental prowess during the evening. He is a world-renowned Grammy-winning artist who is credited for the invention of the stereophonic double violin. Along with these virtuosos, Ustad Fazal Qureshi will synthesise the palpable energy in the room into the rhythmic magic of tabla playing with an amalgamation of diverse music genres. Swaminathan Selvaganesh, who has gained mastery in playing various traditional percussions like Mridangam, Morsing, Kanjira, and Ghatam, will regale the audience with his alluring performance.
Three Generations Of Percussionists Will Perform Under The Same Roof: Three generations of percussionists – Vikku Vinayakram, his son V. Selvaganesh, and his grandson, Swaminathan Selvaganesh will display their acoustic prowess under the same roof in a performance for the history books, turning the concert into an extraordinary celebration of percussion heritage while leaving an indelible memory in the minds of the concert-goers.
Jamshed Bhabha Theatre At The NCPA Will Accommodate The Musical Aficionados For the Aditya Birla ‘Masters Of Music’ Concert: For more than five decades, the NCPA has been one of Mumbai’s regular cultural abodes, and its Jamshed Bhabha Theatre is a distinguished acoustic auditorium that has witnessed many orchestras and opera performances that require meticulous settings. With the capacity to seat 1,081 people, the theatre boasts a double foyer with superior acoustic settings, giving the attendees an intimate percussive experience of the concert.
The Aditya Birla Group is a patron of the arts. Aditya Birla ‘Masters of Music’, in collaboration with Hyperlink Brand Solutions and Paytm Insider, will be an ongoing endeavour to bring music enthusiasts together for an evening with legendary artists, serenading the audience and providing them with a sensory nourishing experience like never before.