See saw: Out of the JLF Box

The official calendar of the Jaipur Literature Festival 2013 is ready and has profound portrait shots of several 21st century authors. The calendar, which will be launched today, has been shot by photographer Rohit Chawla. The pictures are a part of a coffee-table book called Authors, which Chawla has been working on for the past three years. “The book includes shots of my tête-à-tête with a bunch of my favorite authors. I’ve maintained graphic consistency by shooting all of them in a box,” says Chawla. All the photographs have been taken at JLF last year. “The clicks are extremely candid, much like the conversations I had with each of them,” adds Chawla.

Photo Shop

Even though the first edition of Delhi Photo Festival, which was held in Delhi in 2011, created quite a buzz, the organisers skipped 2012. Photography aficionados, however, may rejoice as the event is back this year with a new theme and a different set of photographers. An initiative of Nazar Foundation, which promotes photographic arts, and India Habitat Centre (IHC), the event will be held from September 27 to October 11. This year’s theme for prints is “Grace”, a tribute to veteran fashion photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta who passed away in 2012. However, digital works, slide shows and multimedia installations are not expected to follow the theme. Submission of entries will begin in March. Apart from IHC, the exhibitions will also be held at various galleries across the city.

Inaugural Ball, Indian style

Members of Indiaspora, an Indian-American community in Washington DC, celebrated and honoured the second win of US President Barack Obama on January 19, complete with a dose of Bollywood and bhangra. Held at the Mandarian Oriental hotel in Washington DC, the event saw performances by clarinetist Shankar Tucker, dance troupe of Mona Khan and a US-based bhangra ensemble called Red Bhangra. Celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan was on board to add Indian-ness to the cuisine. A number of politicians from the US attended the unofficial inaugural ball, as did Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro-ng.