To coincide with the 70th birth anniversary of Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, the legendary Dhrupad exponent, Ragini Trust has organised a special event on June 15, 2002 at the Fine Arts Cultural Centre, Chembur, Mumbai. The event will celebrate the genre of music as well as the Ustad himself. The evening will witness the noted Hindustani classical music exponent Kishori Amonkar sing in the 'Khiyal' genre and the event will conclude with a performance by Ustad Dagar. The event will coincide with the launch of two very special albums on Dhrupad-the first, a jugalbandi recorded during a live performance by the two Dagar brothers in Paris and the second, a solo by Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar.

BOOKS
Culinary Carvings

This cookery book is different. Creative Carving of Fruits and Vegetables by Kikky Sihota and photographs by Deepak Budhiraja, presents simple and highly imaginative ways of carving greens for salads, garnishes and exotic dishes as well as for table decoratons. Pictorially rich and slickly produced, this delight is a must for your book shelf. Published by Roli Books, the price is not mentioned. For more details e-mail roli@vsnl.com.

THEATRE
Set for the Stage

If theatre lures you, head for the Summer Theatre Festival at Kamani Auditorim, Delhi from May 26 to June 11. Presented by the National School of Drama, the plays include Vijay Tendulkar's Ghasiram Kotwal (May 27, 28, 29) and Krishna Baldev Vaid's Uska Bachpan (June 9, 10) among others. Tickets: Rs 100, 50, 25, 10. For enquiries call: 011-3383420.

FILMS
Sizzling Screen

There's some hotstuff on screen this season. Apart from Devdas, the releases include the comedy Hum Kisise Kum Nahin starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Aishwarya Rai. The thriller is Mere Yaar ki Shaadi Hai starring Yash Chopra's son Uday, Jimmy Shergill and Sanjana, directed by Aditya Chopra. Tulip Joshi makes her dubut in this film. Adding action to thrill is Awara Paagal Deewana starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Amrita Rao, in which the stunt directors have been hired from The Matrix. We know what you are about to do this summer!