Mumbai have someone to drive you home after late night parties

Party Hard Drivers is a service on call for those too inebriated to drive home after partying all night

There is reason to party harder this season for Mumbai just got a special chauffeur service for those who can’t be trusted at the wheel after a wild night out.

Just two weeks old, this service – Party Hard Drivers – involves calling for a driver anywhere in the city, who can pick revellers up from their doorstep, drive them around town and drop them safely back home anytime between 10 pm and 3 am.

The service costs Rs 500 per night and Rs 50 extra per hour after 3 am.

The brains behind this service, the trio of Ankur Vaid, Saurabh Shah and Mishal Raheja, each with an alternative profession, say they thought up the idea after a couple of their friends had near-death experiences while driving in an inebriated state.

They were further encouraged with the nakabandi in Mumbai from July when the city police cracked down on every night vehicle, checking for drunken driving. Post the crackdown, 10,000 people have been fined so far and 2,000 people have spent time behind bars.

The proprietors of www.partyharddrivers.com profess their driver pool of over 125 is reliable and have been registered with the city police.

They also come in uniforms and carry their own cell phones. The proprietors say they only hire seasoned drivers with a clean track record of five to 10 years. Each of them is apparently test driven before being taken on and are hired only through reference.

Besides, the service providers profess to taking special care and making available older men to drive women back home.

They can be contacted on 65256521/22/25.
Source: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/

Do you enjoy the Magic World of Western Classical Music?

Then I am sure you will likeGiacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" There is a new celebrity concert season of the SOI (symphony orchestra of India) from February 9 until March 2, 2008, with the sensational highlight of a full-stage production of Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly on February 27, 29 and March 2! At Tata Theatre from 7pm.

This is the first ever production of Puccini’s opera ‘Madame Butterfly’ and it has a cast of singers from all over the world, a huge orchestra below the stage, and a wonderful set in a lovely garden.

It is a moving story of a young girl who is betrayed by her American lover. It’s a sad and passionate story with lush, beautiful music that tings the strings of your heart. Remember to take a hanky or a tissue..you might cry if you have a tender heart.


Also watch 'Gateways', A Musical Spectacle
presented by:
Jindal South West Foundation in association with Musica Productions.

Venue: Tata Theatre, NCPA. Mumbai
Date: 5th March 2008
Time: 7 p.m.
Duration: 90 mins. 'Gateways', A Musical Spectacle
presented by:
Jindal South West Foundation in association with Musica Productions.

Kitab Festival 2008

Liberatum aims to connect Britain’s finest cultural and media minds with the rest of the world through world-class festivals and significant cultural celebrations.

Liberatum’s global festival programming ranges from opera, theatre, poetry, literary events to heavyweight discussions, debates, musical performances and visual art.

Kitab 2008 that will be held from 22-24 February in Mumbai in partnership with The Times, UK.

A host of literay stalwarts along with promising writers will participate in the two days of book readings, discussions, film screenings, poetry sessions and interactive fora that have been carefully structured balancing elements of literature, culture, theatre and creative dialogue.

Programs:

21 February

8pm Poetry Party and Dinner at Indigo hosted by KITAB

22 February

Venue : Asiatic Library 11am Poetry Session - Sharanya Manivannan
11:40am The Art of Fiction: MJ Hyland (MJ Hyland's second book 'Carry Me Down' was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2006.) He will read a piece dedicated to the subject 'How To Write'. Hyland will also read a few short extracts from both her first and second novels, and talk about how they were written.

1pm The Author Hour (Namita Devidayal on her new book)

2pm The Director Speaks (Mahesh Bhatt on Sex in Indian Cinema )

3pm Young Mind Speaks (Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan talks about life as a young author in India )

4pm – Alliance Française Auditorium (Film Screening- EL Passado/ The Past; Brazil –2007 – 114 mins; Réalisateur : Hector Babenco; Acteurs : Mabi Abele, Mariana Anghileri, Mimi Ardu )

5pm Meher Pestonji's Play 'Feeding Crows' at Goethe Institute

6pm – Alliance Française Auditorium (Film Screening; The Voyeurs)

8pm GQ Party and Dinner at Good Earth hosted by Dylan Jones


23 February
Venue: Asiatic Library

11am Prince of Fiction (Niall Griffiths on darkness in contemporary fiction, interspersed with short readings from his own work.)

12pm Arab Visions (Robert Irwin presents a power-point presentation on Orientalist paintings including Vereshchagin's wonderful Indian canvases; Followed by a talk on 'The India of The Arabian Nights: The Arabian Nights of India'.)

1pm France at Kitab (Christine Jordis)

2pm Book and poetry readings - 10 poets and authors - in several languages

5pm Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke - Acclaimed German Artist Jonathan
Meese Exhibition; A Talk on Western Visual Arts in India Today

8pm Party at Bungalow 8 hosted by Pernord Ricard

24 February
Venue : Crossword Bookstore

12pm Going Against The Grain (To what extent is the woman writer going against the grain of her gender? Does she? Must she? Come find out through the words and voices of five contemporary women poets. Jane Bhandari, Sampurna Chattarji, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Menka Shivdasani, Marilyn Noronha )

1pm Observer of Life Booker 2007 shortlisted author Indra Sinha discusses his latest book with Shobhaa De and Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

2pm Gordon's Britain (Matthew d'Ancona gives a talk on what the future holds for the UK under Gordon Brown's leadership)

3pm English Muslim (Sarfraz Manzoor reads from his book followed by a talk)

4pm War and Sex (Julian West gives a fascinating talk)

8pm Vogue Party and Dinner at Olive

There is a day-long celebration of poetry at Prithvi Theatre on Sunday 17th February from 11 am to 11 pm

If you are in Mumbai this week-end and are very fond of poetry, Prithvi Theatre is a good place to hang around.

11am – 12:30pm
A Just Us Repertory Production WATER LILIES :

A TRILOGY
In each play, two strangers, a Man and a Woman, claiming different racial origins, meet by accident in a public space in the U.S. A poem is central to each story

2pm - 3:30pm
Gained in Translation:

Poets and translators read from Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, and Hindi

4pm - 4:30pm
Confronting Love: A reading of love poems

Tune in to the many moods and approaches, tones and textures, of love - Indian style.

4:45-5pm
Aaranya's Shabd Sangeet: Poetry and music

5:00 – 6:00pm
Poetry reading in English:

CP Surendran, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Sampurna
Chattarji, Menka Shivdasani, Anand Thakore, Jane Bhandari, Manisha Lakhe, Marilyn Noronha, Anju Makhija, Jerry Pinto, Peter Griffin.

6:30-7:45
Poetry in Wartime:

A film on poets' responses to war through the ages

7:30pm - 8:30pm
Open Mike: Calling all poets!

This is interesting event because participants can recite, declaim, shout, or sing their words. They can sit, stand or lie down. They can dance, turn cartwheels, play a musical instrument, or scratch their backs, as long as they perform the words.


9:00pm - 10:20pm
Aaranya's play: Peele Scooter Wala Aadmi

Simple questions may have simple answers, but some questions have no answers at all. These are questions that begin to stay with you… A young man is trying to write, but unanswered questions keep haunting him. The play explores his inner struggle as a writer and a person, as he tries repeatedly to tell the story he wishes to tell.