For the young at heart

The weekend concluding line-up at the Habba seems to feature quite a few young-blooded performances. We pick two performances we think you have to watch

The weekend concluding line-up at the Habba seems to feature quite a few young-blooded performances. We pick two performances we think you have to watch

Our city moves and grinds around us. Cars, autos, and motorbikes speed along our streets and new supermarkets, shopping malls and tall buildings rise, starting to dominate the skyline above us. Bangalore has been rapidly changing, through the businesses, the traffic and through all the different people that move into the city that we call home.

In Walking on Glass, Ram Ganesh Kamatham tries to encapsulate our fast changing city. The play is the story of a young couple Megha and Shankar, played by Meghana Mundkur and Abhishek Majumdar, as they try to make ends meet in a city that seems to have gone mad. Set in the heart of the IT boom of the 2000s, the two live a crazy life where Megha works nights at a call center while Shankar works as a software engineer.

While this seems to be the set up for a long, tiring, sob story, the play is far from it. It is a comedy with the couple's crazy life in a city, constantly changing, being full of moments of laughter. Ram Ganesh says this play carries a minor warning for interested theatergoers. In a fast-paced play about our changing city, be prepared to face the anger of the 'real' Bangalorean toou00a0-- swearing, to be precise.

Where: Ranga Shankara
On: December 18
When: 7pmu00a0

The director tells us about Dancing on Glass...

What's the play about?
It was written in 2004. It's about two people living in Bangalore at that time, during the IT boom. It's about the evolution of India and Bangalore, but focused on the city. It looks at the way the city is changingu00a0-- the human aspect. While the play is about the evolution of India it is not about any other state or city. It's about Bangalore.

Why the Habba?
No special reason. It's a play about Bangalore and is a favourite with theatregoers. It says a lot about the city.

What do you hope for the audience to take away from the performance?
I hope they will be moved by the experience. The play is so close to the reality of life in Bangalore. It's Our Story.

What should people expect to see in the play?
Lights, it's fast and furiousu00a0-- it's very quick and moves very rapidly and the language! There's lots of swearing. The play taps into the anger that is all around us.

Are there any particular scenes to look forward to?
It's a very fast moving play. There is no one moment. There are many moments to look forward to.

Is the play geared to a younger audience?
Very much so! It's about a young Bangalore and it's evolution from a quiet garden city to a fast-paced IT hub. It plays to the reality and is very aware of what's happening on the ground.

Anything funny from the rehearsals?
It's a small two person play which is always fun. The whole project has been great fun, particularly because we have a new actress in the cast (grins).

Strings is in town!

The popular Hindi music band from across the border, will peform in Bangalore over the weekend, and we seem as excited as them about the performance. Faisal Kapadia says, "For the Habba we have decided to play all the hits from our previous albums."

The band in question: Strings

Playing in Bangalore has always been fun for the band. He says, "It was always about having a great time playing in the city of parties.

It's very exiting and interesting to play in the city. People from Bangalore genuinly like and appreciate good music. Music really grows in Bangalore and this is a city where any artist would love to perform."

The band loves playing pop rock but have experimented with other genres as well."We're like children trying to do everything," Faisal adds.

In 2008, Strings came up with their fifth studio album called Koi Aanay Wala Hai, but "the political situation was not that stable in Pakistan so we could not do the post release tours." The US was the only place they were allowed to tour in . Now that things are a bit better, they are more focused on touring and will start one soon.

The band was formed in 1989 and they've brought out two albums and then took a eight year long hiatus. In 2000, they re-grouped as a two member band and released their album Door. The rest is history. Catch them live in performance...

At: Palace Grounds
On: December 19
6.30 pm onwards

Also catch Ramesh the percussionist and DJ Confluence on December 19 at Palace Grounds, 6.30 pm onwards and The Manganiar Sufi Group and Shreya Ghoshal live in performance at the Palace Grounds on December 20, 6.30 pm onwards.