Desi Diary

Oct. 2: Promoting global peace, tolerance and non-violence, A Public Forum in Celebra-tion of the United Nation’s International Day of Non-Violence. Featuring Wendy Hill, traditional healer, Anishnawbe Health, Toronto; Bruce Cox, executive director, Greenpeace Canada; and Armand La Barge, chief, York Regional Police. 4:30-6:30 pm at Room 678, Public Health Sciences Building, Uof T. Reception with light refreshments to follow. Contact Mrs. Sharmi Joshi (416-821-5631), Dr. C.P. Shah (416-360-0486), Cijay Shah (416-391-0079, Pankaj Shah (905) 470-0439, or Lisa Thack-er (416-859-4355). All are wel-come. No tickets or rsvp required.

Oct 7: Musical concert at Vedanta Society. Gauri Guha (vocal), Luna Guha (harmonium) and Harpal Singh Kalla (tabla.) Free. Call 416-240-7262 or e-mail soc@vedantatoronto.ca.

Oct. 12, 13, 18, 19, 20: Rina Singha presents Manzilen – A Journey, Oct. 12-13, at the Pre-miere Dance Theatre. Manzilen marks Singha’s 40th anniversary of bringing the beauty of Kathak to Canadian audiences and her 70th birthday. Hari Krishnan presents Recipes for Curry, Oct. 18-20, serving up a delicious and sexy feast of four world pre-mieres and a Canada/uk inter-national collaboration. Tickets: $30; students/seniors: $25; NextSteps package prices: $25; students/seniors: $22 at the Harbourfront Centre.

Oct. 14: Lata Pada and Sam-pradaya Dance Creations’ 2007-2008 Kalangan Series pre-sents Sanyog Stree Katha – the Un-told Stories of Three Tragic Heroines of the Ramayana. Stree Katha chall-enges the accepted interpret-ations of the ancient epic and questions the role gender plays in determining the value of an indi-vidual. 6 pm at Meadowvale Theatre in Mississauga. Tickets ($30 and $20) at 905-607-8454.

Oct. 14 - 20: Indulge in a luscious new citywide event powered by chocolate! Featuring delicious, delectable and decadent events, including the 2nd Annual Chocolate Ball, Cocouture Fashion Show, Chocolicious: Chocolate Chef Challenge, The Ultimate Chocolate Spa Party, It’s A Beau-tiful Death By Chocolate, and Sex & Chocolate. Visit www.Choco lateFestival Week.com. In supp-ort of Prostate and Breast cancer research.

Oct. 20-21: Chitralekha Odissi Dance Creations pre-sents Devi, an evening of Odissi dance in honour of the Mother Goddess. A solo by Odissi master Chitralekha Patnaik, a duet performance by Ellora Patnaik and Amita (Tanya) Raha, an ensemble performance with live orchestra as well as the title piece. At Leah Posluns Theatre. For tickets, call 905-335-4636.

Oct. 22: Mississauga Arts Council’s Arts Awards dinner and show is the arts community’s bigg-est night. South Asians on the final shortlist for the prestigious awards include Moushumi Chakrabarty (Emerging Lite-rary Arts), Ranajit Sinha (Estab-lished Visual Arts), Zahra Zo-beiri for Bridging the Gap (Em-erging Performing Arts Group) and Lata Pada for Sampradaya Dance Creations (Established Performing Arts Group). At Stage West All-Suite Hotel Theatre Restaurant. Tickets $79, at 905-238-0042 or www.sta stage west.com/whats_ playing.asp.

Oct. 23: International Read-ings at Harbourfront (irah) is thrilled to welcome J.K. Rowling to Toronto as part of Young ifoa. At this all-ages event, Rowling will read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, take questions and sign complimentary copies of the book for everyone. At the Winter Garden Theatre at 10 am – her only appearance in Canada this fall!

The International Festival of Authors (ifoa) is one of the world’s premiere literary festivals, and runs Oct.17-27.

Tickets to J.K. Rowling Comes to Canada are not on sale and will be available through random draws only.

For full ifoa and Youngifoa schedules, visit www.readings. org or call the Harbourfront Centre box office at 416-973-4000.

List your event for free in Desi News and www.e-desinews.com. Fax 416-621-2691. Email desinews@rogers.com. Deadline for Nov. 2007 listings: Oct. 25, 2007.

Girl Guides of Canada are inviting girls to join in for fun, friendship and adventure!

Make new friends while having fun and learning some-thing new! Girl Guides of Can-ada is a dynamic organization for girls and women from all walks of life. Women needed as leaders and support volunteers. No experience necessary, ment-oring and training provided.

Registration for all girls ages 5-17+.

To register or for more information, call 1-800-565-8111 (answered locally) or check out www.girlguides.ca.

 

The Masala Trois Coll- ective enthusiastically inv- ites submissions – short fiction and verse – for their up- coming collection of South Asian children’s stories, Adventures in Desiland.

Like all well-crafted children’s stories across eras and traditions, the Collective hopes the stories in Adventures in Desiland will engage and delight adults and children alike. Submissions may include retelling ancient tales – such as those found in the Pancha-tantra – using contemporary dialogue and idiom. Similarly, submissions that creatively "Indianize" or "desify" well-known Western children’s stories would fit nicely in the collection (there’s plenty of room for satire here – think James Finn Garr’s Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, or a Hinglish version of Dr. Seuss!). Other original submiss-ions will be considered, variously, on how skillfully they feature strong, central characters that are South Asian children, present fresh, non-stereotypical portraits of South Asian families, or help children and parents creatively explore South Asian histories.