<h2>Her painted veil</h2>
<p>A woman uses her multi-coloured dupatta to shield her head from the sun at Juhu Chowpatty</p>
<h2>Pandit Prabhakar Karekar (1944-2025)<br />A khayal comes to an end</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/feb/Prabhakar-Karekar_e.jpg" alt="Late Pandit Prabhakar Karekar during a performance " width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Late Pandit Prabhakar Karekar during a performance</em></strong></p>
<p>Shivaji Park loses a member of the old guard with the passing of Pt Prabhakar Karekar. The octogenarian Sangeet Natak Akademi-winner passed away on Wednesday following complications of liver ailment.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/feb/Ronu-Majumdar_e.jpg" alt="Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande and Ronu Majumdar" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande and Ronu Majumdar</em></strong></p>
<p>Born in Portuguese Goa in 1944, Pt Karekar&rsquo;s skills and creative abilities suited the Hindustani classical music form of khayal. Training under maestros such as Pt CR Vyas, Pt Suresh Haldankar and Pt Jitendra Abhisheki, he found his own voice at a young age. Later on, he would explore fusion music in collaborations with jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman and Ustad Sultan Khan.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/feb/Pandit-Prabhakar-2_e.jpg" alt="Pt Satish Vyas (in white) pays his last respects in Dadar" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Pt Satish Vyas (in white) pays his last respects in Dadar</em></strong></p>
<p>Flautist Pt Ronu Majumdar recalled, &ldquo;He was a saint, and like a father to me.&rdquo; Pt Satish Vyas, Karekar&rsquo;s musical brother, shared, &ldquo;He achieved the leading position as a classical musician in India through relentless efforts.&rdquo; This dedication continued even through his ailment as Pt Karekar continued his riyaaz and teaching music, shared Vidushi Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/feb/Pandit-Prabhakar-1_e.jpg" alt="Mourners gather at Shivaji Park. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Mourners gather at Shivaji Park. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi</em></strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;He belonged to a generation that did not play to the gallery. He would dedicate his entire life to every single raag he sang,&rdquo; she said. Recalling his skill at natyasangeet with songs like Priye paha, Pt Satish Vyas shared, &ldquo;He could never finish a concert without a rendition, despite the song having been sung by Chhota Gandharva (Saudagar Nagnath Gore) before. Indeed, it is a huge loss.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>A royal romance</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/feb/Maharaja_e.jpg" alt="llustration of the Air India Maharaja (right) the Valentine&rsquo;s greeting card" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>llustration of the Air India Maharaja (right) the Valentine&rsquo;s greeting card</em></strong></p>
<p>In the age of DMs and snaps, Valentine&rsquo;s Day might have evolved. But nothing beats a old-school romance. In a delightful throwback to a bygone era, aviation historian Debashish Chakraverty uncovered a 1981 Valentine&rsquo;s greeting card from his Air India collection, complete with the Maharaja and his red roses that captures &nbsp;a personalised and romantic gesture from the icon. &ldquo;Unfortunately, the era of the greeting card, in general, is in our proverbial rearview mirror,&rdquo; Chakraverty noted.</p>
<h2>Pieces of nature</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/feb/Puzzle-wildlife_e.jpg" alt="The jigsaw puzzle depicts the biodiversity in the sanctuary" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>The jigsaw puzzle depicts the biodiversity in the sanctuary</em></strong></p>
<p>How do you document biodiversity in a fun way? Illustrator Sefi George is creating fun sets of jigsaw puzzles as part of a scholarship project by Creature Conserve, an NGO dedicated towards wildlife conservation. One of the puzzles depicts the biodiversity of the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary. &ldquo;Last year, I released a calendar featuring wildlife illustrations of India&rsquo;s national parks. This sparked the idea to create artworks denoting the biodiversity around us,&rdquo; George told this diarist.</p>
<h2>For the love of libraries and books</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2025/feb/Bhopal-kids_e.jpg" alt="Kids participate in a reading session in Bhopal. Pic courtesy/Instagram" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Kids participate in a reading session in Bhopal. Pic courtesy/Instagram</em></strong></p>
<p>This Valentine&rsquo;s Day, Free Libraries Network, a grassroot collective of organisations and practitioners dedicated to ensuring access to free libraries has come up with Library Love, a two-week social media fundraising campaign. The campaign will offer interactions with artistes and writers such as Ranjit Hoskote, Romila Thapar, Anjum Hasan, Priya Kuriyan and others, with proceeds going towards raising public awareness for the need of free libraries. &ldquo;The idea is to evoke a love for libraries and allow people to be part of a movement that advocates for the right to read for everyone, and not just a certain section of the society,&rdquo; Purnima Rao (inset), director of the collective shared with this diarist. &nbsp;Starting today, the collective will roll out offers each day on social media. &ldquo;We want to help librarians upskill themselves and pave the way for a free, anti-caste and feminist system of libraries that is currently missing in the country,&rdquo; she said. For more details, readers can log on to @freelibrariesnetworkfln.</p><p>
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