Is ahmedabad going to get more entertaining?

`it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' this paradoxical statement by charles dickens, best sums up the current entertainment scenario of ahmedabad. towards the end of the year, the city seems to awaken itself from its deep slumber and things start moving on the entertainment and the overall cultural scene. there are some interesting music and dance recitals to add the much-needed colour to our greying cultural scene.and then there are occasional theatre productions, fashion shows and film festivals, courtesy a handful of organisations in the city. it's a classic case of now you see it, now you don't! what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of entertainment? movies? most probably. food? well, definitely. and then... the mind goes blank. it's as if the entire city has only two things on it's weekend agenda — movies and food. r n bhattacharya, director general, anti corruption bureau, gujarat state says, i was born and brought up in kolkata. music and dance recitals at kala bhawan, poetry readings, book fairs, book launches at the victoria memorial, plays, discussions and debate groups have been a part of my growing up. even today, the `nandan' auditorium, which is a west bengal government initiative, has tickets ranging from rs 3 to rs 10 for the best plays and films that are shown there almost everyday. talking about the literary richness of the city, bhattacharya avers, literature precedes culture. literary genius has fuelled the cultural fire of this great city. during the book fairs, books worth around rs 2 crores are sold in one day! it is not just the metros that offer such wide array of entertainment choices. even smaller cities like chandigarh and pune have a lot happening. akash jain, who took up a job in chandigarh a couple of months back, exclaims, i love dancing and we go to the discotheques on friday nights and it is so much fun. i stayed in ahmedabad all my life and of course, i am very attached to the place emotionally. but, frankly speaking there is not much to do for young people in the city. pune for example, has a boat club, discotheques and golf courses, to unwind at the end of the day. on the music scene, there are cultural organisations like saptak school of music that promote indian classical music through their widely popular saptak annual classical music festival. it is such a successful effort that even music lovers from other cities come to experience this melodious extravaganza. educational institutes like centre for environmental planning and technology (cept), national institute of design (nid) and alliance francaise sometimes arrange film festivals and lecture series. but, mostly it's their students and a small number of outsiders who attend these programmes. the efforts though noteworthy, aren't enough. we need to put in collective efforts and come up with something radically different, appealing and entertaining in our own city. entertainment options, which everyone can enjoy, throughout the year. we have certainly made a beginning in the right direction and as it is so often said, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. here's looking forward to a more happening ahmedabad. cheers! rujulpathak@indiatimes.com