Calendar

Sensational India! honors PEM's longstanding relationship with India and features India's remarkable arts — visual art, dance and music. Ongoing art activities, gallery tours, storytelling and more.

Made possible in part by Samir and Nilima Desai; The Desai Family Foundation.

Art Activity

Food and Memory | 10 am–noon | Atrium

Krina Patel, founder of Stir a Memory, a community food and art project, leads this fun, interactive drop-in activity designed to “stir your food memories.”

Demonstration

Rangoli | 10 am–3 pm | Atrium

Gowri Savoor creates a rangoli, or traditional decorative design, on the floor of the Atrium. Help fill in the design with her guidance.

Drop-in Art Activity

Paisley Patterns | 10:30 am–1 pm | Art Studios

Explore paisley patterns and their Indian origins.Then design your own colorful pattern.

Interactive Gallery Tour

The Salem-India Story | 11:30 am–noon | Meet at the information desk

To illuminate the Salem-India trade, author Vanita Shastri leads a tour focusing on works of art in the museum’s collection that are also featured in her book The Salem-India Story: Maritime Trade Between Salem, Massachusetts, and India, 1788–1845. For ages 10 and up. Reservations by March 29.

SOLD OUT

Dance Workshop

Garba and Dandiya Folk Dance | Noon–12:45 pm | Atrium

The Sa Dance Company incorporates Indian and contemporary movements and music from Bollywood and America to express Indian-American identity. At PEM, Sa dancers, led by director Payal Kadakia, give short performances in the Garba and Dandiya folk style. After, join the dancers in a Garba workshop.

Concert

Sitar Virtuoso Kartik Seshadri | 1–2 pm | East India Marine Hall

Kartik Seshadri is a world-renowned force as a composer, educator and performer in the field of Indian classical music. The sitar prodigy has blossomed into an “amazingly accomplished” musical powerhouse noted for his music’s expressive beauty, rich tonal sensibility and rhythmic intricacy, praised the Washington Post. The prestigious British magazine Songlines declared, Seshadri “stands out among sitarists for his clarity and intricate rhythmic sensibility.” At PEM, Seshadri is accompanied by tabla player Arup Chattopadhyay Reservations by April 1.

Story Time

Mama's Saris | 2–2:30 pm | Meet at information desk

A mother and daughter talk about each of the mother's saris worn for special occasions, including the little girl's seventh birthday party, in Mama's Saris by Pooja Makhijani.

Reserve Tickets Now

Drop-in Art Activity

Indian Peacock | 2–4 pm | Art Studios

The peacock (mayura in Sanskrit) is frequently depicted in temple art, mythology, poetry and folk music. In Buddhist philosophy, the peacock represents wisdom. Create you own work of art referencing a mounted peacock.

Workshop

Spice Blends | 2:30–3:15 pm | Garden Restaurant

Krina Patel, founder of Stir a Memory, a community food and art project, talks about dry spice blends. Create your own blend to take home. Reservations by March 29; space is limited.

Presentation

Author Bharati Mukherjee | 2:30 pm | Morse Auditorium

Bharati Mukherjee, a distinguished and proli c author and social commentator, has established herself as a powerful constituent of the American literary scene. Her works re ect her pride in her Indian heritage,
but also her embrace of America. A winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Mukherjee is professor of literature at the University of California at Berkeley. Her twelfth novel, Miss New India, is due out in May. Made possible by the George Swinnerton Parker Memorial Lecture Fund. For adults. Reservations by April 1; space is limited

Dance Performance

Sa Dance Company | 4:15–5 pm | Atrium

Members of the Sa Dance Company perform their signature piece that draws on their expertise in diverse traditions of dance.

Sensational India! Video