A new exhibition that celebrates the sister-city relationship between San Jose and Pune, India, took a long time to complete, but it was certainly worth the wait.
The display in the San Jose City Hall wing building includes 50 photographs by Manoj Musale, a professional photographer in Pune who often goes to great lengths — and heights — to get dazzling crowd shots, as well as art pieces donated to San Jose as part of the relationship. It was originally commissioned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the sister-city bond between the two communities.
“And then the pandemic happened,” said Suneel Kelkar, president of the San Jose-Pune Sister City Organization. Curator Robin Treen went through more than 2,000 photographs taken by Musale in September 2018 in selecting 50 that best represented the people and culture of the city.
Suneel Kelkar, president of the San Jose-Pune Sister City board, welcomed visitors at a reception for a new exhibition of photographs of the city in India on display at San Jose City Hall on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
Vijay Pendse, a native of Pune, first proposed the idea of linking the two tech-oriented cities back in the 1980s, working with a small group of people for a couple of years until San Jose’s city council granted its approval in 1989. The relationship was formalized with Pune, India’s seventh largest city, in 1992. The two cities have partnered on several projects over the years, including the creation of a park at the Mutha River and promoting educational opportunities in Pune. The statue of Shivaji Maharaj — which you might remember was stolen from the Guadalupe River Park and later found at a metal recycler — was a gift to San Jose from the people of Pune.
“What we try to do is improve the lives of people in Pune somehow,” Kelkar said at a reception held Monday at City Hall to celebrate the exhibition’s opening.
NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS: Festivities for the Lunar New Year are in full swing this weekend. You can celebrate the Year of the Dragon in San Jose’s historic Japantown on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and expect it to be loud if you’re heading out there. A firecracker line will start at Fourth and Jackson streets at noon and will run through Japantown before finishing at Empire Seven Studios at Seventh and Empire streets.
Businesses around Japantown — including Kogura Gifts, State of Grace and Cukui — will take part in a Japanese new year tradition by selling “fukubukuro” or lucky bags. They’ll put together mystery bags for patrons to purchase as part of the custom of cleaning out your old stuff and making room for new things in the new year.
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Meanwhile, the Valley Christian High School Multicultural Coalition expects more than 500 people to attend its Lunar New Year event, which will be held Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the San Jose school on Skyway Drive. Attendees can expect a lion dance, martial arts demonstrations, dances and Asian music performances by students and professionals.
LEAVE IT TO BEAVERS: There’s a bit of a phenomenon happening with the black-and-white slapstick comedy “Hundreds of Beavers.” If you haven’t heard about the movie — described as a “supernatural winter epic” about a drunken applejack salesman who does battle with, well, the title should give that away — you probably will soon. The film-festival favorite is in the midst of an old-fashioned “roadshow” rollout, and the Santa Cruz Cinema is the only theater in Northern California showing it.
“We are thrilled to have the exclusive screening of ‘Hundreds of Beavers,’ ” said Santa Cruz Cinemas General Manager Mark Pike, General Manager of Santa Cruz Cinema. “We are lucky to be selected to show this rare and epic film.”
The movie opened Thursday night, and you can get showtimes and tickets at www.santacruzcinema.com.
