Its time for the theatre lovers to rejoice in the capital as the ninth edition of the National School of Drama's "Bharat Rang Mahotsav" opens at Siri Fort Auditorium on January 6 with a performance by Sasha Waltz, the celebrated dancer-cum-choreographer from Germany.

While the inauguration will be performed by Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni at Siri Fort Auditorium, performances by Indian and international theatre directors will be staged at Kamani Auditorium, Shri Ram Centre and three NSD theatres -- Bahumukh, Sammukh and Abhimanch -- during the 15-day long festival.

Rare documents, letters, and photographs of the British era are going to be on display at the National Archives from Wednesday till January 31 in an exhibition entitled 'Commemorating 150 Years of Presidency Universities, 1857-2007'.

Amongst the displays is a tabular statement depicting the annual allocation of funds towards education by the East India Company during the period 1813-30. The observations of HH Wilson before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the establishment of universities in India in 1854 also makes for interesting reading, giving an insight into the minds of those who were opposed to higher education in India.

The Exhibition of Madhubani Paintings, that starts in the capital from January 14th, documents the extraordinary evolution of an indigenous aesthetic tradition of women in the Mithila region of Bihar. Madhubani paintings have been done traditionally by the women of villages around the present town of Madhubani and other areas of Mithila.

The paintings were traditionally done on freshly plastered mud wall of huts, but now it is also done on cloth, paper and canvas. Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and mythological events, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Krishna, Rama, etc.

Natural objects like the sun and the moon, and religious plants like tulsi are also widely painted, along side scenes from the royal courts and social events like weddings. Generally no empty space is left; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs.

The Venue: Visual Arts Gallery & Open Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

The Dates: January 14th–26th, 2007

The Timings: 10am-8pm

The ‘Sarees of India’ Exhibition, currently on at Pragati Maidan, has perhaps India’s largest collection of Sarees on display at any single place and is a must-visit for all the ladies out there.

The range includes sarees from diverse places all across the country like Madhubani from Bihar, Tanchoi from Uttar Pradesh, Chanderi from Madhya Pradesh, Patola from Gujrat, Bandhani from Rajasthan, Gadwal from Andhra Pradesh, Kanchipuram from Tamil Naidu, Sambalpuri from Orissa, Kantha/Baluchari/Tangail from West Bengal & many more types of sarees.

The "Rail Heritage Month'', currently being organized by Northern Railway, aims at providing people a chance to learn more about the Railways by taking them on short trips aboard heritage coaches.

A must-visit for the kids is the week-long Ishara International Puppet Festival which will bring together shows from across the globe. Puppets from Spain, Turkey and Australia as well as an Indo-French collaboration will bring alive a world of fantasy, mystery and magic at the festival.

The Indo-French production, "How Wang Fo was saved" will be performed this Sunday. Ttiyatro Tempo from Turkey will present two shows at the festival. "The Witches and Indian Fakir", to be presented on January 15, is a tale of jealousy and fantasy. The other presentation, "The Colourful World of White Pencil", to be staged on January 16, deals with the interesting situation of a writer in the throes of a creative block and his characters deciding to take over.

Its time to shop till you drop and also win exciting prizes at the Grand Carnival being held at the Shipra Mall in Ghaziabad. Apart from exciting prizes and gifts for all purchasers, there will also be a special event every single day of the week:

15th January – Laughter Show
16th January – War of the DJs
17th January – Dance Performance
18th January – Fancy Dress & Baby Show

In case you are looking for something unique to add to the décor of your home, do make it a point to visit the North-East Craft & Culture Festival, currently on at the Dilli Haat till the end of this month.

On display would be a wide range of exquisitely crafted bamboo furniture, tribal ornaments, wood carvings, carpets and mats, bed covers and traditionally designed North-Eastern sarees.

The Venue: Dilli Haat, New Delhi

Bringing together the finest in the global business of food and wine, the fifth edition of the India International Food and Wine Show is being organized at Uppal's Orchid Hotel in the capital from January 18 to 20 with the promise of chefs from leading hotels creating culinary magic to mesmerize food lovers.

Organized by Lotus Exhibitions and Marketing Services, the event will feature seminars, talks, and presentations to promote global brands to hoteliers, restaurant owners, traders, distributors, importers and owners of supermarkets. There will also be a cooking demonstration by Chef Alfred Fahr.

The Venue: Uppal’s Orchid Hotel, New Delhi

The Dates: 18th- 20th January, 2007

The Tri-continental Film Festival has managed to carve a space for itself on Delhi’s calendar of movie events with the promise of providing viewers with films that they will probably never get to see elsewhere.

Several puppet theatre groups from across the country will join the Sangeet Natak Academy in organizing the ‘Putul Yatra’ – an exhibition of Indian puppets, being held from January 19 to February 5 at the Meghdoot theatre, Rabindra Bhavan.

The festival will showcase a major exhibition of Indian puppets, international seminar and video documentaries on puppet theatre from the archives of the academy. There will also be live demonstrations of the puppets.

CREDAI and LIC Housing Finance present Delhi’s official property exhibition – PROPERT 2007 – which will have properites from more than 50 developers across India including Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Agra, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jaipur and Jodhpur. Apart from these there will also be properties from other parts of the country like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, etc.

The properties on display will include residential, commercial, retail   and leasing, apartments, offices, showrooms, malls and multiplexes. Alos on dosplay will be several lifestyle and décor products.

Celebrating life that thrives in the wilderness, the world's largest and most prestigious wildlife and environment film festival - The Wildscreen Festival - is coming to India for the first time. The festival will be held in Delhi from the 19th to the 24th of January and will offer wildlife enthusiasts a chance to catch the best from the genre and also interact with experts.

Its time to savor the best of Bengal’s glorious tradition of painting, with the works of 75 artists – legendary, established, and upcoming -exhibited as part of the Spring Show exhibition. On display will be works of master artists like Rabindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Benode Behari Mikherjee along with contemporary artists like Jogen Chowdhury and Paritosh Sen.

The exhibition brings together diverse themes, media and approaches. The show offers something unique for everone and, while it’s a must-visit for admirers of Bengali art and culture, the broad spectrum of works will appeal to all art lovers.

Theatre lovers in the Capital will get another chance to savour good drama this week as a nine-day theatre festival titled ‘Natsamrat Natya Utsav’ opens in the city on January 20. The festival is being organized by Natsamrat, a creative theatre group.

On the first day, director Shyam Kumar's play "Kambakht Ishq" will be staged. It revolves round a doctor whose two patients are facing peculiar problems despite having no disease. Showing the funny side of a man-woman relationship is "Pati Gaye Ree Kathiawar" that will be staged the next day. Also on the same day, a hilarious play, "Bade Bhai Sahab and Sudama Ke Chawal", will be shown.