* Surprise acts, unfiltered sets
Uncensored is a recurring small-venue stand-up show in Patna that has emerged as a part of the city’s growing independent comedy circuit. Performers are not announced in advance by design, allowing comics, local performers, and open-mic regulars to test new material without the expectations that come with a billed act.
This week’s is an “adult” stand-up set with minimal content restrictions. Expect candid observational humour, personal anecdotes and darker, edgier punchlines than in mainstream acts.
When: March 15, 6 om
Where: The Bifrost Studio
Entry: ₹199 for one; ₹299 for two
* A run for health
It’s marathon season in Patna, with the Patna marathon being another addition to the growing roster of fitness-forward events in the first quarter of the year. A large public event organised with the support of State Bank of India (SBI) and the Bihar government’s prohibition, excise and registration department, this marathon is geared as much towards fitness as towards the Nasha Mukt or Drug-Free Bihar public awareness campaign.
Participants can sign up for a full marathon, half marathon, 10 km run and 5 km run. The route begins at Gandhi Maidan and traces key corridors, including JP Ganga Path, Atal Path, and Shivpuri Path, before returning to the starting point.
The registration fee includes a T-shirt, participation medal, and breakfast.
When: March 15
Where: Gandhi Maidan (starting point)
Entry: Prices start at ₹600 for the 5-km run; all participants must register in advance, at mysamay.in
* A dialogue in craft
Organised in collaboration with the Patna-based NGO Mahila Jagran and Bal Kalyan Sansthan, the Swayamsiddha and Manke Exhibition marries contrasting strands of visual and material practice, namely, painting and bead work. In the swayamsiddha section, a showcase of paintings by 19 women artists from across Bihar examines ideas of selfhood, social experience and everyday life.
Running alongside it, the manke show displays the artistic range possible with an object as simple as a bead. It seeks inspiration from Patna Museum’s bead collection, and digs deeper into how this seemingly unremarkable object can be studied through five lenses: everyday beads, decorative beads, ceremonial beads, spiritual beads, and amulets.
Viewed together, the show explores art and ornamental traditions as parallel ways of thinking about expression, labour and cultural memory.
When: Until March 31; 10 am to 5 pm
Where: Patna Museum
Entry: ₹50
* Journeys in sketches
Safarnama is an exhibition developed from a sketching residency organised under Delhi-based non-profit Takshila’s Katha Camp, where artists were invited to document a place through walking, observation and drawing.
Eight participants spent six days in Narendra Pur village in Bihar’s Siwan district. During their stay, they responded to what they witnessed and felt, with quick sketches, handwritten notes, and musings. The idea was to use sketching as a tool for journaling.
The residency was mentored by illustrator and animator Elen Shaw and artist-photographer Siddharth Kaneria, with guidance from graphic novelist Orijit Sen.
In the exhibition, notes and visual fragments produced during the residency are presented as varying perspectives on the same landscape that reflect individual nature, nurture, and cultural context.
When: Until March 29
Where: Arthshila
Entry: Free
* Art from living traditions
In Chitra Sutra, the local folk and tribal art collections of the Takshila Educational Society come into focus. The exhibition is a dialogue on how visual languages are tied to land, belief systems and everyday life, while also charting the evolution of these practices over centuries.
Divided into four themes — Connecting Trees, Gods on the Move, Quotidian Worlds, and Self and the World — the showcase’s narrative travels from devotional imagery to scenes drawn from mundane everyday life, documenting folk and tribal arts as tools of culture preservation that use both storytelling and ritual in equal measure.
When: Until June 27
Where: Arthshila
Entry: Free
