Visitors view an exhibition with pictures of Pune, India, which is San Jose’s sister metropolis, at San Jose City Hall on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)

A brand new exhibition that celebrates the sister-city relationship between San Jose and Pune, India, took a very long time to finish, nevertheless it was definitely well worth the wait.

The show within the San Jose City Hall wing constructing contains 50 pictures by Manoj Musale, knowledgeable photographer in Pune who usually goes to nice lengths — and heights — to get dazzling crowd pictures, in addition to artwork items donated to San Jose as a part of the connection. It was initially commissioned to rejoice the twenty fifth anniversary of the sister-city bond between the 2 communities.

“And then the pandemic happened,” mentioned Suneel Kelkar, president of the San Jose-Pune Sister City Organization. Curator Robin Treen went by means of greater than 2,000 pictures taken by Musale in September 2018 in choosing 50 that greatest represented the individuals and tradition of the town.

Vijay Pendse, a local of Pune, first proposed the thought of linking the 2 tech-oriented cities again within the Eighties, working with a small group of individuals for a few years till San Jose’s metropolis council granted its approval in 1989. The relationship was formalized with Pune, India’s seventh largest metropolis, in 1992. The two cities have partnered on a number of tasks through the years, together with the creation of a park on the Mutha River and selling academic alternatives in Pune. The statue of Shivaji Maharaj — which you may keep in mind was stolen from the Guadalupe River Park and later discovered at a steel recycler — was a present to San Jose from the individuals of Pune.

“What we try to do is improve the lives of people in Pune somehow,” Kelkar mentioned at a reception held Monday at City Hall to rejoice the exhibition’s opening.

NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS: Festivities for the Lunar New Year are in full swing this weekend. You can rejoice the Year of the Dragon in San Jose’s historic Japantown on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and anticipate it to be loud in case you’re heading on the market. A firecracker line will begin at Fourth and Jackson streets at midday and can run by means of Japantown earlier than ending at Empire Seven Studios at Seventh and Empire streets.

Businesses round Japantown — together with Kogura Gifts, State of Grace and Cukui — will participate in a Japanese new 12 months custom by promoting “fukubukuro” or fortunate baggage. They’ll put collectively thriller baggage for patrons to buy as a part of the customized of cleansing out your previous stuff and making room for brand new issues within the new 12 months.