This post is a tribute of sorts to Nandita Das, blogging and more importantly, Bharat Shah of Ahmedabad.
Kudos to the human desire for company and social bonding.
Blogging is somehow related to this need and desire.
And Nandita Das? How did she manage to bring two strangers closer you might ask.
It's not just the blog after all. It had to be the blogpost about a movie review in which Nandita Das featured, and lo behold, Bharat Shah of Ahmedabad and Seizonsha of Nowhere(now, here if you insist!) "connect" with each other.
This evening, Seizonsha shall watch another Nandita Das movie. And after having given up blogging (aaah....yet again!) he shall resume blogging. Quite a few movies, plays, concerts, books and incidents to review and relive. Quitting blogging seems to be very much like quitting smoking indeed.
You keep quitting so many times before you really quit.
(Try fitting a word before the period. You have two options :P )
So, thank you Blogspot and Bharat Shah. And, of course, Nandita Das and "connecting".
Friday, September 12, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Thinking Allowed (Aloud) - Movie review
In 54 minutes, this movie can potentially change your opinion about Kolkata, Mother Teresa and poverty in India in general.
The movie is set in Kolkata, which, unfortunately (as you will realise within minutes into the movie) is known for abject poverty, the gutters, and then that famous Saint of the Gutters, Mother Teresa.
As is highlighted in the movie, Bengalis worship many women, most of its celebrated festivals happen to be related to the Godesses, and this white woman, Mother Teresa brings out that often unadmitted yet obvious Indian fascination for white skin.
The movie raises many questions like -
If Mother Teresa were to be a black woman, would her stature and image be as huge as it became?
And then, Bangladesh had many more poor and suffering ; so is this the Hindu obsession ? In a non Hindu nation, would someone like Mother Teresa, a Catholic be even allowed to do anything in the name of social work?
And then, the movie goes on to reveal more relevant facts and make you think - think really hard.
During the last 20 years of her life, Mother Teresa spent about 6-7 months each year abroad. So, what was it that she did in the remaining months, that the other sisters of the Missionaries of Charity not do?
Missionaries of Charity is estimated to have received a 100 million USD in donations from all over the world. Mother Teresa's charm and charisma was such.
But, the collections themselves total a mammoth 2 billion US dollars, and this is not taking into account any income from investment returns.
So, just how many poor people did MC "uplift" with those 2 billion dollars?
Just how many lepers did Kolkata have? And just how many lepers did MC save each year?
Yes. At this point, I did think of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams for a moment. BUt, the TTD, although it does some charity in its own way, it does not profess to be dedicated to the cause of the poor and the suffering, in the manner MC does.
As correctly pointed out by an ex-MC spokesperson herself, Mother Teresa was one of the most successful fund raisers and businessman the world had ever seen.
And as you shall realise, she was in the business of conversion.
It is quite shameful that Mother Teresa actually helped create negative publicity about Kolkata. The western image of Kolkata is one of poverty, leprosy, hand pulled rickshaws, suffering, death, gutters and then Mother Teresa.
I am also forced to recollect the systematic beggarisation of Bengal during the colonial days, when Britain dumped its own textiles in India, in an effort to artificially be in business. Nick Robin's "The Corporation that Changed the World" goes on to talk about how weavers in Bengal cut off their fingers in a bid to avoid weaving; for they were paid less what they needed to subsist and survive. Artifcial economic environments were in large part the cause of such poverty in Bengal.
Yes, Communism exacerbated the already existing poverty, and as the movie highlights, processions, strikes and Bandhs are often organised for no reason, and people take out processions from nowhere to nowhere, bringing down business everywhere.
As the movie further points out, if Mother Teresa were not a white Catholic, the international press would not be as kind as it was to her.
Mother Teresa drew support from The Vatican. In her Nobel acceptance speech, Mother Teresa says that the greatest damage is done in the world by Abortion.
By shunning abortion, apparently, there shall be world peace. But isnt poverty itself quite often due to the avoiding of abortion.
I do not want to hurt anyone's religious beliefs here, but for someone like Mother Teresa to make such a statement during a Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech is - shameful to say the least!
The movie makes you wonder further about how Gandhi was never awarded the Nobel Peace prize, although he was nominated not once or twice, but 5 times!
This is a documentary really, and the people to watch out for are - Aroup Chatterjee, the author of "The Final Verdict". A doctor based out of London, he has carried out 8 years of research on Mother Teresa.
And then, Subir Bhoumik, an ex-BBC correspondent is another man who doesnt hesitate to point out the Indian obsession for white skin as well as the Western obsession with the dark and gloomy image of India.
There is another man, an ex-railway officer, whose name I forget, who reserves the choicest of abuses for Mother Teresa, and he is quite entertaining :)
Made in 2005, by Judhajit Sarkar and running into 54 minutes, the movie is nothing short of education - an eye opener to use a cliche.
And definitely a must watch for a Bengali or - for that matter anyone who has spent even a few hours in Kolkata - the airport and Salt Lake City dont count :P
The movie is set in Kolkata, which, unfortunately (as you will realise within minutes into the movie) is known for abject poverty, the gutters, and then that famous Saint of the Gutters, Mother Teresa.
As is highlighted in the movie, Bengalis worship many women, most of its celebrated festivals happen to be related to the Godesses, and this white woman, Mother Teresa brings out that often unadmitted yet obvious Indian fascination for white skin.
The movie raises many questions like -
If Mother Teresa were to be a black woman, would her stature and image be as huge as it became?
And then, Bangladesh had many more poor and suffering ; so is this the Hindu obsession ? In a non Hindu nation, would someone like Mother Teresa, a Catholic be even allowed to do anything in the name of social work?
And then, the movie goes on to reveal more relevant facts and make you think - think really hard.
During the last 20 years of her life, Mother Teresa spent about 6-7 months each year abroad. So, what was it that she did in the remaining months, that the other sisters of the Missionaries of Charity not do?
Missionaries of Charity is estimated to have received a 100 million USD in donations from all over the world. Mother Teresa's charm and charisma was such.
But, the collections themselves total a mammoth 2 billion US dollars, and this is not taking into account any income from investment returns.
So, just how many poor people did MC "uplift" with those 2 billion dollars?
Just how many lepers did Kolkata have? And just how many lepers did MC save each year?
Yes. At this point, I did think of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams for a moment. BUt, the TTD, although it does some charity in its own way, it does not profess to be dedicated to the cause of the poor and the suffering, in the manner MC does.
As correctly pointed out by an ex-MC spokesperson herself, Mother Teresa was one of the most successful fund raisers and businessman the world had ever seen.
And as you shall realise, she was in the business of conversion.
It is quite shameful that Mother Teresa actually helped create negative publicity about Kolkata. The western image of Kolkata is one of poverty, leprosy, hand pulled rickshaws, suffering, death, gutters and then Mother Teresa.
I am also forced to recollect the systematic beggarisation of Bengal during the colonial days, when Britain dumped its own textiles in India, in an effort to artificially be in business. Nick Robin's "The Corporation that Changed the World" goes on to talk about how weavers in Bengal cut off their fingers in a bid to avoid weaving; for they were paid less what they needed to subsist and survive. Artifcial economic environments were in large part the cause of such poverty in Bengal.
Yes, Communism exacerbated the already existing poverty, and as the movie highlights, processions, strikes and Bandhs are often organised for no reason, and people take out processions from nowhere to nowhere, bringing down business everywhere.
As the movie further points out, if Mother Teresa were not a white Catholic, the international press would not be as kind as it was to her.
Mother Teresa drew support from The Vatican. In her Nobel acceptance speech, Mother Teresa says that the greatest damage is done in the world by Abortion.
By shunning abortion, apparently, there shall be world peace. But isnt poverty itself quite often due to the avoiding of abortion.
I do not want to hurt anyone's religious beliefs here, but for someone like Mother Teresa to make such a statement during a Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech is - shameful to say the least!
The movie makes you wonder further about how Gandhi was never awarded the Nobel Peace prize, although he was nominated not once or twice, but 5 times!
This is a documentary really, and the people to watch out for are - Aroup Chatterjee, the author of "The Final Verdict". A doctor based out of London, he has carried out 8 years of research on Mother Teresa.
And then, Subir Bhoumik, an ex-BBC correspondent is another man who doesnt hesitate to point out the Indian obsession for white skin as well as the Western obsession with the dark and gloomy image of India.
There is another man, an ex-railway officer, whose name I forget, who reserves the choicest of abuses for Mother Teresa, and he is quite entertaining :)
Made in 2005, by Judhajit Sarkar and running into 54 minutes, the movie is nothing short of education - an eye opener to use a cliche.
And definitely a must watch for a Bengali or - for that matter anyone who has spent even a few hours in Kolkata - the airport and Salt Lake City dont count :P
4 Women - Movie Review
Having only heard and read about Adoor Gopalakrishnan, I had never gotten around to actually watchin any of his movies, and I must really thank Lady Luck for this, and the other movies being shown at the India Habitat Centre. Organised by the Public Service Broadcast Trust - a Not-for-profit trust in partnership with the Prasar Bharati Coporation affiliated to the United Nations, there were movies from Russia, South Africa, Canada and Switzerland as well, all of which I missed out on!
Coming back to the movie - 4 women, originally Naal Pennungal and in Malayalam, this movie was made in 2007 and stars Nandita Das among others.
You must try and watch this movie, so I will strictly speak tangentially (comes quite naturally to me!) in an effort to avoid giving the entire movie away!
The movie has 4 separate stories, and explores the emotional, mental, social and physical lives of 4 different women, one at a time.
The movie starts off with a prostitute, and then later deals with the lives of a married woman, a housewife and a spinster.
Each of the stories is very well picturised, and what one will appreciate in the movie, is that the subtle elements of a typical village in Kerala is very, very well captured.
There is very little background music, and even the very little, is a Carnatic Classical "mood", very well chosen and with perfect timing.
The use of natural sounds stands out, and the feel of Kerala is served to you, to the extent possible, in all its natural purity.
If only Stein Auditorium in the India Habitat Centre had Dolby Stereo! It could have been so much more pleasant to experience natural sounds reproduced in a movie! The main/central speaker behind the screen is not too bad, so movie viewing on a big screen continues to have its own charm :)
Atleast 2 of the four stories are open ended, and the questions they pose are only to be answered, if at all, by the viewer herself or himself.
3 of the 4 stories are about the turn of events, the "swinging"of destinies destinies of the women (if I may say) from happiness, to helplessness.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Nandita Das were present for the screening, and Adoor, the humble man he is, refused to be addressed as "Guruji" by another artist/director, saying that he wasn't knowledgeable enough to be a teacher.
Adoor took on questions from the audience, and I could stay around to hear him for only 2 of those questions.
One was about the choice of stories, and open endedness - Adoor had chosen short stories, since they have a lot of scope for creative direction and development of the plot, picturisation etc.,
And then, Adoor also spoke about his motive and idea behind the "threading" of the four stories together.
Adoor was explaining about how each of the stories stands for a "Bhoga" as understood in Hindu philosophy...He had jst about completed mentioning the Bhogas when it was time to go!
Coming back to the movie - 4 women, originally Naal Pennungal and in Malayalam, this movie was made in 2007 and stars Nandita Das among others.
You must try and watch this movie, so I will strictly speak tangentially (comes quite naturally to me!) in an effort to avoid giving the entire movie away!
The movie has 4 separate stories, and explores the emotional, mental, social and physical lives of 4 different women, one at a time.
The movie starts off with a prostitute, and then later deals with the lives of a married woman, a housewife and a spinster.
Each of the stories is very well picturised, and what one will appreciate in the movie, is that the subtle elements of a typical village in Kerala is very, very well captured.
There is very little background music, and even the very little, is a Carnatic Classical "mood", very well chosen and with perfect timing.
The use of natural sounds stands out, and the feel of Kerala is served to you, to the extent possible, in all its natural purity.
If only Stein Auditorium in the India Habitat Centre had Dolby Stereo! It could have been so much more pleasant to experience natural sounds reproduced in a movie! The main/central speaker behind the screen is not too bad, so movie viewing on a big screen continues to have its own charm :)
Atleast 2 of the four stories are open ended, and the questions they pose are only to be answered, if at all, by the viewer herself or himself.
3 of the 4 stories are about the turn of events, the "swinging"of destinies destinies of the women (if I may say) from happiness, to helplessness.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Nandita Das were present for the screening, and Adoor, the humble man he is, refused to be addressed as "Guruji" by another artist/director, saying that he wasn't knowledgeable enough to be a teacher.
Adoor took on questions from the audience, and I could stay around to hear him for only 2 of those questions.
One was about the choice of stories, and open endedness - Adoor had chosen short stories, since they have a lot of scope for creative direction and development of the plot, picturisation etc.,
And then, Adoor also spoke about his motive and idea behind the "threading" of the four stories together.
Adoor was explaining about how each of the stories stands for a "Bhoga" as understood in Hindu philosophy...He had jst about completed mentioning the Bhogas when it was time to go!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Movie: The Inner Tour
The Inner Tour
Well, this movie has already been reviewed by The New York Times, and assuming you will read it, I am only going to tell you about those parts of the movie which caught my attention.
Link to The New York Times review : http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9507E4DB143AF932A35757C0A9649C8B63&ex=1332475200&en=709faf668585ee66&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
But yes, before I move on, let me point to you something I happened to notice on the movie's IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277039/
You will find that the Germany (Berlin film festival) version of the movie is only 85 minutes, down by 12 minutes, and having seen the movie I am sure that a large part of those 12 minutes are from a chapter of the movie which deals with a parallel being drawn between the sufferings of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis and the Palestinians sufferings due in large part to the Israeli's "Defence force"
The movie has been broken down to 7 chapters and even the chapters are very, very well chosen. There are points in each of the chapter which underline the choice of the chapter title, and this in fact builds gradually to the overall effect the movie has on the viewer.
I am too tempted to reveal the plot, but I am going to resist the temptation and will now tell you what I consider the best portions of each of the chapters.
As the review itself will tell you, the movie(documentary, really) is mostly about Palestinian families, about 5 to 10 of them, touring Israel. They are all visiting Israel for the first time in their lives, and carry baggages of memories of their the pre-partition lives of their own or their families.
1. Very Nice Israel
There is this young man, whose mother is in Lebanon and since he has a Palestinean passport, he cannot visit her. He also has a sister whom he cant meet. On the first day of the tour, he meets these Asians who tell him that they find Israel very nice.
He asks them if they like all of Israel, and then asks them if they like Israel or Palestine.
They tell him that they have never had a chance to "be on the other side"
2. Years pass by and for us time stands for still:
There are various scenes in this chapter, all of which together seem to say this one thing: It is only the burden of time, the baggage that we carry voluntarily on our backs that pull us down. While Israel has become this powerful country, technologically and economically developed, average Palestineans continue to lead a life less ordinary, for, unfortunately, and quite often, unadmittedly, they are caught in a time warp.
They fell down, but instead of choosing to get up, dust themselves and move on, they chose to lie down and wail. ( I know that I am being rather opinionated here, but I am somehow in the mood for strong opinions after having seen the contrast between the lives, as shown in the movie, and as understood otherwise!)
Yes, one needs to sympathise with the cause of the Palestinians. There is no doubt about that. But, just who is to be blamed? The people who wronged the Palestinians have long been dead (disregarding the ongoing violence and international socio-economic-political damage caused by the Israelis).
But, you watch this movie, and you realise that the man on the street in Israel cannot be blamed for your woes. The average Israeli is leading a happy life, and the average Palestinian is still stuck in a time warp! (If at all the problem was not as complex as it really is, the armchair blogger like me could have offered a solution, but, it is indeed a complex problem, and I am only saying what I felt while watching the movie!)
3. I dont want to see; I dont want to see;
Nothing much here really, except for... well, let me not bust the entire movie for you!
Yeah, one of the things that moves you here is the fact that there is this old man, who likens himself to an ostrich burying its head in the sand when in danger. He is drawing a parallel with himself and how he is pained to see many things as part of the tour, and just closes his eye saying "I dont want to see, I dont want to see" to himself...This again makes one think about how, refusing to acknowledge the existence of a problem takes one away from the reality of having to find a solution!
4. I am not even going to tell you the title :P ( I really want you to watch the movie!)
5. Do you like your life?
Imagine this conversation between an Israeli and a Palestinian:
Palestinian: Do you like your life?
Israeli: Yes, I like your life. Why?
Palestinian : Because some people. They dont like their life.
Israeli: Why dont they like their life? Then they should do what they like!
Palestinian :.......
Israeli: It takes time..It takes time..
6 and 7. Well, I have already revealed quite a lot, although I have tried my best to strike a balance between revealing enough to make you want to watch this movie while at the same time not revealing more than what would you put you off!
But, let me just close this review of sorts with one last memory..There is this blind man in the movie who had done exceedingly well for himself in life, despite whatever happened to him as a Palestinian. He is quite well off, and during one of the conversations with a fellow passenger, he recollects an old village saying
"A lot of beating makes a weak man strong"
I just wanted to stand up and clap in full agreement :)
The movie is mostly in Hebrew and Arabic, and the English sub titles do help, but somehow, I felt that it could have been even more impactful and thought provoking had it been in English..
There are obviously atleast some characters I have not even mentioned about, and some aspects to the characters I have left about, just so that you dont accuse me of being a killjoy!
I would rate this movie as a must watch. If you get to watch it, you must watch it..Really!
Well, this movie has already been reviewed by The New York Times, and assuming you will read it, I am only going to tell you about those parts of the movie which caught my attention.
Link to The New York Times review : http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9507E4DB143AF932A35757C0A9649C8B63&ex=1332475200&en=709faf668585ee66&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
But yes, before I move on, let me point to you something I happened to notice on the movie's IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277039/
You will find that the Germany (Berlin film festival) version of the movie is only 85 minutes, down by 12 minutes, and having seen the movie I am sure that a large part of those 12 minutes are from a chapter of the movie which deals with a parallel being drawn between the sufferings of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis and the Palestinians sufferings due in large part to the Israeli's "Defence force"
The movie has been broken down to 7 chapters and even the chapters are very, very well chosen. There are points in each of the chapter which underline the choice of the chapter title, and this in fact builds gradually to the overall effect the movie has on the viewer.
I am too tempted to reveal the plot, but I am going to resist the temptation and will now tell you what I consider the best portions of each of the chapters.
As the review itself will tell you, the movie(documentary, really) is mostly about Palestinian families, about 5 to 10 of them, touring Israel. They are all visiting Israel for the first time in their lives, and carry baggages of memories of their the pre-partition lives of their own or their families.
1. Very Nice Israel
There is this young man, whose mother is in Lebanon and since he has a Palestinean passport, he cannot visit her. He also has a sister whom he cant meet. On the first day of the tour, he meets these Asians who tell him that they find Israel very nice.
He asks them if they like all of Israel, and then asks them if they like Israel or Palestine.
They tell him that they have never had a chance to "be on the other side"
2. Years pass by and for us time stands for still:
There are various scenes in this chapter, all of which together seem to say this one thing: It is only the burden of time, the baggage that we carry voluntarily on our backs that pull us down. While Israel has become this powerful country, technologically and economically developed, average Palestineans continue to lead a life less ordinary, for, unfortunately, and quite often, unadmittedly, they are caught in a time warp.
They fell down, but instead of choosing to get up, dust themselves and move on, they chose to lie down and wail. ( I know that I am being rather opinionated here, but I am somehow in the mood for strong opinions after having seen the contrast between the lives, as shown in the movie, and as understood otherwise!)
Yes, one needs to sympathise with the cause of the Palestinians. There is no doubt about that. But, just who is to be blamed? The people who wronged the Palestinians have long been dead (disregarding the ongoing violence and international socio-economic-political damage caused by the Israelis).
But, you watch this movie, and you realise that the man on the street in Israel cannot be blamed for your woes. The average Israeli is leading a happy life, and the average Palestinian is still stuck in a time warp! (If at all the problem was not as complex as it really is, the armchair blogger like me could have offered a solution, but, it is indeed a complex problem, and I am only saying what I felt while watching the movie!)
3. I dont want to see; I dont want to see;
Nothing much here really, except for... well, let me not bust the entire movie for you!
Yeah, one of the things that moves you here is the fact that there is this old man, who likens himself to an ostrich burying its head in the sand when in danger. He is drawing a parallel with himself and how he is pained to see many things as part of the tour, and just closes his eye saying "I dont want to see, I dont want to see" to himself...This again makes one think about how, refusing to acknowledge the existence of a problem takes one away from the reality of having to find a solution!
4. I am not even going to tell you the title :P ( I really want you to watch the movie!)
5. Do you like your life?
Imagine this conversation between an Israeli and a Palestinian:
Palestinian: Do you like your life?
Israeli: Yes, I like your life. Why?
Palestinian : Because some people. They dont like their life.
Israeli: Why dont they like their life? Then they should do what they like!
Palestinian :.......
Israeli: It takes time..It takes time..
6 and 7. Well, I have already revealed quite a lot, although I have tried my best to strike a balance between revealing enough to make you want to watch this movie while at the same time not revealing more than what would you put you off!
But, let me just close this review of sorts with one last memory..There is this blind man in the movie who had done exceedingly well for himself in life, despite whatever happened to him as a Palestinian. He is quite well off, and during one of the conversations with a fellow passenger, he recollects an old village saying
"A lot of beating makes a weak man strong"
I just wanted to stand up and clap in full agreement :)
The movie is mostly in Hebrew and Arabic, and the English sub titles do help, but somehow, I felt that it could have been even more impactful and thought provoking had it been in English..
There are obviously atleast some characters I have not even mentioned about, and some aspects to the characters I have left about, just so that you dont accuse me of being a killjoy!
I would rate this movie as a must watch. If you get to watch it, you must watch it..Really!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Worshipper.
This is one painting TheLoneWolf is not going to forget in a hurry. In fact, if things turn out the way he has been dreaming of since last September/October, he is not going to remember this painting long after he ceases to be TheLoneWolf. Now, this is giving away way too much about TheLoneWolf's fantasies in public. So, we will just get on with the name of the painting.
" Worshipper" it was, and all it had was a Brahmin with his choti wala head turned towards you, while he was doing his job - Worship.
Just the name, and the painting had stirred so much excitement in TheLoneWolf that he had to use his rescue tactics to pretend to be excited only upto optimal and socially acceptable levels :)
He had already decided that he will at least request for the price, and he did exactly that.
Its another thing that speaking to Seema Jindal, the painter herself, lead TheLoneWolf onto thoughts beyond that one painting, but then, talking to artists, always makes one think!
Except that, as he would discover/realise a coupla days later, artists are smart businessmen too. He just had to speak to another artist to realise :)
Seema Jindal was good; and being no art critic (not just yet!), I can only recollect and briefly recall the names and themes of other paintings of hers on display that day:
Smiling Flowers
Sage
Awakening
Faith
Celebration of womanhood
Contemplation
Determination
Action
Unmukth (This one was brilliant too, but I am obviously not going to be favourable to any other painting than The Worshipper for purely personal reasons!)
Together but lonely (This one was excellent nonetheless! But then again...)
And many others...I made a note of only the names that caught my attention..Yeah...Even the names are important as I begin to realise!)
A common thing to quite a few of Seema Jindals paintings are her fascination for the sunflower, and I must say that the sunflower is not out of place in any of the paintings; so it seems to be a smart move anyway! Its better than an obsession with horses or any other controversial idea! ;)
Yeah, they were all oil on canvas, and with less than 15 minutes to spend in an arts gallery, one always feels incomplete!!!
" Worshipper" it was, and all it had was a Brahmin with his choti wala head turned towards you, while he was doing his job - Worship.
Just the name, and the painting had stirred so much excitement in TheLoneWolf that he had to use his rescue tactics to pretend to be excited only upto optimal and socially acceptable levels :)
He had already decided that he will at least request for the price, and he did exactly that.
Its another thing that speaking to Seema Jindal, the painter herself, lead TheLoneWolf onto thoughts beyond that one painting, but then, talking to artists, always makes one think!
Except that, as he would discover/realise a coupla days later, artists are smart businessmen too. He just had to speak to another artist to realise :)
Seema Jindal was good; and being no art critic (not just yet!), I can only recollect and briefly recall the names and themes of other paintings of hers on display that day:
Smiling Flowers
Sage
Awakening
Faith
Celebration of womanhood
Contemplation
Determination
Action
Unmukth (This one was brilliant too, but I am obviously not going to be favourable to any other painting than The Worshipper for purely personal reasons!)
Together but lonely (This one was excellent nonetheless! But then again...)
And many others...I made a note of only the names that caught my attention..Yeah...Even the names are important as I begin to realise!)
A common thing to quite a few of Seema Jindals paintings are her fascination for the sunflower, and I must say that the sunflower is not out of place in any of the paintings; so it seems to be a smart move anyway! Its better than an obsession with horses or any other controversial idea! ;)
Yeah, they were all oil on canvas, and with less than 15 minutes to spend in an arts gallery, one always feels incomplete!!!
Worshipper - Of (not just) paintings; Final Solutions (not really; only a play!)
"I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself."
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray Ch. 1
Certain thoughts, patterns and thought patterns are so absorbing that one begins to fear being completely absorbed, leaving behind very little, if at all of the “Self”.
To describe such situations, TheLoneWolf often uses quotes, and Oscar Wilde very often, does the trick.
Another Saturday evening visit to the India Habitat Centre although for another play, will be remembered more for the painting at the gallery than the play itself.
Final Solutions
Mahesh Dattani’s “Final Solution”, performed in Hindi by the Asmita Group was brilliant only in bursts, with the overall effect not being intense enough to provoke thoughts or force one to reflect upon the thoughts that pass by as a side effect.
The play (script) itself was very well thought through, especially in the way the story moves between the past and the present, with a diary written by a young girl before the partition being the window between the past and the present. The two times have not been very different, with communal violence still being a reality, often finding its justification in the unfortunate reality of the Partition.
But, somehow, the overall effect the play had on Him was not something He would describe as being “thought provoking”. Yes, we, as a society still do not easily accept Hindu-Muslim marriages. Inter caste marriages are only beginning to be accepted, and even this, only among the sophisticated, elite classes who are somehow, more often than not, more broad minded than the economically backward masses.
The audience for plays tends to be more often than not, the social elite and people from what are called “the upper middle classes”. So, it may just be that the context of the play is quite lost on the audience, in that, no one in the audience would have indulged in violence anyway!
But then, He does think, that as a society, and as a nation, we still have a long way to go before we can consider ourselves truly secular, and there were a few acts in the play which brought back such thoughts to the fore.
The point where Babban ( a Muslim) takes a Hindu idol and places it on his hand, with all due respect and watches it in awe, only to demonstrate that the idol was not revolting or reducing him to ashes was well portrayed.
Bajrang Bali Singh, who played Babban continues to impress, and He can only recollect how he (the actor) had been brilliant indeed as Basavanna in Rakt Kalyan (a previous weekend).
Javed, a character one would love to hate at certain points of time during the play, and at other times would sympathise with, was very, very well portrayed by Susan Brar, and he is one man to watch out for. With a movie release in the pipeline, he had come down from Mumbai only to perform in the play, and as TheLoneWolf finds out later, most artistes have such dreams to help them survive and sustain. For, they don’t get paid anything at all, and not all shows even cover the costs of the stage.
In all, a watchable play, no doubt, and definitely an evening well spent. Only that, if you were expecting to be moved and provoked, you may be in for some disappointment.
Worshipper: – Of Paintings and Off Paintings alike. (Coming soon!)
Friday, June 6, 2008
Why Men Cry and Women Lie?
Now, if I didn't have such a title for my post, you wouldn't probably read my post.
So, let me first confess to changing things ever so slightly and not so subtly so as to draw attention.
In order to set things in order, let me first tell you that this stranger next to me in Mc Donalds was actually reading a book titled "Why Men Lie and Women Cry". (and NOT the other way round as the title suggests!)
Now, the following things are important to note:-
1. It was a Mc Donald's outlet, and yours truly was in the "Singles, please sit here" area of Mc Donalds, least bothered to notice people around, happily dipping into his ice cream.
2. FTV was playing on the telly, and earlier, while eating the burger in the common area, I had happened to notice that the men were ogling at either the women on the telly, or other women moving around, irrespective of whether they were themselves in the company of fashionable women ;-)
3. This dude, is obviously waiting for his girl, and with no other place vacant, decides to sit next to me and wait; reading as he waits for his girl...er...woman :)
4. The guy is lost, and has been reading the book before walking into Mc Donalds, and is visibly excited reading the book, nodding in agreement and smiling to himself.
5. I wait to see the cover, and discover that the author is Allan Pease, the author of Body Language.
6. I no longer repent not having read "Body Language" although in a teenage whim, I had picked a pirated copy of the same ;-)
But...hang on a second.
7. The title (of the book, as well as the twisted anti-title - the title of this post) , apart from being hilarious, is also quite ridiculous ; for very few men or women do only one of the two!
8. It is sometimes an interesting exercise to walk into a restaurant or cafeteria alone. So what if you don't have company! Observing people can be an interesting and entertaining pastime :)
Mr. Delhi, I know I have a real long way before I catch up with you, but yes, I can now imagine how you must have entertained yourself in different parts of the world :)
So, let me first confess to changing things ever so slightly and not so subtly so as to draw attention.
In order to set things in order, let me first tell you that this stranger next to me in Mc Donalds was actually reading a book titled "Why Men Lie and Women Cry". (and NOT the other way round as the title suggests!)
Now, the following things are important to note:-
1. It was a Mc Donald's outlet, and yours truly was in the "Singles, please sit here" area of Mc Donalds, least bothered to notice people around, happily dipping into his ice cream.
2. FTV was playing on the telly, and earlier, while eating the burger in the common area, I had happened to notice that the men were ogling at either the women on the telly, or other women moving around, irrespective of whether they were themselves in the company of fashionable women ;-)
3. This dude, is obviously waiting for his girl, and with no other place vacant, decides to sit next to me and wait; reading as he waits for his girl...er...woman :)
4. The guy is lost, and has been reading the book before walking into Mc Donalds, and is visibly excited reading the book, nodding in agreement and smiling to himself.
5. I wait to see the cover, and discover that the author is Allan Pease, the author of Body Language.
6. I no longer repent not having read "Body Language" although in a teenage whim, I had picked a pirated copy of the same ;-)
But...hang on a second.
7. The title (of the book, as well as the twisted anti-title - the title of this post) , apart from being hilarious, is also quite ridiculous ; for very few men or women do only one of the two!
8. It is sometimes an interesting exercise to walk into a restaurant or cafeteria alone. So what if you don't have company! Observing people can be an interesting and entertaining pastime :)
Mr. Delhi, I know I have a real long way before I catch up with you, but yes, I can now imagine how you must have entertained yourself in different parts of the world :)
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Of Mangoes and "Man goes" ; and then Man grows and Mangroves.
Selfishness is a virtue, or so Ayn Rand had implied, and after reading The Fountainhead, TheLoneWolf had even thought that a title like "The Virtue of Selfishness" was perfectly alright for a book. Well, may be, it really was!
But, TheLoneWolf, demonstrating the human traits he had invariably picked up, had come to interpret Selfishness in a way totally different from what Ayn Rand's idea of selfishness did.
Driven by self interest, he had failed to understand people around him, and had sometimes wondered about how and why people cannot be comfortable lonely.
He was TheLoneWolf himself, and he often showed off his comfort and composure in being lonely - so much so that people around him, actually bought into the impression that he had so successfully created - of being comfortable alone.
Loneliness is a funny thing really.
You can call it solitude and dismiss my English as not being polished enough. But then, I never claimed to speak or write spotless English, and often excused myself with the State Board schooling and its imperfections. Blame games are easy after all!
But yes - One reason why this post talks about solitude although veiled behind a funny looking title is this - that solitude and loneliness are indeed quite different.
Solitude was what TheLoneWolf had often preferred, even when at home, or when surrounded by people/friends/colleagues/classmates.
But then, he had never experienced loneliness to be able to appreciate someone else's loneliness.
Yes, Mr. Delhi, this is about you, and for you!
I am really sorry, for having realised rather late that loneliness can be quite painful...Well, I guess I did enjoy being friends with you, and come to think of it, I have never before become such good friends with anyone as I did with you...And I do know, that all this can sound so melodramatic and senti, but then, it is my blog, and as long as I am protecting identities, I can say what I want! Even Mr. Aamir Khan is taking guarded digs at his competitor under the pretext that the former's dog and the latter share the same name!
So, yes...the only Mangos (save my own home of course!) I had this season, were directly or indirectly because of you - and I am just connecting the Mangoes with the Man goes for effect ;-)
It's totally another story that solitude can be the result of Woman goes too, but then, I have already spoilt a Barista evening talking about the latter ;-)
For now, although you have come and gone, leaving more than just me behind, alone ;-) - I definitely cannot and will not hold you responsible for my loneliness - even you know that ;-)
And since the rather long and very much enjoyable dinner table conversation ended with that perfect combination - Ice cream and Mangoes, I must say I was fortunate to be part of such a conversation as well as the Mangoes!
As for the Loneliness and Solitude - well, since when did we start having easy solutions for human problems? ;-)
Not that I or TheLoneWolf have any problems now, but by even coming to understand someone else's problem, although quite late in this instance, may be it is a step taken in the right direction? So what if it is in the direction of Mangoes and its homophone(?)
And then the Mangroves and how Man grows...
Hidden behind this funny looking phrase is a deep thought, or so I would like to claim ;-)
"It is high time people stop watering mangroves and behave like grown ups" - was what TheLoneWolf thought the following evening, after all that had happened and not happened over the weekend.
But then, my point is as simple as this - I beg to ask you, "Say just how do grown ups behave?"
Having made my point, I will proceed to publish this post, with a sense of "enlightenment".
Yes, "Enlightenment" is what I call my blog, although I confess to using this and most other words in a twisted sense.
If blogging is a way of offloading, so be it...
Encryption and encapsulation were thankfully not superficially learnt programming concepts meant to be forgotten any time soon! ;-)
I thank that one man or woman who first conceived the idea of a journal or blog - and then, although I dont claim to have learnt programming or anything else for that matter, I thank those men and women who inspired the ideas behind encapsulation and encryption ;-)
But, TheLoneWolf, demonstrating the human traits he had invariably picked up, had come to interpret Selfishness in a way totally different from what Ayn Rand's idea of selfishness did.
Driven by self interest, he had failed to understand people around him, and had sometimes wondered about how and why people cannot be comfortable lonely.
He was TheLoneWolf himself, and he often showed off his comfort and composure in being lonely - so much so that people around him, actually bought into the impression that he had so successfully created - of being comfortable alone.
Loneliness is a funny thing really.
You can call it solitude and dismiss my English as not being polished enough. But then, I never claimed to speak or write spotless English, and often excused myself with the State Board schooling and its imperfections. Blame games are easy after all!
But yes - One reason why this post talks about solitude although veiled behind a funny looking title is this - that solitude and loneliness are indeed quite different.
Solitude was what TheLoneWolf had often preferred, even when at home, or when surrounded by people/friends/colleagues/classmates.
But then, he had never experienced loneliness to be able to appreciate someone else's loneliness.
Yes, Mr. Delhi, this is about you, and for you!
I am really sorry, for having realised rather late that loneliness can be quite painful...Well, I guess I did enjoy being friends with you, and come to think of it, I have never before become such good friends with anyone as I did with you...And I do know, that all this can sound so melodramatic and senti, but then, it is my blog, and as long as I am protecting identities, I can say what I want! Even Mr. Aamir Khan is taking guarded digs at his competitor under the pretext that the former's dog and the latter share the same name!
So, yes...the only Mangos (save my own home of course!) I had this season, were directly or indirectly because of you - and I am just connecting the Mangoes with the Man goes for effect ;-)
It's totally another story that solitude can be the result of Woman goes too, but then, I have already spoilt a Barista evening talking about the latter ;-)
For now, although you have come and gone, leaving more than just me behind, alone ;-) - I definitely cannot and will not hold you responsible for my loneliness - even you know that ;-)
And since the rather long and very much enjoyable dinner table conversation ended with that perfect combination - Ice cream and Mangoes, I must say I was fortunate to be part of such a conversation as well as the Mangoes!
As for the Loneliness and Solitude - well, since when did we start having easy solutions for human problems? ;-)
Not that I or TheLoneWolf have any problems now, but by even coming to understand someone else's problem, although quite late in this instance, may be it is a step taken in the right direction? So what if it is in the direction of Mangoes and its homophone(?)
And then the Mangroves and how Man grows...
Hidden behind this funny looking phrase is a deep thought, or so I would like to claim ;-)
"It is high time people stop watering mangroves and behave like grown ups" - was what TheLoneWolf thought the following evening, after all that had happened and not happened over the weekend.
But then, my point is as simple as this - I beg to ask you, "Say just how do grown ups behave?"
Having made my point, I will proceed to publish this post, with a sense of "enlightenment".
Yes, "Enlightenment" is what I call my blog, although I confess to using this and most other words in a twisted sense.
If blogging is a way of offloading, so be it...
Encryption and encapsulation were thankfully not superficially learnt programming concepts meant to be forgotten any time soon! ;-)
I thank that one man or woman who first conceived the idea of a journal or blog - and then, although I dont claim to have learnt programming or anything else for that matter, I thank those men and women who inspired the ideas behind encapsulation and encryption ;-)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
High on the highway; Higher on the high fliers.
The Summer has been cool, yes. But the Summers had yet to become cooler, "Yes".
So, having been in waiting for coolness of all kinds, life would move on until one day, signs of coolness setting in appear on the horizon ;-)
At CorrectBank there is this young workaholic man who steers clear of all cynicism. Dedicated, is too less a word to even begin to describe him. Always thinking about the markets, portfolios and business, TheLoneWolf had seen him talk little else apart from talking about Bangalore once in a while.
But, on a day when TheLoneWolf seemed good to go, Mr. Portfolio directs a "Baby's day out".
Yes, TheLoneWolf was only a "bachcha" as he would realise on the drive with Mr. Portfolio to a coupla client offices.
Investment strategies, including the famous Value Investing variety, and Mr. Portfolio's experiments with them, make for most of the conversation enroute, and whats especially interesting is that successes and failures alike are equally disclosed :-)
After a visit to a "small" client, who enjoys CorrectBank's and especially Mr. Portfolio's services thanks only to the idea behind "Relationship Banking" (while ignoring Bank's profitability in "servicing" some such customers), it would be time to visit a really wealthy client.
TheCapital has quite a few posh areas, mostly to the South of the city. The Audis, The Mercs, the BMWs, the convertibles, and all other imported variants of auto majors such at the Toyota and the Honda may well be a fair indicator of the wealth that those living inside the huge and tastefully built houses.
Mr. HighFlier, is the client that the baby takes a liking to. Yes, highs on the highway due to stock market strategy discussions soar even higher on meeting with Mr. HighFlier.
Now, Mr. HighFlier, as his name suggests, has reached great heights in life. And that is because there were heights to most things about him. His company had reached great heights by taking people to great heights and bringing them down a few thousand kilometres away.
The man had an Audi among other cars parked outside.. (not sure if there were more within a garage!) and on CorrectBanks other man calling him up, the gate opens due to the press of a button situated naturally in Mr. HighFlier's office room.
Paintings on walls only underline the writing on the wall - that the man is "filthy" rich.
That, he has the choicest of books on philosophy and politics alike in his room cannot possibly overlooked. You cant fail to notice books even if you were to see miniatures of cars and other artifacts around them. Even the Apple I phone can be excused. After all, it is not more expensive than an N series phone.
But, Mr. HighFlier only begins talking of money and oh baby (TheLoneWolf) almost felt his own jaws drop ;-) I guess, hearing such nauseatingly high amounts of money will take getting used to.
Especially because, with someone like Mr. Portfolio around, Objectivity about money becomes the single most important thought in one's mind. And while Mr. Portfolio makes the case for what all can be done with Mr. HighFlier's wealth, listening in rapt attention is the only pleasant thing to do!
Later that evening, TheLoneWolf finds out from his ex-work/work-ex network that a man's real "Aukaath" can be fairly assessed with further observations about his clothes. While cloth brands were a bit hard to observe without being observed while observing, what TheLoneWolf did observe was the Breitling watch. Yes, may be you would argue that Breitlings are anyway worn by high-fliers because they are meant to be. After all, Breitlings were originally designed for navigation and aviation. But, but, but, cigarattes, cannot be ignored after all!
Davidoff, was what Mr. High Flier smoked, and as the ex-work network knew almost everything about Imperial Tobacco (the manufacturer of Davidoff), it is soon known over a coupla email bounces that the Classic variant of Davidoff would cost a minimum of Rs. 500 for a pack of 10.
For once, Mr. Portfolio was wrong after all. He had estimated the pack to cost 5 USD. But then, a non-smoker as a smoker would argue, never really understands the value a smoke has ;-)
The drive back to office would make for equally (if not more!) interesting conversation about among other things, wealth creation and wealth management and wealth creation through wealth management. And then, talking in private about banking is not the same as private banking, but talking in private about private banking to someone like Mr. Portfolio could be the cleanest and most educating of private conversations two men can ever have! ;-)
Every day in a summer may not be as cool ; but then, greed is a virtue only when under control ;-)
So, having been in waiting for coolness of all kinds, life would move on until one day, signs of coolness setting in appear on the horizon ;-)
At CorrectBank there is this young workaholic man who steers clear of all cynicism. Dedicated, is too less a word to even begin to describe him. Always thinking about the markets, portfolios and business, TheLoneWolf had seen him talk little else apart from talking about Bangalore once in a while.
But, on a day when TheLoneWolf seemed good to go, Mr. Portfolio directs a "Baby's day out".
Yes, TheLoneWolf was only a "bachcha" as he would realise on the drive with Mr. Portfolio to a coupla client offices.
Investment strategies, including the famous Value Investing variety, and Mr. Portfolio's experiments with them, make for most of the conversation enroute, and whats especially interesting is that successes and failures alike are equally disclosed :-)
After a visit to a "small" client, who enjoys CorrectBank's and especially Mr. Portfolio's services thanks only to the idea behind "Relationship Banking" (while ignoring Bank's profitability in "servicing" some such customers), it would be time to visit a really wealthy client.
TheCapital has quite a few posh areas, mostly to the South of the city. The Audis, The Mercs, the BMWs, the convertibles, and all other imported variants of auto majors such at the Toyota and the Honda may well be a fair indicator of the wealth that those living inside the huge and tastefully built houses.
Mr. HighFlier, is the client that the baby takes a liking to. Yes, highs on the highway due to stock market strategy discussions soar even higher on meeting with Mr. HighFlier.
Now, Mr. HighFlier, as his name suggests, has reached great heights in life. And that is because there were heights to most things about him. His company had reached great heights by taking people to great heights and bringing them down a few thousand kilometres away.
The man had an Audi among other cars parked outside.. (not sure if there were more within a garage!) and on CorrectBanks other man calling him up, the gate opens due to the press of a button situated naturally in Mr. HighFlier's office room.
Paintings on walls only underline the writing on the wall - that the man is "filthy" rich.
That, he has the choicest of books on philosophy and politics alike in his room cannot possibly overlooked. You cant fail to notice books even if you were to see miniatures of cars and other artifacts around them. Even the Apple I phone can be excused. After all, it is not more expensive than an N series phone.
But, Mr. HighFlier only begins talking of money and oh baby (TheLoneWolf) almost felt his own jaws drop ;-) I guess, hearing such nauseatingly high amounts of money will take getting used to.
Especially because, with someone like Mr. Portfolio around, Objectivity about money becomes the single most important thought in one's mind. And while Mr. Portfolio makes the case for what all can be done with Mr. HighFlier's wealth, listening in rapt attention is the only pleasant thing to do!
Later that evening, TheLoneWolf finds out from his ex-work/work-ex network that a man's real "Aukaath" can be fairly assessed with further observations about his clothes. While cloth brands were a bit hard to observe without being observed while observing, what TheLoneWolf did observe was the Breitling watch. Yes, may be you would argue that Breitlings are anyway worn by high-fliers because they are meant to be. After all, Breitlings were originally designed for navigation and aviation. But, but, but, cigarattes, cannot be ignored after all!
Davidoff, was what Mr. High Flier smoked, and as the ex-work network knew almost everything about Imperial Tobacco (the manufacturer of Davidoff), it is soon known over a coupla email bounces that the Classic variant of Davidoff would cost a minimum of Rs. 500 for a pack of 10.
For once, Mr. Portfolio was wrong after all. He had estimated the pack to cost 5 USD. But then, a non-smoker as a smoker would argue, never really understands the value a smoke has ;-)
The drive back to office would make for equally (if not more!) interesting conversation about among other things, wealth creation and wealth management and wealth creation through wealth management. And then, talking in private about banking is not the same as private banking, but talking in private about private banking to someone like Mr. Portfolio could be the cleanest and most educating of private conversations two men can ever have! ;-)
Every day in a summer may not be as cool ; but then, greed is a virtue only when under control ;-)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Reviews: Rakt Kalyan (Hindi play), "Little Does Matter" - a painting exhibition, Karnataka Restaurant.
India Habitat Centre on Lodhi Road is a convention centre with facilities for the simultaneous conduct of 20 odd meetings or conventions, and the marathon reading of newspapers the other day had lead to planning for various possible ways to kill time on a weekend.
I had initially set out that evening to watch the play "Me, Kash and Cruise", a play about three men and their years between 1984 and 2008 in Mumbai.
As my luck/fate would have it, the tickets for both Saturday and Sunday were sold out completely.
I am not sure if part of the reason for the sell out was the delay in my attempt at being calculative and thrifty.
I was waiting for the DTC buses for 15 minutes before I realised that even 50 bucks for an autorickshaw was not bad compared to what I would have spent in Bangalore. When one uses ones own transport, apart from the money one spends on petrol, one also has to shell out a lot of money for parking if one were to frequent malls. So, if I was in Bangalore, meeting up with old friends in a mall, I would have spent a lot of money on parking too, I thought and finally took an autorickshaw.
Lodhi Gardens and the monument ( I later found out that its called the Shish Gumbad) are probably for another day!
The India Habitat Centre near Lodhi Gardens, luckily that day also had an art exhibition and a Hindi play on. Luck, apparently is what people call this. Nothing really bad happens, unless one wants to feel victimised.
So, after a real long time, I guess I had a near ideal weekend, nearly as ideal as idle could be ;-)
Little Does Matter.
On going into the gallery, the first thing a visitor finds is the description of the idea behind "Little Does Matter". While I cannot recall all of it, and trying to type it into my cellphone would be nowhere close to covert, subtle or suppressed, I made a note of only this :
Sanjeev Verma, (http://www.sanjeevverma.com/) says:
For me, Art is a world in itself. A world in which an artist chooses to live with his creations; himself not ruling over it, but merely standing in the middle of this circle of a created beautiful life within the life, enjoying this potent gift that he inherits from the universe.
While I did make a note of the names of a select few of his works, I was badly missing Darshana (my camera), who, in keeping with the dual meanings of her name, would have helped both see and visualize at the same time ;-)
I do not really want to comment on any of Sanjeev Verma's works, especially since a novice is hardly ever a great critic. I did wonder about how much any or all of of the works on display would cost, and then, how they would appreciate in value over time. Investment in art is after all, an area that has recently been receiving attention from an investment perspective.
I must say, I could barely say what each of the paintings was trying to say at first glance; but on reading the title displayed alongside, I could reverse fit the theme onto the painting. I hope this a first step well taken, although appreciating and understanding art is a science in itself!
So...here are some of the names....Self descriptive only to an extent, because the painting cannot really be imagined only given the names...
Blue Streak, Little Does Matter (at the least, 7 variants on display), In between black and white, Beginning of the end, Dreamscape, Green patches, Regress in Progress, Even the mirage is vanishing.
I did like all of the Little Does Matter variants, but Dreamscape was easily my most favourite :-)
Finally, in defense of all artists, here is what I close this review with - An extract from one of Oscar Wilde's works -
Rakt Kalyan - Asmita Group
The play is based on Dr. Girish Karnad's Tale Danda, and is set in the days of the Bhakti movement, largely lead by Basavanna in the southern geographies of India during the 12th century. The play has been translated to Hindi by Ramgopal Bajaj, and has been directed by one Mr. Arvind Gaur, who heads the Delhi based Asmita group.
Having paid only Rs. 50 for a ticket, I had found that the play was going to be staged at the amphitheatre, and to my continuing good luck of the evening, there were no mosquitoes to play spoil sport!
The play was absorbing, to say the least, and 2 hours went with less than 2 glances at the watch. The theme and backdrop were something I could associate with, but were really thought provoking, when portraying moral dilemmas, Basavanna's growing popularity and how he was uncomfortable being thought of as an incarnation of God, or being a Godman. The issues of religious faith and belief as against tradition and religious orthodoxy of the Brahmins driven laregely by self-interest, and the issues of inter-caste marriage - something that wouldn't be short of earthshaking in those days.
The acting, and portrayal in the case of a few actors was nothing short of brilliant, and Bajrag Bali Singh (Basavanna), Deepak Ochani (King Bijjala) and Viren Basoya (Jagdeva) easily stood out. The other characters were well enacted too, save for a few peripheral characters failing to recollect dialogues on a few occasions.
The sound and light were reasonably well co-ordinated, but I did think that the music could have been composed or compiled better.
On the whole, watching the play could easily be passed as an evening well spent, and even if it were a small way of promoting theatre, the entertainment and enlightenment angles to socially relevant theatre can never be ignored.
I hope to go back to more of Asmita's plays in the future.
Karnataka Restaurant
On not being able to find buses around 10 pm, time was running out and in about 10 minutes, my patience would give way and the autorickshaw would again come to the rescue of this "LoneWolf" in TheCapital.
Just when I was thinking of dinner, and how back in Bangalore, it would have been as easy as going to a Darshini and quickly downing either a Dosa or any thing North Indian and South Indian quickly and cheaply so what if a bit dirtily, I thought that one of the conveniences and "homely" feel Bangalore had for me was its food and eating out options.
Soon enough, at Yusuf Sarai near AIIMS, I saw this "Karnataka Restaurant" and almost jumped out of the auto ;-)
One of the hazards to running an affordable speciality cuisine restaurant in a city is I guess, having to cater to the local tastes as well. So, I think, when I excuse people around eating Rotis and Paneer curry in a Karnataka Restaurant!
The look and feel of the restaurant resembles that of a typical Karnataka restaurant one can find in some parts of Bangalore (untouched by the glitz and glam of malls) and tier-2 cities like Tumkur, Maddur, etc., Those wooden furniture with laminated plywood table tops are things that remind a Kannadiga of his homeland. The menu of course, is quite important!
The menu lists all that you can possibly imagine eating in a typical restaurant in Karnataka - except for the BisiBeleBath.
The Masala Dosa is TheLoneWolf's all time favourite anyway; so the missing BisiBeleBath doesn't bother him too much. But, if you have been badly missing Karnataka, you might want to have the Karnataka Platter.
At Rs. 60, you can have an Idli, a Vada, with authentic Sambar and Chutney, and a serving each of Kesari Bath and Upittu/Upma. Finally, you have a choice of Dosa between the Masala Dosa and the Uttapam.
Easily, the most authentic and yet affordable Karnataka Restaurant I have ever seen or heard of in Delhi.
Jai Kannada! (So much that I was listening to Kannada songs while walking back!)
I had initially set out that evening to watch the play "Me, Kash and Cruise", a play about three men and their years between 1984 and 2008 in Mumbai.
As my luck/fate would have it, the tickets for both Saturday and Sunday were sold out completely.
I am not sure if part of the reason for the sell out was the delay in my attempt at being calculative and thrifty.
I was waiting for the DTC buses for 15 minutes before I realised that even 50 bucks for an autorickshaw was not bad compared to what I would have spent in Bangalore. When one uses ones own transport, apart from the money one spends on petrol, one also has to shell out a lot of money for parking if one were to frequent malls. So, if I was in Bangalore, meeting up with old friends in a mall, I would have spent a lot of money on parking too, I thought and finally took an autorickshaw.
Lodhi Gardens and the monument ( I later found out that its called the Shish Gumbad) are probably for another day!
The India Habitat Centre near Lodhi Gardens, luckily that day also had an art exhibition and a Hindi play on. Luck, apparently is what people call this. Nothing really bad happens, unless one wants to feel victimised.
So, after a real long time, I guess I had a near ideal weekend, nearly as ideal as idle could be ;-)
Little Does Matter.
On going into the gallery, the first thing a visitor finds is the description of the idea behind "Little Does Matter". While I cannot recall all of it, and trying to type it into my cellphone would be nowhere close to covert, subtle or suppressed, I made a note of only this :
Sanjeev Verma, (http://www.sanjeevverma.com/) says:
For me, Art is a world in itself. A world in which an artist chooses to live with his creations; himself not ruling over it, but merely standing in the middle of this circle of a created beautiful life within the life, enjoying this potent gift that he inherits from the universe.
While I did make a note of the names of a select few of his works, I was badly missing Darshana (my camera), who, in keeping with the dual meanings of her name, would have helped both see and visualize at the same time ;-)
I do not really want to comment on any of Sanjeev Verma's works, especially since a novice is hardly ever a great critic. I did wonder about how much any or all of of the works on display would cost, and then, how they would appreciate in value over time. Investment in art is after all, an area that has recently been receiving attention from an investment perspective.
I must say, I could barely say what each of the paintings was trying to say at first glance; but on reading the title displayed alongside, I could reverse fit the theme onto the painting. I hope this a first step well taken, although appreciating and understanding art is a science in itself!
So...here are some of the names....Self descriptive only to an extent, because the painting cannot really be imagined only given the names...
Blue Streak, Little Does Matter (at the least, 7 variants on display), In between black and white, Beginning of the end, Dreamscape, Green patches, Regress in Progress, Even the mirage is vanishing.
I did like all of the Little Does Matter variants, but Dreamscape was easily my most favourite :-)
Finally, in defense of all artists, here is what I close this review with - An extract from one of Oscar Wilde's works -
We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he
does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless
thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.
Rakt Kalyan - Asmita Group
The play is based on Dr. Girish Karnad's Tale Danda, and is set in the days of the Bhakti movement, largely lead by Basavanna in the southern geographies of India during the 12th century. The play has been translated to Hindi by Ramgopal Bajaj, and has been directed by one Mr. Arvind Gaur, who heads the Delhi based Asmita group.
Having paid only Rs. 50 for a ticket, I had found that the play was going to be staged at the amphitheatre, and to my continuing good luck of the evening, there were no mosquitoes to play spoil sport!
The play was absorbing, to say the least, and 2 hours went with less than 2 glances at the watch. The theme and backdrop were something I could associate with, but were really thought provoking, when portraying moral dilemmas, Basavanna's growing popularity and how he was uncomfortable being thought of as an incarnation of God, or being a Godman. The issues of religious faith and belief as against tradition and religious orthodoxy of the Brahmins driven laregely by self-interest, and the issues of inter-caste marriage - something that wouldn't be short of earthshaking in those days.
The acting, and portrayal in the case of a few actors was nothing short of brilliant, and Bajrag Bali Singh (Basavanna), Deepak Ochani (King Bijjala) and Viren Basoya (Jagdeva) easily stood out. The other characters were well enacted too, save for a few peripheral characters failing to recollect dialogues on a few occasions.
The sound and light were reasonably well co-ordinated, but I did think that the music could have been composed or compiled better.
On the whole, watching the play could easily be passed as an evening well spent, and even if it were a small way of promoting theatre, the entertainment and enlightenment angles to socially relevant theatre can never be ignored.
I hope to go back to more of Asmita's plays in the future.
Karnataka Restaurant
On not being able to find buses around 10 pm, time was running out and in about 10 minutes, my patience would give way and the autorickshaw would again come to the rescue of this "LoneWolf" in TheCapital.
Just when I was thinking of dinner, and how back in Bangalore, it would have been as easy as going to a Darshini and quickly downing either a Dosa or any thing North Indian and South Indian quickly and cheaply so what if a bit dirtily, I thought that one of the conveniences and "homely" feel Bangalore had for me was its food and eating out options.
Soon enough, at Yusuf Sarai near AIIMS, I saw this "Karnataka Restaurant" and almost jumped out of the auto ;-)
One of the hazards to running an affordable speciality cuisine restaurant in a city is I guess, having to cater to the local tastes as well. So, I think, when I excuse people around eating Rotis and Paneer curry in a Karnataka Restaurant!
The look and feel of the restaurant resembles that of a typical Karnataka restaurant one can find in some parts of Bangalore (untouched by the glitz and glam of malls) and tier-2 cities like Tumkur, Maddur, etc., Those wooden furniture with laminated plywood table tops are things that remind a Kannadiga of his homeland. The menu of course, is quite important!
The menu lists all that you can possibly imagine eating in a typical restaurant in Karnataka - except for the BisiBeleBath.
The Masala Dosa is TheLoneWolf's all time favourite anyway; so the missing BisiBeleBath doesn't bother him too much. But, if you have been badly missing Karnataka, you might want to have the Karnataka Platter.
At Rs. 60, you can have an Idli, a Vada, with authentic Sambar and Chutney, and a serving each of Kesari Bath and Upittu/Upma. Finally, you have a choice of Dosa between the Masala Dosa and the Uttapam.
Easily, the most authentic and yet affordable Karnataka Restaurant I have ever seen or heard of in Delhi.
Jai Kannada! (So much that I was listening to Kannada songs while walking back!)
Distractions....Weekends, Weak-ends.
Humour, apparently is the best pretense and defense mechanism. It can also serve as an offense mechanism, when used with some effort and careful consideration. And coming across as being light hearted, especially at work, is quite important. I may be rather opinionated here, but, this was just one of the many theories I had come up with during my youth ;-)
And then, there was this theory about how most human beings depend on work to keep them mentally occupied, and even if there wasn't too much work to be done at the workplace, it helped one engage oneself in some activity, irrespective of the social, commercial and personal utility value of the activity.
It is the weekends which are particularly curiosity arousing.
On weekends, there is no running away from boredom or solitude or the otherwise successfully suppressed lack of direction that most amongst us hate to admit.
Of course, some people meet up with friends, some others "chill out", a few others have hobbies and interests and some of them actually have a lot to do on weekends. Even I had once (jocularly?) claimed that I work to keep myself mentally occupied between weekends.
But, some weekends expose our weak ends.
Distractions often do the trick, and this weekend was a tricky one no less ;-)
Peripheral talking has been a disease that has always plagued me, and I now realise that I need a separate post to brag about what I did on a Saturday in the Capital.
This post was only about the theories I guess ;-)
And then, there was this theory about how most human beings depend on work to keep them mentally occupied, and even if there wasn't too much work to be done at the workplace, it helped one engage oneself in some activity, irrespective of the social, commercial and personal utility value of the activity.
It is the weekends which are particularly curiosity arousing.
On weekends, there is no running away from boredom or solitude or the otherwise successfully suppressed lack of direction that most amongst us hate to admit.
Of course, some people meet up with friends, some others "chill out", a few others have hobbies and interests and some of them actually have a lot to do on weekends. Even I had once (jocularly?) claimed that I work to keep myself mentally occupied between weekends.
But, some weekends expose our weak ends.
Distractions often do the trick, and this weekend was a tricky one no less ;-)
Peripheral talking has been a disease that has always plagued me, and I now realise that I need a separate post to brag about what I did on a Saturday in the Capital.
This post was only about the theories I guess ;-)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Rain rain go away!
Just when I was thinking of how it has been raining almost every other morning and night, the newspapers helped me interpret it to my favour; of how Fortune has favoured me, although I am not really brave ;-)
The capital has seen a temperature dip - at 15 degrees below normal, 25 degree centigrade max, it beat Bangalore that day. It has been the coolest May in the last 5 years, going by average temperatures. And then, the number of days mercury has touched 40 in May has been only 6, with most of them being amongst the days before I came here.
Aren't some people (undeservingly?) lucky?
But yes, on one of these days, the weather was so good that even I was in the mood for poetry and romance. Its another thing altogether that neither of those are my forte ;-)
The capital has seen a temperature dip - at 15 degrees below normal, 25 degree centigrade max, it beat Bangalore that day. It has been the coolest May in the last 5 years, going by average temperatures. And then, the number of days mercury has touched 40 in May has been only 6, with most of them being amongst the days before I came here.
Aren't some people (undeservingly?) lucky?
But yes, on one of these days, the weather was so good that even I was in the mood for poetry and romance. Its another thing altogether that neither of those are my forte ;-)
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Home is where the heart is!
Does one actually exclaim thus (Home is where the heart is!!) only on returning home to find the heart one had either lost or left behind?
Steering clear of all argument, let me request you to consider the following argument.
Having returned home, if one doesn't stay at home to one's own heart's content or to the contentment of others' hearts, what does one say then?
And then, if one keeps running in and out of home all the time before leaving home again, whatever happens to the heart?
Enough confusion for the first post I guess. This post, along with the blog description and title, is enough confusion material to start with.
And whoever said encryption involved a lot of mathematics? :P
Using words to express an idea by itself often changes or degrades the quality of the original thought behind the idea. To use words to describe ideas, thoughts and feelings is to draw boundaries. Language is an imperfect communication tool. Encryption, in this context, is often a side effect of language. And when encryption is intentional, the effect is compounded ;-)
Steering clear of all argument, let me request you to consider the following argument.
Having returned home, if one doesn't stay at home to one's own heart's content or to the contentment of others' hearts, what does one say then?
And then, if one keeps running in and out of home all the time before leaving home again, whatever happens to the heart?
Enough confusion for the first post I guess. This post, along with the blog description and title, is enough confusion material to start with.
And whoever said encryption involved a lot of mathematics? :P
Using words to express an idea by itself often changes or degrades the quality of the original thought behind the idea. To use words to describe ideas, thoughts and feelings is to draw boundaries. Language is an imperfect communication tool. Encryption, in this context, is often a side effect of language. And when encryption is intentional, the effect is compounded ;-)
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