"...Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get...
I watched on dispassionately at the flopsy razzmatazz of bedecked women, neon lights and showy malls on Gurgaon's busy MG road-when suddenly a scraggy little hand jutted before me. "Just one rupee, madam!" she pleaded. I moved on a few steps but the little one tagged along, this time tugging at my shirt- I recoiled and headed straight towards the mall-this would be a "safe" place I thought.Inside there were colourful banners, smiling faces and glossy manequins. I walked on when suddenly a heart wrenching cry and a loud thud pierced my senses. "What was that?" I asked myself, and noticed a crowd of men jostling for space. Did I know what it was or else why did I not inch forward? I rushed out of the mall, got into a crowded auto and returned home.
I sat with my morning cuppa the next day,and opened the crisp pages of the Hindu. "GIRL MURDERED IN CROWDED GURGAON MALL" it read. The vagaries of existence-all too prominent, and so well defined, they mock my beliefs, ridicule my superstitions and sneer at my notions.
In the evening MG road was once again beaming-the neon, the crowds, the glamour and the buzz, everything was in place. Business as usual one might say!! And the scraggy little one was there before me again. I took out a two rupee coin and gave it to her. "Bhagwaan apka bhala karein"!! she said and walked to the nearest tea stall for a cup of tea.
19 November 2006
06 November 2006
The Feisty Ones!!
As Shaban Azmi is bestowed with the Gandhi Peace Prize(while at home the Imam lambasts her for her remarks on the musilm dress code for women), and Andhra dame Renuka Choudhury creates ripples with her Domestic Violence Act,there's one frail young figure who carries on her relentless struggle sans gimmicks, frills and thrills, and in the face of utmost opposition. No, its no Indian I am talking about its the prominent political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi was only two years old when her father, Major General Aung San, a seminal figure of Burma’s struggle for independence, was assassinated on July 19, 1947. She attended schools in Burma until 1960, when her mother Daw Khin Kyi, a prominent Burmese diplomat, was appointed ambassador to India. After completing her graduation from Lady Sri Ram College, New Delhi in 1964, she headed to Oxford to earn a B.A in philosophy, politics and economics. It was here that she met her future husband Michael Aris, then a student of Tibetan civilization. In 1969 she went to New York for further studies but soon opted out, to work for the U.N. secretariat as Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. In 1972, Suu Kyi married Michael Aris, who was employed in the Translation Department in Bhutan. After a brief stint in Bhutan, Suu Kyi and her husband went back to England, where she gave birth to her sons Alexander and Kim.
Suu Kyi was leading a rather quiet life until 1988, when she returned to Burma to nurse her dying mother. Burma, was at that time witnessing a socio-political upheaval. Military strongman U Ne Win’s isolationist and repressive policies had made it one of the poorest countries in the world. Widespread antigovernment protests, the famous 8-8-88 uprising was balked by a severe military crackdown, killing thousands. Suu Kyi responded with an open letter to the government, asking for formation of a people’s consultative committee on multi party elections. On August 26 1988, she gave her first political address, outside Shwedagon Pagoda, calling for restoration of democracy. Her feverish appeal to the half-million crowd was the genesis of a burgeoning pro democracy movement that would later grow into a political party. However, the military soon established its unbinding power by forming the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)-mounting its brutal attacks on peaceful protestors, banning political gatherings and imprisoning protestors without trial.
On September 24, 1988, the National league of Democracy (NLD) was formed with Suu Kyi becoming its general secretary. A staunch admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, Suu Kyi began her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights from the NLD platform. She traveled across the length and breadth of the country, urging for free elections, democratic reforms, and need for change in Burmese society. Despite a ban on her, and continuous harassment, and killings by the military junta she continued her struggle for peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. On July 20 1989, Suu kyi was placed under house arrest. Notwithstanding this grave setback, the NLD won a landslide victory, securing 82% of the seats in the elections of 1990. The military refused to give credence to the election results and instead bargained for her withdrawal from politics and a chance to leave the country. Su Kyi refused outright- and her detention was extended to a period of five years without charge or trial.
During this period Suu Kyi attracted widespread international attention and acclaim- She was invested with the Rafto Human Rights Prize (1990); the Sakharov human rights prize from the European parliament (1990) and the Nobel Peace Prize (1991). Already recognized as ‘a prisoner of conscience’ by Amnesty International (1988), her cause was taken up by fellow Nobel laureates and the UN Commission for Human Rights in 1993. On February 14, 1994 UNDP Resident Representative Jehan Raheem, US Congressman Bill Richardson and New York Times reporter Philip Shenon were allowed to meet Suu Kyi, her first non-family visitors.
Mounting international pressure compelled Gen. Than Shwe and Gen. Khin Nyunt of the SLORC to meet Su Kyi for the first time since her house arrest. She was released on July 10 1995, after six years of detention. After her release, she attended the NLD party congress and in 1998 announced the formation of a representative committee that she declared as the country's lawful ruling parliament. She has been widely videotaped and her statements recorded and sent out to the international community at large, including her keynote address to the NGO Forum at the U.N. International Women's Conference in Beijing in August 1995.
Despite the seemingly proactive developments, Suu Kyi and her party members continued to be harrased, their freedom to move and speak severely restricted. On March 27, 1999, her husband Michael Aris died of prostate cancer in London- his earnest pleas to the Burmese authorites to allow him to meet her for one last time were also rejected. She was once again placed under house arrest from September 2000 to May 2002. In 2003, amidst clashes between the NLD and pro-government demonstrators, her motorcade was attacked and Suu Kyi once again transferred to house arrest. On November 28, 2005, her detention was extended for yet another year despite widespread criticism from the international community, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and President Bush.
Suu Kyi was only two years old when her father, Major General Aung San, a seminal figure of Burma’s struggle for independence, was assassinated on July 19, 1947. She attended schools in Burma until 1960, when her mother Daw Khin Kyi, a prominent Burmese diplomat, was appointed ambassador to India. After completing her graduation from Lady Sri Ram College, New Delhi in 1964, she headed to Oxford to earn a B.A in philosophy, politics and economics. It was here that she met her future husband Michael Aris, then a student of Tibetan civilization. In 1969 she went to New York for further studies but soon opted out, to work for the U.N. secretariat as Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. In 1972, Suu Kyi married Michael Aris, who was employed in the Translation Department in Bhutan. After a brief stint in Bhutan, Suu Kyi and her husband went back to England, where she gave birth to her sons Alexander and Kim.
Suu Kyi was leading a rather quiet life until 1988, when she returned to Burma to nurse her dying mother. Burma, was at that time witnessing a socio-political upheaval. Military strongman U Ne Win’s isolationist and repressive policies had made it one of the poorest countries in the world. Widespread antigovernment protests, the famous 8-8-88 uprising was balked by a severe military crackdown, killing thousands. Suu Kyi responded with an open letter to the government, asking for formation of a people’s consultative committee on multi party elections. On August 26 1988, she gave her first political address, outside Shwedagon Pagoda, calling for restoration of democracy. Her feverish appeal to the half-million crowd was the genesis of a burgeoning pro democracy movement that would later grow into a political party. However, the military soon established its unbinding power by forming the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)-mounting its brutal attacks on peaceful protestors, banning political gatherings and imprisoning protestors without trial.
On September 24, 1988, the National league of Democracy (NLD) was formed with Suu Kyi becoming its general secretary. A staunch admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, Suu Kyi began her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights from the NLD platform. She traveled across the length and breadth of the country, urging for free elections, democratic reforms, and need for change in Burmese society. Despite a ban on her, and continuous harassment, and killings by the military junta she continued her struggle for peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. On July 20 1989, Suu kyi was placed under house arrest. Notwithstanding this grave setback, the NLD won a landslide victory, securing 82% of the seats in the elections of 1990. The military refused to give credence to the election results and instead bargained for her withdrawal from politics and a chance to leave the country. Su Kyi refused outright- and her detention was extended to a period of five years without charge or trial.
During this period Suu Kyi attracted widespread international attention and acclaim- She was invested with the Rafto Human Rights Prize (1990); the Sakharov human rights prize from the European parliament (1990) and the Nobel Peace Prize (1991). Already recognized as ‘a prisoner of conscience’ by Amnesty International (1988), her cause was taken up by fellow Nobel laureates and the UN Commission for Human Rights in 1993. On February 14, 1994 UNDP Resident Representative Jehan Raheem, US Congressman Bill Richardson and New York Times reporter Philip Shenon were allowed to meet Suu Kyi, her first non-family visitors.
Mounting international pressure compelled Gen. Than Shwe and Gen. Khin Nyunt of the SLORC to meet Su Kyi for the first time since her house arrest. She was released on July 10 1995, after six years of detention. After her release, she attended the NLD party congress and in 1998 announced the formation of a representative committee that she declared as the country's lawful ruling parliament. She has been widely videotaped and her statements recorded and sent out to the international community at large, including her keynote address to the NGO Forum at the U.N. International Women's Conference in Beijing in August 1995.
Despite the seemingly proactive developments, Suu Kyi and her party members continued to be harrased, their freedom to move and speak severely restricted. On March 27, 1999, her husband Michael Aris died of prostate cancer in London- his earnest pleas to the Burmese authorites to allow him to meet her for one last time were also rejected. She was once again placed under house arrest from September 2000 to May 2002. In 2003, amidst clashes between the NLD and pro-government demonstrators, her motorcade was attacked and Suu Kyi once again transferred to house arrest. On November 28, 2005, her detention was extended for yet another year despite widespread criticism from the international community, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and President Bush.
24 October 2006
Girish Karnad
Here's something about one of my favourite theater actors...Girish Karnad.
One of India’s foremost modern playwrights, Girish Karnad has artfully juggled many roles. A noted actor, filmmaker and critic, he has also served as Director of the Film and Television Institute, Pune, (Fulbright Playwright-in Residence and Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago (1987-88), Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy (1988-93) and Director of the Nehru Centre at the Indian High Commission in London.
Having earned his B.A in mathematics and statistics, at Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnad, joined the Magdalen College, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar. After his return to India, he joined the Oxford University Press, but resigned, to devote himself to writing and filmmaking.
Yayati, Karnad's first play, (1961) won the Mysore State Award in 1962. But it was his second play, Tughlaq (1966) that won him critical acclaim and established him as a writer of repute. Considered an allegory on the Nehruvian era, the play, records the personal transformation of the medieval ruler Mohammad Bin Tughlaq from a sensitive idealist to a tyrant.
Rooted in Indian mythology, history and traditional puranic themes, Karnad’s plays mirror contemporary socio-political realities and modern man’s existentialist crises. In his 1972 play, Hayavadana, for example, the playwright used the folk art form of yakshagana to examine the divide between mind and body. Two plays, Naga-Mandala and Taledanda, followed soon after, and Karnad was conferred a series of eminent awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1994. Written in his adopted language, Kannada, Karnad has himself translated his works (except Anjumallige and Hittina hunja) into English. His other prominent plays are Anjumallige (1977), Hittina hunja (1980 ), Agni Mattu Male (‘Fire and the Rain’ commissioned by Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis), Dreams of Tipu Sultan (radio-play commissioned by BBC in 1996) and Bali, the Sacrifice (.commissioned by the Leicester Haymarket Theatre).
Karnad’s very first film Samskara, which he scripted and acted in, won the President’s Gold Medal in the Best Indian Film category in 1970. He has also scripted and directed films like Vamsha Vriksha (Kannada), Kaadu (Kannada), Godhuli (Hindi), Ondanondu Kaaladalli (Kannada), Utsav (Hindi) and Cheluvi (Kannada). A versatile actor he has essayed roles in films like Vamsha Vriksha (1971), Manthan (Hindi; 1976), Cheluvi (1992) and more recently Iqbal (Hindi; 2005). His vast repertoire also includes directing documentary films like ‘The Lamp in the Niche’(1989), ‘D.R Bendre’(1973), television programmes like ‘Who Ghar’(1984) and anchoring the series ‘Turning Point’
Karnard has been decorated with the Padma Shri (1974), the Padma Bhushan (1992) Jnapith Award (1999) and made Doctor of Letters by Karnatak University in 1994.
One of India’s foremost modern playwrights, Girish Karnad has artfully juggled many roles. A noted actor, filmmaker and critic, he has also served as Director of the Film and Television Institute, Pune, (Fulbright Playwright-in Residence and Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago (1987-88), Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy (1988-93) and Director of the Nehru Centre at the Indian High Commission in London.
Having earned his B.A in mathematics and statistics, at Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnad, joined the Magdalen College, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar. After his return to India, he joined the Oxford University Press, but resigned, to devote himself to writing and filmmaking.
Yayati, Karnad's first play, (1961) won the Mysore State Award in 1962. But it was his second play, Tughlaq (1966) that won him critical acclaim and established him as a writer of repute. Considered an allegory on the Nehruvian era, the play, records the personal transformation of the medieval ruler Mohammad Bin Tughlaq from a sensitive idealist to a tyrant.
Rooted in Indian mythology, history and traditional puranic themes, Karnad’s plays mirror contemporary socio-political realities and modern man’s existentialist crises. In his 1972 play, Hayavadana, for example, the playwright used the folk art form of yakshagana to examine the divide between mind and body. Two plays, Naga-Mandala and Taledanda, followed soon after, and Karnad was conferred a series of eminent awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1994. Written in his adopted language, Kannada, Karnad has himself translated his works (except Anjumallige and Hittina hunja) into English. His other prominent plays are Anjumallige (1977), Hittina hunja (1980 ), Agni Mattu Male (‘Fire and the Rain’ commissioned by Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis), Dreams of Tipu Sultan (radio-play commissioned by BBC in 1996) and Bali, the Sacrifice (.commissioned by the Leicester Haymarket Theatre).
Karnad’s very first film Samskara, which he scripted and acted in, won the President’s Gold Medal in the Best Indian Film category in 1970. He has also scripted and directed films like Vamsha Vriksha (Kannada), Kaadu (Kannada), Godhuli (Hindi), Ondanondu Kaaladalli (Kannada), Utsav (Hindi) and Cheluvi (Kannada). A versatile actor he has essayed roles in films like Vamsha Vriksha (1971), Manthan (Hindi; 1976), Cheluvi (1992) and more recently Iqbal (Hindi; 2005). His vast repertoire also includes directing documentary films like ‘The Lamp in the Niche’(1989), ‘D.R Bendre’(1973), television programmes like ‘Who Ghar’(1984) and anchoring the series ‘Turning Point’
Karnard has been decorated with the Padma Shri (1974), the Padma Bhushan (1992) Jnapith Award (1999) and made Doctor of Letters by Karnatak University in 1994.
The dance of the enchantress!
So finally I did manage to open my blog and, here goes my very first write-up!
Now dance is my passion, and believe it or not but, my very first act on stage was when I was just three years old. I was into Kathak. However there's one dance form which has intrigued me --it is Mohiniattam, or the dance of the enchantress.
This semi-classical dance form, is indigenous to Kerala. Literally meaning “the dance of the enchantress” (from Mohini, “a beautiful woman’ and attam, “dance”), it is performed solely by female artistes.
A woman-centric art form, Mohiniattam, explores themes of ‘sringara’ or love, and ‘lasya’ or grace, ideas echoed in Hindu mythology too. During amrit manthan - the churning of the celestial ocean for nectar, Lord Vishnu, took the form of the seductress Mohini, to entice the demon Bhamasura and ensuring that the God’s received the nectar and saved the universe from destruction. Thus the myth of the ‘enchantress’, or devotion to Vishnu, forms a core to any Mohiniattam recital.
The first mention of this dance form is found in the 16th century composition, ‘Vyavaharamala’ by Mazhamangalam Narayanan Namboodiri. However, it was not until the 19th century that this almost-fading art form was revived.
Though predominantly a solo dance, nowadays it is also performed in groups. Patterned on Bharatanatya with elements of Kathakali, Mohiniattam follows the basic dance steps of Adavus - Taganam, Jaganam, Dhaganam and Sammisram, which are rooted in Vaittari. Mohiniattam incorporates articulate expression of the eyes and graceful movements, as mentioned in the Hastha Lakshanadeepika guide to mudras.
The dance is enhanced by Carnatic accompanimets such as the thoppi, maddalam and veena, adding a vibrant milieu. However, these classical accoutrements, have now been replaced by the mridangam and violin.
The major artistes associated with Mohiniattam are Chinnammu Amma, Kalyani Kuttiamma, Kanak Rele, Sunanda Nair, Deepti Bhalla and Bharati Shivaji.
The repertoire of a Mohiniattam recital consists of five principal items, starting with cholkettu, then varnam, jatiswaram, padam and concluding with tillana. The dance starts off with cholkettu followed by varnam, which focuses on the expressions of the dancer. The third, padam, brings forth the histrionic talents of the dancer. The final act, tillana, ends in a flourish, expressing the artist's technical mastery of the art form.
Now dance is my passion, and believe it or not but, my very first act on stage was when I was just three years old. I was into Kathak. However there's one dance form which has intrigued me --it is Mohiniattam, or the dance of the enchantress.
This semi-classical dance form, is indigenous to Kerala. Literally meaning “the dance of the enchantress” (from Mohini, “a beautiful woman’ and attam, “dance”), it is performed solely by female artistes.
A woman-centric art form, Mohiniattam, explores themes of ‘sringara’ or love, and ‘lasya’ or grace, ideas echoed in Hindu mythology too. During amrit manthan - the churning of the celestial ocean for nectar, Lord Vishnu, took the form of the seductress Mohini, to entice the demon Bhamasura and ensuring that the God’s received the nectar and saved the universe from destruction. Thus the myth of the ‘enchantress’, or devotion to Vishnu, forms a core to any Mohiniattam recital.
The first mention of this dance form is found in the 16th century composition, ‘Vyavaharamala’ by Mazhamangalam Narayanan Namboodiri. However, it was not until the 19th century that this almost-fading art form was revived.
Though predominantly a solo dance, nowadays it is also performed in groups. Patterned on Bharatanatya with elements of Kathakali, Mohiniattam follows the basic dance steps of Adavus - Taganam, Jaganam, Dhaganam and Sammisram, which are rooted in Vaittari. Mohiniattam incorporates articulate expression of the eyes and graceful movements, as mentioned in the Hastha Lakshanadeepika guide to mudras.
The dance is enhanced by Carnatic accompanimets such as the thoppi, maddalam and veena, adding a vibrant milieu. However, these classical accoutrements, have now been replaced by the mridangam and violin.
The major artistes associated with Mohiniattam are Chinnammu Amma, Kalyani Kuttiamma, Kanak Rele, Sunanda Nair, Deepti Bhalla and Bharati Shivaji.
The repertoire of a Mohiniattam recital consists of five principal items, starting with cholkettu, then varnam, jatiswaram, padam and concluding with tillana. The dance starts off with cholkettu followed by varnam, which focuses on the expressions of the dancer. The third, padam, brings forth the histrionic talents of the dancer. The final act, tillana, ends in a flourish, expressing the artist's technical mastery of the art form.
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