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An epic tale of ‘Victory City’ by Rushdie

Half a millennium later, her writing is discovered, deep in the ancient earth. This is an epic tale with a message for us all: our power is fleeting, but our stories last forever…reports Asian Lite News

Hidden in a clay pot; sealed with wax; buried at the heart of a ruined palace amidst the ashes of an empire — a story waits to be told.

When nine-year-old Pampa Kampana starts hearing the voice of a goddess, she vows to ensure that no more women suffer her beloved mother’s unconscionable fate. Her magic creates a mighty city; her whispered words inspire its people to grow and change. Her poetry maps the rise and fall of its empire. And the prophetess herself — beloved, feared, timeless — watches as the world changes across the centuries and her body fades along with her city’s glory.

Half a millennium later, her writing is discovered, deep in the ancient earth. This is an epic tale with a message for us all: our power is fleeting, but our stories last forever.

“From one of our greatest storytellers, ‘Victory City’ is a tale for our times. Brilliantly styled as a translation of an ancient epic, this is a saga of love, adventure, and myth that is in itself a testament to the power of storytelling. And at its heart, a true heroine, Pampa Kampana, who sets out to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. This is a stunningly beautiful, lyrical and gripping novel about power and the hubris of those in power,” said Michal Shavit, Publishing Director at Jonathan Cape who acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Andrew Wylie at The Wylie Agency.

A Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, Rushdie has received, among other honours, the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel (twice), the Writers’ Guild Award, the James Tait Black Prize, the European Union’s Aristeion Prize for Literature, Author of the Year Prizes in both Britain and Germany, the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, the Budapest Grand Prize for Literature, the Premio Grinzane Cavour in Italy, the Crossword Book Award in India, the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, the London International Writers’ Award, the James Joyce award of University College Dublin, the St Louis Literary Prize, the Carl Sandburg Prize of the Chicago Public Library, and a U.S. National Arts Award.

He holds honorary doctorates and fellowships at six European and six American universities, is an Honorary Professor in the Humanities at MIT, and University Distinguished Professor at Emory University. Currently, Rushdie is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.

His novel “Midnight’s Children” was adapted for the stage and performed in London and New York by the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2004, an opera based on “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” was premiered by the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.

A film of “Midnight’s Children”, directed by Deepa Mehta, was released in 2012. “The Ground Beneath Her Feet, in which the Orpheus myth winds through a story set in the world of rock music, was turned into a song by U2 with lyrics by Rushdie.

ALSO READ-‘Lies our mothers told us’

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‘Tree of Life’ at Paris Haute Couture Week

Rahul opens his show with a flurry of 3D golden embroideries of foliage expressing his appreciation for nature…reports Asian Lite News

“Trees have always been an inspiration to us, rendered first in an Escher-esque design language – now an identifiable signature, for our International Woolmark Prize-winning collection. The tree is metamorphosed into buildings, portraying the Metamorphosis the planet has gone through over the past few centuries,” reveals an Instagram post by fashion designer Rahul Mishra.

Taking inspiration from the tree of life, which symbolizes growth, strength, and beauty. Fashion designer Rahul Mishra presents his Couture Fall 2022 collection titled “Tree of Life” at Paris Haute Couture Week.

Rahul opens his show with a flurry of 3D golden embroideries of foliage expressing his appreciation for nature.

“Our ‘the Tree of Life’ collection celebrates opulence with a strong palette of gold and black and focuses on high precision craftsmanship,” says Rahul. “Trees From Our Atelier, at the onset of a new beginning, we look at the one source that never goes out of style – the handbook of nature. Through analogies to nature, many of the problems faced by mankind have been optimally solved. The ‘Bursting Tree’ motif was birthed at the atelier, capturing how a strong wind would gush through a dense tree, with the nesting birds flying out of it, showing us how fragile our ecosystem is, how beautiful our planet is, and the necessity of preserving the purity of it,” he says.

Being one of the first Indian designers to showcase at the Paris Fashion Week/Haute Couture Week, Mishra champions slow, state-of-the-art fashion with traditional Indian crafts and Lenskart’s ‘Do More, Be More’ spirit.

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‘Lies our mothers told us’

While these problems apply to all women across the country, those in India’s middle class face an altogether unique challenge because middle-class families have mastered the art of simulating an environment of empowerment in their homes…reports Asian Lite News

Savitribai Phule, Mahasweta Devi, Amrita Pritam, Medha Patkar, Kamla Bhasin, and countless others have, since the 19th century, fought for and won equal rights for the Indian women in a variety of areas — universal suffrage, inheritance and property rights, equal remuneration, prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace, and others.

Pioneering feminists believed that due to these hard-won rights, their daughters and granddaughters would have the opportunity to have rewarding careers, participate in the social and political growth of the country, gain economic independence, and become equal partners in their marriages.

On paper, it would appear that the lot of Indian women in the twenty-first century has vastly improved but, in reality, the demands of capitalism and the persistence of patriarchal attitudes have meant that they continue to lead lives that are hard and unequal, especially when compared to their male counterparts.

The Indian women are among the most overworked in the world — they spend on average 299 minutes on housework and 134 minutes on care-giving per day, shouldering 82 per cent of domestic duties. They are burdened with work from such a young age that many are forced to drop out of schools, leave the labour force, and give up dreams of financial independence.

For those who have the privilege of choosing to have a career, the only way they can make this viable is by doing a “double shift”: women are expected to do most of the housework, childcare, and care-giving, whether they have jobs or not.

While these problems apply to all women across the country, those in India’s middle class face an altogether unique challenge because middle-class families have mastered the art of simulating an environment of empowerment in their homes.

“Lies Our Mothers Told Us” (Aleph) dares to ask and evaluate if, in our patriarchal society, the assertion that “women can have it all” comes at too high a price. Taking a unique look into the state of women in India’s middle class in the 21st century, the book uses the available data and in-depth interviews to reveal the real lives of Indian women across the country.

Authored by a brilliant award-winning journalist with over 20 years of experience in the field, Nilanjana Bhowmick’s book is an epiphanic read for every aspiring Indian woman.

Bhowmick has won three international awards for her reports on gender and development. She began her career as a producer for the BBC Asian Network in Birmingham and The World Today, the flagship current affairs programme of the BBC World Service Radio based in London.

She was the correspondent for TIME magazine’s South Asia bureau in New Delhi. She has written for the Washington Post, Al Jazeera, and National Geographic Magazine. Her non-fiction work, poetry, and short stories have appeared in several international anthologies.

ALSO READ-By Rajysree Sen for a country which loves sweets as much

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Pre-Raphaelite Art accessible at London’s Classic Week Summer edition

With estimates ranging from 600 to 300,000 pounds, the collection is expected to realise in excess of 1 million pounds. The pre-sale view will be open to the public from July 9 to 14…reports Asian Lite News

The Isabel Goldsmith Collection: Selected Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist Art, which spans more than 40 years of collecting, will be accessible online from June 30 through July 14 as a part of London’s Classic Week Summer edition.

The collection, which consists of 87 pieces, addresses topics such as sleep, dreams, the afterlife, spirituality, beauty, literature, and classical subjects. The star lot of the auction, The return of Orpheus by Sidney Harold Meteyard (estimate: 200,000-300,000 pounds), as well as pieces by Edward Burne-Jones, John Roddam Spencer-Stanhope, Simeon Solomon, Evelyn De Morgan, and Henry Ryland are included in the collection of Pre-Raphaelites and their adherents’ works.

Levy-Dhurmer, Fernand Khnopf, and George Frederic Watts are among the symbolist artists whose works are on display, and there are also several Scandinavian landscapes in the sale. With estimates ranging from 600 to 300,000 pounds, the collection is expected to realise in excess of 1 million pounds. The pre-sale view will be open to the public from July 9 to 14.

Peter Brown, Senior Director, International Specialist, Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art, 19th-Century European Art, Christie’s commented: “Isabel Goldsmith has long impressed me with the curiosity and delight with which she encounters works of art. Hers is a singular vision: many of these Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist pictures carry a mystical or spiritual dimension. This is an intriguing sale, full of the unexpected, which delights the eye and presents the market with rare opportunities to acquire notable works by Burne-Jones, De Morgan and Watts, and Khnopff, Stevens, and Levy-Dhurmer. Watts’ ‘The Open Door’ (estimate: 10,000-15,000 pounds) is sold to benefit Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village.”

The Return of Orpheus by Sidney Harold Meteyard, which is estimated to sell for between 200,000 pounds and 300,000 dollars and is illustrated on page one with an in-person archive shot from 1992, commands the highest price. From left to right, additional highlights include Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones’ Luna (estimate: 70,000-100,000 pounds), Simeon Solomon’s Death Awakening Sleep (estimate: 10,000-15,000), Evelyn De Morgan’s The Field of the Slain (estimate: 30,000-50,000 pounds), and Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones’ Study for the Head of Medusa for “The Finding of Medusa” (1876) (estimate: 15,000-25,000 pounds).

Highlights include Fernand Khnopff’s La Medusa endormie, ca. 1896 (estimate: 80,000-120,000 pounds, illustrated on page 1), Ophelie (Ophelia), 1887 by Alfred Stevens (estimate: 60,000-100,000 pounds), La bourrasque, 1897 by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer (estimate: 100,000-150,000 pounds), and The Search-Light by Evelyn De Morgan (estimate: 70,000-100,000 pounds).

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‘Leaders without vision put population in trouble’

Leaders with visions are able to create strategies to reform societies. It is quite natural for them to face problems and find solutions. Success is abstract and the book is an attempt to compile the success of six leaders … reports Anasudhin Azeez

Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor of the US Dr Henry Kissinger believes that leaders without a vision are putting people in trouble.

Dr Henry Kissinger @C Jurgen Frank

Addressing a press meet organised by Foreign Press Association (FPA) in London as part of his book release, Kissinger said, “Transformational changes are taking place across the world. My book, ‘Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy’, is my concern about the changes. Leaders with visions are able to create strategies to reform societies. It is quite natural for them to face problems and find solutions. Success is abstract and the book is an attempt to compile the success of six leaders.”

Responding to a question on Ukraine, 99-year-old Kissinger said leaders should have a clear idea about their political objectives and should be aware about the military situation. “You can’t simply go on fighting without any objective,” he added.

In May 2022, speaking at the World Economic Forum, Kissinger advocated for a diplomatic settlement that would restore status quo, effectively ceding Crimea and the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russian control.

Kissinger also urged Ukrainians to “match the heroism they have shown with wisdom,” arguing that “pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself.”

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Kissinger’s suggestions, saying Ukraine would not agree to peace until Russia agreed to return Crimea and the Donbas region to Ukraine.

In his latest book, Kissinger analyses the lives of six extraordinary leaders through the distinctive strategies of statecraft which he believes they embodied. After the World War II, Konrad Adenauer, the first chancellor of West Germany, brought defeated and morally bankrupt Germany back into the community of nations by what Kissinger calls ‘the strategy of humility’.

According to Kissinger, Charles de Gaulle set France beside the victorious Allies and renewed its historic grandeur by ‘the strategy of will’.

During the Cold War, US President Richard Nixon gave geostrategic advantage to the United States by ‘the strategy of equilibrium’.

Regarding the Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat, he said the assassinated leader brought a vision of peace to the Middle East by a ‘strategy of transcendence’.

Against the odds, Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kwan Yew created a powerhouse city-state by ‘the strategy of excellence’.

In the book, he has praised British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for her determination to stay with the US despite opposition from her own party. Kissinger said that Thatcher wanted Britain to be a bridge between the US and Europe.

“Although when she came to power Britain was known as ‘the sick man of Europe’, Thatcher renewed her country’s morale and international position by ‘the strategy of conviction,’” he said.

To each of these studies, Kissinger brings historical perception, public experience and – because he knew each of their subjects and participated in many of the events he describes as personal knowledge. The book is enriched by insights and judgements such as only he could make, and concludes with his reflections on world order and the indispensability of leadership today.

Dr Henry Kissinger’s new book
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‘It is about telling a story, about creating an experience’

The project is driven by a largely women cast and crew — while the casting demanded that, but as far as the crew is concerned, she asserts that even though we see more shows with women protagonists, there is a long way to go…writes Sukant Deepak

Moving from Bangalore to Delhi, she lived in a busy apartment complex for the first time, and could sense possible stories behind the many windows and balconies. While the architecture offered physical proximity, but often no closeness. Stories were created based on the sounds one could hear across the wall. “This, along with my keen interest in exploring the idea of love and desire in women at different stages of life made me write this series. I wanted to create a story where there was no clear black and white morality, but an exploration of grey areas — what one woman has, the other woman wants,” Aditi Bannerjee, the writer and director of ‘In Love at 5th Floor’ being streamed on MX Player tells.

She says that once the seed was in place there was a fair amount of primary research — talking to people, attending meet-ups, and familiarising herself with certain ideas and contexts. “Kieslowski’s Dekalog and Alain De Botton’s The Course of Love are two additional inspirations.”

Interesting the project has been crowdfunded, a goal they achieved in less than ten days although the budgeted time was one month. Done primarily to ascertain creative freedom and share ownership, Bannerjee stresses that she wanted to work outside of the big studio system and felt strong enough to take a chance, even if it meant less budget and tighter timelines. “In short, I felt responsible for my dream,” she smiles.

The project is driven by a largely women cast and crew — while the casting demanded that, but as far as the crew is concerned, she asserts that even though we see more shows with women protagonists, there is a long way to go. “In fact, I was surprised when someone recently commented about why my series poster was ‘so feminist’. The pay gap still exists, and often the bigger roles are for male stars. In order for the system to change, I feel that the more women are involved on-screen and off-screen, the more possibility for equal opportunities will emerge.”

For someone who has worked across genres but enjoys being fluid- moving between documentary and fiction as both feed into each other well, she adds that working in documentary films has enabled her to travel, meet people, develop an ability to do research and encounter several realities. “Fiction offers control and freedom of a different kind, which I experienced through this series which is my first long fiction. Imagination is a lot of hard work. I found that these genres are not in watertight compartments for me. Finally, it is about telling a story, about creating an experience.”

While the popularity of OTT platforms keep soaring, it is hard to miss the fact that it is mostly crime-thrillers that are ruling the charts. The director says that she has been asked several times to pitch a crime thriller in the past year or so. “I feel that there is an anxiety that platforms have of losing viewers and there is a perception that a thriller with twists and turns will keep the viewer hooked. The language of series is also geared towards that- faster cuts, louder aesthetic. It has been a struggle to get my series out, where the focus is on inner drama.”

The writer and director, who studied Film & Video Communication at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad may not believe that formal education is a prerequisite for making films, but adds that it has helped her in different ways. “The freedom of exploration and making mistakes without fear as a student was precious. The exposure to cinema, people and stories of different kinds, being mentored patiently, working within tight budgets and limitations, and the habit of writing and re-writing (which comes from formal education in both film and literature), is something I value, not to mention the peers that NID gave me,” she says.

Bannerjee who has developed a story based on her original idea for an OTT platform and is set to pitch a few more concepts says she would looking to collaborate with more people. “Apart from my own work, I like to enable people to tell their own stories, so a scriptwriting workshop with Adivasi students in Jharkhand is going to happen. Another one in Arunachal is also being planned,” she concludes.

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Art with fashion for modern Indian women

The strong colours are an ode to Tina and her team, a definitive voice in the fashion landscape of India today…reports Asian Lite News

Ensemble India and Payal Khandwala are proud to present a collaborative collection to commemorate Ensemble’s 35th anniversary, reflecting Payal’s design aesthetic of marrying Art with Fashion for modern Indian women and Ensemble’s ethos of presenting Indian crafts in a contemporary light.

Ensemble has been working with PayalKhandwala for nearly a decade, and this collection is an ode to their journey together. Ensemble gets a poetic ride through rich colorscapes, complete with maximalist prints on luxe fabrics.

Consider one-shoulder drapes with micro-pleated details and bohemian vibes, billowy printed shirts for daytime occasions, pleated saris with dramatic prints, and more. The capsule includes versatile classics that can be worn separately and then passed down as heirlooms to the next generation.

“I love how Payal’s design vocabulary has evolved over the years. You can see the artist in her in the way she combines colours and her graphics. The identity of a PayalKhandwalawoman is very synergistic with the Ensemble woman – very stylised, free thinking and independent. We are thrilled that our relationship has gone from strength to strength and this collection is a real testament to that,” says Tina Tahiliani Parikh, CEO Ensemble India.

“We visualised an exclusive palette, in a continuation of Release 7, to celebrate 35 years of Ensemble being stalwarts in the design industry. The strong colours are an ode to Tina and her team, a definitive voice in the fashion landscape of India today. Wishing Ensemble many more decades of style and success!” Says Designer Payal Khandwala.

The collection is live on www.ensembleindia.com and also available at Ensemble’s Khan Market store in New Delhi.

ALSO READ-‘Music enters heart without any disclaimer’

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By Rajysree Sen for a country which loves sweets as much

Each of these chapters contains a short introduction of the sweet, details of the ingredients, the method of making, the preparation time and the number of people it serves…writes Vishnu Makhijani

Religion might well be the opiate of the masses in India, but maybe the plethora of desserts offered in the name of religion have a role to play in it, says chef, columnist and food writer Rajyasree Sen, adding that in today’s political climate, there are few moments as satisfying as Hindus craving for some creamy sheer korma during Eid, or Punjabis asking their Bengali friends for mishti doi.

And the fact that Muslim cooks bake the Christmas cake in Calcutta (“no, I will not refer to it as Kolkata”) for a largely Hindu clientele to celebrate a Christian festival proves that when it comes to desserts and mithai — and maybe conveniently — the barriers drop away; one of the biggest reasons to celebrate the sweets of India, she maintains.

“I’ve been writing on food for a while now, almost 15 years I’d say. And it all started with me opening my Bengali and Anglo-Indian restaurant, Brown Sahib in New Delhi in 2007 (it shut down a decade ago). The thought behind the restaurant was to serve authentic Calcutta cuisine and to replicate some of the dishes I had grown up eating at home – keema chops, stuffed crabs, smoked hilsa, prawn malai curry. I have a background in journalism and with my interest in cooking, ingredients and in the history of foods and flavours, it was only natural that I’d be writing on food,” Sen told IANS in an interview of her book, “The Sweet Kitchen – Tales & Recipes of India’s Favourite Desserts” (Aleph).

She was the Wall Street Journal India’s food columnist for years, and has written columns on food for a variety of publications and also scripted many food shows for Fox, Nat Geo and Discovery. Thus, when approached to write on the history and cultural influences on Indian sweets – a topic which surprisingly hasn’t been written about in detail in any one book – the outcome presents readers with some interesting anecdotes, historical facts and tid-bits about sweets in India, and introduces them to some sweets which they might not be familiar with.

Considerable research went into the book.

“As I mentioned, for a country which loves sweets as much as India does – and has a plethora of sweets unique to different communities and regions, it was quite surprising that there was no one definitive book, even academic, on sweets in India. I’ve referred to old texts, books, articles, recipes and spoken to people to discover and confirm much of what you will discover in the book,” Sen explained.

As a result of her extensive research, Sen discovered historical facts she was not aware of or had even considered. For instance, which desserts must we thank the Persians, the Mughals, the Portuguese, and the French for? While she knew that a sweet had been created for Lady Canning in Bengal, she had no idea which Mughal emperor to thank for bringing halwa to India, or the Sikh connection to the creation of kaju barfi. She has also tried to demystify the very controversial question of whether Bengal made the rosogolla first, or if the credit goes to Odisha. She also discovered that daulat ki chaat, an airy, churned milk dessert available only during the cold winter of North India, has a Mughal origin.

Beginning with ‘Sandesh: Muse of the Bengal Renaissaince’, Sen takes the reader through 13 chapters to discover ‘Rosogolla: Who Stole My Cheese’, ‘The Christmas Cake: Cultural Chameleon’, ‘Payasam, Payesh, Kheer: The Three Avatars of Sweet Pudding’, ‘Halwa: The Arab Who Strayed onto the Indian Palate’, ‘Barfi: When Art Outdoes Nature’, ‘Gulab Jamun: Everybody’s Celebration Sweetmeat’, ‘Jalebi: Sweet Lord of the Rings’, ‘Daulat Ki Chaat: The Lingering Taste of Old Delhi’,

‘Misthi Doi, Shrikhand, Bhapa Doi: Haute Culture Curd’, ‘Goan Sweets: Gems from an Indigenous Pastelaria’, ‘Firinghee Sweets: Delicious Relics of the Raj’, and ‘In God’s Name: Sweetmeats and Culutral Congeniality’.

Each of these chapters contains a short introduction of the sweet, details of the ingredients, the method of making, the preparation time and the number of people it serves.

Sen also discovered that sweets are not strictly vegetarian — they can also be made with meat and eggs.

“For example, there are some non-vegetarian variants of halwa such as gosht halwa and ande ka halwa which are worth mentioning,” she said.

“Giving a whole new meaning to the word ‘sweet meat’, the gosht halwa is a translucent, succulent dessert soaked in ghee and cooked with tender lamb mince. The recipe is referred to in old Persian recipe books, and khansamas who worked in Old Delhi homes have recreated the dish from memory, turning out a delightful dessert prepared by cooking meat for hours by stirring it with milk and sugar till it amalgamates into a thick halwa which is then flavoured with saffron and cardamom. This preparation is supposed to have originated in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.

“Ande ka halwa, or egg halwa, is made by cracking eggs into a pan with ghee, milk, sugar, and dried fruits. The mixture is cooked until a thick custard forms, which is then sprinkled with saffron. Most Indian halwas, however, use grains, such as the suji halwa and atta halwa,” Sen explained.

She earnestly hopes the book will serve the purpose of breaking down barriers. “Like all good meals are supposed to do, this book should bring people to the same table and help create an understanding and appreciation of other communities and peoples. After all, if we love their foods, we can surely extend some affection towards them as well,” she elaborated.

What next? What will her next book be on?

“Who knows, maybe I’ll write a historical espionage! I’d love to write a book on Bengali cuisine with recipes. Let’s see, time will tell,” Sen concluded.

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HOLST: Influence of Wagner and Indian Philosophy

Richard Wagner’s influence on Holst was deep and profound which went on to shape his later life. While studying at RCM Holst enlarged his circle of friends with likeminded fellow students such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and John Ireland amongst others…writes Dilip Roy

I dedicate this piece to my grandson Dhyaan a third generation ROY who has been taking interest in the history and cultures of the world specially those of India.

Gustavus Theodore von Holst (1874-1934) was a British composer born in Gloucestershire, England of German and Swedish origin. He came from the family of musicians who were professional in their respective fields. He studied composition at the London’s Royal College of Music later becoming a teacher at Morley College where he served as a musical director from 1907 until 1924. Holst’s work became popular in the early 20th century, but his international success was instant with the composition pf The Planets which had the echoes of Hindu cosmology and that of Lord Indra God of Thunder.

Richard Wagner’s influence on Holst was deep and profound which went on to shape his later life. While studying at RCM Holst enlarged his circle of friends with likeminded fellow students such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and John Ireland amongst others. Together they created a very English version of “ continental intellectual café society” by becoming regulars at a tea shop in Kensington where they discussed everything from philosophy to art and literature and enthused about Wagner. Holst’s passion for Wagner became clear when he visited Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in the summer of 1892 because it is here that a 19th century musical giant Gustav Mahler a staunch Wagnerian was making his debut conducting Wagner Tetralogy The Ring Cycle and “Tristan and Isolde.” Mahler was regarded as last of the Austro-German Romantic composer of that period. For Holst Tristan was the greatest revelation with its saturated chromatic yearning for the infinite, which Holst realized was far more impressive than he had imagined than the piano score version he had studied so avidly. The performances were reviewed by none other than Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw avid Wagnerite himself.

Gustav Holst came across a book called Silent Gods and Sun-Stepped Lands by RW Frazer and discovered stories associated with Hinduism for the first time. Holst’s interest in Indian mythology and philosophy grew deeper as he read the ancient Indian books on Vedas, Upanishads and The Bhagavad Gita. This resulted in the culmination and became musically evident in the opera Sita (1901-06) which occupied nearly seven years of his life and the inspiration came from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Holst was planning his opera on the epic scale like the Ring but due to financial reasons opera did not get the premiere it deserved. The combined influence of Hindu spiritualism and English folk tunes enabled Holst to go beyond the all-consuming influences of Wagner and forge his own style. Although much of his grand opera Sita is very much a Wagnerian exercise but towards the end a change comes over the music, and the beautifully calm phrases of the hidden chorus representing the Voice of the Earth are in Holst’s own language. Holst was able to decipher the Sanskrit script and translate words with the use of dictionary and eventually he went on to translate as many as twenty invocations to the Hindu pantheon from the Rig Veda and is considered a landmark event in the composer’s development. One example of his clarity may also be found in his translation of the Hymn to Agni, God of Fire.

Whilst in Berlin, Holst worked on a symphonic poem based on a Sanskrit legend Indra follows the eponymous fire, thunder and rain God as he battles with a dragon over parched Indian field. It contains some powerful ideas, but with its Wagnerian echoes the battle might just as well have taken above the Pomeranian plain nearby. Holst’s mind was   split between things Indian and German. Holst continued to be inspired by India as he was working on a large scale composition for chorus and orchestra based on a mythological poem  Megadutam (The Cloud Messenger) by the great Sanskrit poet the famous Kalidasa.   A poet sends a cloud with a message to his beloved. It passes over cities and temples with their various festivities before reaching the women and whispering the message to her in her sleep. This allowed him to compose various set pieces and dances and Holst was greatly satisfied with it. Two Eastern Pictures (1911) provide “a more memorable final impression of Kalidasa.” Holst’s other works included various episodes from the epic Mahabharata.

Post Script: I … believe in the Hindu doctrine of Dharma which is one’s path in life. If one is lucky or maybe (unlucky – it doesn’t matter) to have a clearly appointed path to which comes naturally whereas any other one is an unsuccessful effort, one ought to stick to the former. And I am Oriental enough to believe in doing so without worrying about the “fruits of action” that is success or otherwise. (Gustav Holst)

(Dilip Roy is an elected Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society U.K. and an Aficionado of Richard Wagner. Dilip Roy’s other major contribution include a commemorative article on a 19th century musicologist Sir SM Tagore for Royal College of Music London, and was displayed on the occasion of hundred years of Tagore Medal in November 1999 RCM South Kensington.)            

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Stop predicting revisit life

The biggest lessons learned from such kinds of situations are to be cautious, to nurture, and to value life…reports Vishnu Makhijani

Human behaviour is usually oriented to two basic objectives: Comprehending a situation and then predicting the outcome while relying on that comprehension.

“Predicting life has been compelling and a linear thought. It might have been simpler when we would have been productive by adding gains and outcomes. But then, we directed all the thoughts and models towards multiplying the outcomes. The cost of this zest became high, though, we continuously tried to offset that.

“There have been indicators from all around that we must revisit life, which we ignored. Then came Covid-19, an enemy which graphed every thought process mankind possesses, all the reactions we might have and developed an algorithm of its own, It hit us hard, which compels us to think that life is the most valuable thing,” says Vinay Sharma, a Professor in the Department of Management Studies at IIT-Roorkee, the lead author of “Stop Predicting Revisit Life, Lessons from Covid-19” (Bloomsbury).

India and Indians “have fought exceptionally well and we have realized the value of life more than ever. During this war against Covid-19, we have realized the importance of being together, fighting together and caring for each other”, Sharma told in an interview.

We have realised the value of doctors, medical practitioners, all kinds of forces; people who are leading the economy; people who are contributing in the economy; skilled workers in the field of medical sciences; support teams; farmers, people contributing in transporting goods; media personnel, in fact, everyone who has contributed even a little bit in this war, he elaborated.

“More than ever, we have realized the value of leadership at all the levels and the icons who can motivate us, and make us believe that this would pass. Many people have lost their dear ones and those imprints would remain for a long time. Many had to struggle in different ways, but believing in ourselves and in each other and believing in processes related to living a happy and a healthy life is what we believe now,” Sharma maintained.

How has Covid-19 changed our philosophy of life and our understanding of the future?

“Don’t go too far, try to find contentment. Do care for others, do care for nature, care for the environment, believe in the community, believe in society, live for your country. All the fundamentals have re-strengthened themselves. This is evident as people have started choosing the methods and the ways related to the fundamentals of life and values. But we must learn to be more civic,” Sharma said.

Does India need a new comprehensive law to combat a Covid-19 like pandemic in future from the lessons learned?

“In the wake of the serious governance challenges that India faced, the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the urgent need for a legislative framework in the form of a new national law to combat such a pandemic in future. The legislation should include a legal framework to set up a national crisis communication protocol and a new framework for health governance,” he said.

The absence of a viable national crisis communication protocol aggravated the Covid-19 crisis, especially during the first two waves and has necessitated the need for such a policy at the district, state and national levels to deal with such public health disasters in future, Sharma maintained.

“Also, the pandemic has exposed the weaknesses in the existing public health communication systems and highlighted the urgent need to restructure and reform them to meet the challenge posed by such public health disasters in future. Such a policy response would help strengthen the existing public health communication systems,” he elaborated.

What new measures are needed to augment healthcare facilities, especially in small towns and villages?

“General awareness about health and healthcare, in terms of keeping oneself healthy and to equip people for helping others in cases of situations wherein the participation of large numbers of people is required has to be the first step.

“Inter-connectivity of people with systems and systems with people in terms of provision of healthcare has to be strengthened, as have ambulatory services and a healthcare-related skilled workforce. Most of all, doctors and nursing staff have to be larger in larger numbers, not only looking at the required perspective, but also looking at the numbers that should exist for a large population,” Sharma explained.

The biggest lessons learned from such kinds of situations are to be cautious, to nurture, and to value life.

“Contentment is the key. We must remember our duties. We must remember that our objectives should primarily be to serve our nation, society, elders, and the community, while imbibing healthy living, and by being consistent throughout lives, while caring for the nature, not wasting resources, and not generating waste,” Sharma concluded.

The other co-authors of the book are Rabindranath Bhattacharyya, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Burdwan; Sanjeev Kumar Mahajan, a Professor of Public Administration at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla; and Himanshu Shekhar Mishra, a Senior Editor with NDTV India.

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