An outstanding dancer who has had tutelage under renowned Guru Padma Bhushan Dr. Sri Vempati Chinna Satyam, she created more than 100 solo choreographies, and more than 25 exceptional Kuchipudi ballets…writes Ragasudha Vinjamuri.
Eminent dancer Padmasri Dr. K Sobha Naidu left the dancing fraternity in dismay as she departed for heavenly abode in the early hours of today. The departure of one of the finest exponents is a colossal loss to the Kuchipudi world. She was undergoing treatment for COVID lately, adding to the already existing Ortho-neurological issues after she accidentally fell down at home a month ago.
Wife of retired IAS officer Sri Arjuna Rao, the artiste par excellence and highly dedicated dance Guru has been conferred with several prestigious awards and accolades in over three decades and leaves behind a huge legacy. Recipient of Padma Sri, Sangeet Natak Academy, Nrutya Choodamani and Hamsa awards, she has trained several dancers through Kuchipudi Art Academy in Hyderabad who are spreading the fragrance of Kuchipudi throughout the world.
An outstanding dancer who has had tutelage under renowned Guru Padma Bhushan Dr. Sri Vempati Chinna Satyam, she created more than 100 solo choreographies, and more than 25 exceptional Kuchipudi ballets such as Vipranarayana, Chandalika, Kalyana Srinivasam, Navarasa Natabhamini to name a few.
She is also related to the legendary actor SV Ranga Rao and as a young danseuse appeared in a Telugu movie Abimaanavantulu in the song Yeppativale kaaduraa Naa Swami. She has performed in India and abroad extensively. She was part of the 600th Birth Year celebrations of Saint Annamacharya marked in the UK, organised by ETA in association with Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam in Midlands, during which she presented mesmerising dance.
Its an ocean as vast as the sub-continent whose name it bears, encompassing Asia to the north, Australia to the east and Africa to the west. With 20 per cent of the water on the Earth’s surface, the sea routes of the Indian Ocean carry 80 per cent of the worlds shipping trade in oil, connecting East Asia, the Middle East and Africa to Europe and the Americas — and without New Delhi intending it so, could be the theatre of a new geopolitical rivalry between India and China…writes Vishnu Makhijani.
But then, as internationally acclaimed economist and urban theorist Sanjeev Sanyal puts it, “those who remember history will know that the Indian Ocean has seen the likes of Rajendra Chola and Zheng He before. They will also know to expect the unexpected”, Sanyal writes in “The Incredible History Of The Indian Ocean” (Puffin), an adaptation for young readers of his seminal work, “The Ocean of Churn”.
“After all, no one who saw Zheng He’s magnificent Treasure Fleet” of over 300 ships with almost 28,000 crewmen, “would have believed that, a few decades later, a small country in the Iberian Peninsula” (where Venetian trader Marco Polo had carried tales of Chinese magnificence) “would open the Indian Ocean to centuries of European domination”, writes Sanyal, currently the Indian government’s Principal Economic Advisor.
The long history of the Indian Ocean, he writes, “is one where the unfolding of events is the result of complex interactions between myriad factors — the monsoon winds, geography, human migrations, technology, religion, culture, the deeds of individuals and, perhaps occasionally the whims of the gods. It followed no predetermined path or grand plan, but is the story of long cycles, dead ends and unintended consequences, of human triumphs and extraordinary bravery but also of treachery and inexplicable human cruelty. There are many shades of gray along the way”.
These shades of grey exist to this day.
For instance, Djibouti on the Horn of Africa is the gateway to the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea –the entry and exit to the Suez Canal – and is home to major US and Chinese military bases, as also of France, Italy and Japan. It also overlooks Somalia, the hub of sea piracy in the region. How do these contradictions exist, is a question that strategic analysts often ask.
“The complex adaptive nature of history is a warning that a linear narrative based on a unidimensional framework is necessarily misleading. A corollary is that the path of history flows either from or to Utopia. Indeed, the attempts to ‘civilise’ others and impose utopias have been the source of much human misery and are almost always based on some unidimensional interpretation of history,” Sanyal writes.
It is also remarkable, the book says, “how continuities have remained through all these centuries of change. The monsoon winds may no longer dictate where ships can sail, but they are still important to the economic lives of hundreds of millions who depend on them for the annual rains. Some continuities run so deep that we hardly notice them. For instance, certain ancient cultural ideas continue to impact us to this day despite layers of later influences”, it says.
Detailing how matrilineal customs were an important aspect of history in the eastern but not in the western Indian Ocean rim, the book notes: “Perhaps this explains why we have seen so many females in Eastern Indian Ocean countries, including Corazon Aquino, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Aung San Suu Kyi, Indira Gandhi, Sheikh Hasina, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, to name a few.”
An ocean forever in the melting pot of history.
“If there is one lesson from this history, it is this: Time devours the greatest of men and the mightiest of empires,” Sanyal concludes.
It is this philosophy that resulted in the creation of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, the vision for which originated during a visit by late South African President Nelson Mandela to India in 1995, when he said that “the natural urge of the facts of history and geography should broaden itself to include the concept of an Indian Ocean rim for socio-economic cooperation…” that has within its ambit 22 Member States and 10 Dialogue Partners.
Supplementing this is the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue informal strategic forum comprising India, the US, Australia and Japan, whose senior officials at their most recent virtual meeting on September 25, exchanged “views on ongoing and proposed practical cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development, and security matters, including counter-terrorism, cyber and maritime security, with the objective of promoting peace, security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region”, India’s External Affairs Ministry said.
This is Sanyal’s second adaptation for young readers after “The Incredible History of India’s Geography” based on his bestselling “Land of the Seven Rivers”.
With illustrations by Nikhil Gulati superbly complementing the text, the book, through its 11 chapters, weaves its way from “The Birth of the Indian Ocean” through “Dynasties, Invasions and Shipwrecks”, “Treasure on the Other Side of the World”, “In Search of Spices”, and “This Land Is Our Land”, et al, to “From Dusk to a New Dawn” to unfold a canvas that is breathtaking in its scope.
He was twice rejected by one of India’s top FMCG firms when he applied for a job from campus. More than once, he did not get the promotion that he thought he richly deserved. The draft of his first book on advertising cases was rejected as a plug. Several clients, on multiple occasions, rejected campaign ideas that he had projected…writes Vishnu Makhijani.
And all that transformed him into becoming a spring that helped bouncing him back after being repeatedly pushed and pulled.
Today, after a 40-year-career in corporate India, Ambi Parameswaran is a best-selling author of 10 books, a brand consultant, the founder of a brand advisory and a much-in-demand speaker at industry events.
“The big learning for me, as I reflect back on my journey in the world of business is that there is no one magic bullet to handle rejection,” Parameswaran writes in “Spring – Bouncing Back From Rejection” (Westland) as he details his own torturous journey and that of individuals across the spectrum who fought off adversity and offers a offers a three-step process – a Rejection Processing System (RPS) – to “survive multiple rejections, near-death experiences and more”.
“Getting rejected is something that worries everyone. And somehow it seems to be a big black hole that can swallow you in full”, he writes, adding: “But the truth is that the most successful of people you know have had to go through rejection multiple times in their lives.”
“Someone whom you think was a born leader probably got rejected many times before he landed the right job. Numerous bestselling authors have had to submit their manuscripts to multiple publishers before someone decided to risk their reputation by publishing a first-time author. The same is true of some of the biggest movies and television programmes. Movie stars who have won multiple Oscar awards, who have numerous hits under their belt, have all faced rejection. Some of the top athletes have been dropped from teams when they were in good form,” Parameswaran writes and goes on to lists a virtual Who’s Who of individuals who proved that perseverance pays.
To name just a few, there’s Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Steven Spielberg, Amish Tripathi, J.K. Rowling, Ernest Hemmingway, George Orwell (rejected by T.S. Elliot of all people), Vladimir Nobokov, Stephen King, Jeffrey Archer, Ariana Huffington, The Beatles and Dilip Kumar (now known as A.R. Rahman).
There’s also the saga of Savan Harish Kotecha, a songwriter of Indian origin, as related by Derek Thomson, a senior editor at “The Atlantic” and a news analyst for NPR (National Public Radio of the US). Kotecha received 160 rejection letters while trying to break into the highly competitive music business. He eventually landed a job as a writer and producer for other singers/songwriters such as Madonna, Nick Jonas, Backstreet Boys, Ariana Grande, Usher, Justin Beiber and One Direction.
“Interestingly, Kotecha’s journey to selling more than 200 million copies of his songs started with rejection upon rejection. Today, he has amassed many awards and multiple Grammy and Golden Globe nominations,” Parameswaran writes.
What’s the lesson to be learnt from all this?
“Be ready to anticipate and accept rejection. If you are convinced about what you are setting out to do, don’t let rejection derail you. If your heart says you have a winning concept, don’t give up. Brush off the rejection and spring back to make a fresh attempt,” Parameswaran writes.
The cover of the book “Spring â Bouncing Back From Rejection”.
Enter his RPS, or rather, climbing “the three peaks of rejection management” which he explains thus: “The first stage of handling rejection is the ability to anticipate and accept rejection. Don’t take it personally. Quieten your inner critic.
“The second stage is processing and recovering from rejection. Can you decode the rejection message? Is it a hard rejection or a soft one? Who can you go to for support? Do you have a confidant who can help you?
“The third and final stage is learning and progressing after rejection. What can you learn from the rejection? What mistake did you make and should avoid making the next time? What lesson did you learn?”
“If we can understand and mater the art of climbing the three peaks, no rejection is going to upset our plans,” Parameswaran asserts.
Here’s a book that proves that the proof of the pudding lies in the eating, with its 18 chapters grouped into three parts, each with a broad sequence but which can also be read in any order, “so that you can spring back with a smile on your face when you are hit by a rejection”.
As auditoriums lay vacant, members of the theatre community struggle to make ends meet, and audiences are snatched off of a popular form of art and entertainment, digital theatre is what stage veterans like Shernaz Patel say will keep makers connected to the audience…Shernaz Patel speaks with Siddhi Jain.
Patel, who is the returning Artistic Director of Aadyam, the theatre initiative by the Aditya Birla Group that came into being in 2015, states that theatre has had to morph into a new avatar the world over. “The talent is still there, the desire to tell stories, to communicate — that is not something that has diminished. Theatre makers globally have found innovative ways to make theatre a reality – from zoom plays to recording monologues, to collaborating with visual artists, to phone plays, audio drama, many fascinating and innovative projects have emerged.”
After enthralling her audiences with her roles in films like “Black” and “Guzaarish”, film and theatre actor Shernaz Patel, is all set to play Jiloo Mistry, a 76-year-old single woman living alone in Goa, in the Indian adaptation of a play based on an Agatha Christie mystery.
While she acknowledges the argument that the essence of theatre is that it is live, the film and theatre actor says that necessity has made us embrace new forms of communicating with audiences. “Other countries are slowly returning to performing live…socially distanced, outdoor shows for the most part. For us, unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen in the immediate future.”
“This is a tough time for theatre very tough,” notes Patel.
“We excel in the live, we thrive on the immediate and tactile communion between us and the audience. This love, passion, need – call it what you will – brings us back to the stage year after year, even as sceptics debate if theatre is dying. Theatre has survived centuries. With every catastrophe, we have found ways to reinvent ourselves. Death has never been an option for us. So, in 2020 if we have to perform in 920 x 1080 pixels, we will. We accept the challenge. Because this is what we do. We will find a way to share stories, to entertain and inspire.”
Redefining a new season with the arrival of 2020’s digital theatre opus, Aadyam has embraced change by creating a world-class showcase with Aadyam – The Digital Edition.
Agatha Christie thriller adapted for Indian stage.
Featuring three plays from Aadyam’s repertoire built over the last 5 years, the new season spotlights an unusual debut in the history of Indian arts and culture. Streaming via Insider.in will be ‘Bandish 20-20,000 Hz’ (Hindi), ‘I Don’t Like It, As You Like It’ (English) and ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (English), starting October. A virtual audience room, pre-show activities, live polling and mini quizzes and post-show virtual meet-and-greets is how the initiative plans to curate an authentic theatre experience online.
Aadyam has launched a community platform for theatre lovers – Theatre Ink. Featuring original content written and presented by theatre practitioners and reputed writers from the across the country, Theatre Ink will serve as a hub for all things theatre. To be presented in a blogging format and edited by Shernaz Patel, it will feature interviews, insights, articles, advice, tips, news, behind the scenes snippets and much more, catering to both the industry and the audience.
Asked how the pandemic has impacted the theatre community, Patel shared over email: “The pandemic has hit us hard. Commercial and amateur theatre has come to a grinding halt. Many artists have gone back to their hometowns. Not just artists, but every single department – technicians, make up men, set builders, designers, suppliers – are all struggling to stay afloat. Auditoriums are lying vacant. The only funds that are being generated are from within the community itself. It’s a very difficult time for us all over the country.”
She also takes us through the making and staging/screening of a digital play.
After enthralling her audiences with her roles in films like “Black” and “Guzaarish”, film and theatre actor Shernaz Patel, is all set to play Jiloo Mistry, a 76-year-old single woman living alone in Goa, in the Indian adaptation of a play based on an Agatha Christie mystery.
“When you sit in an auditorium and watch a play, you see the stage either in a wide shot or else you decide as an audience member who or what you wish to look at. When you record a play digitally, especially with a multi-camera set up, it is the camera that decides that for you. Therefore the theatre director needs to work in sync with a film unit so that, moment to moment, his vision is in no way compromised. But at the same time the play needs to work for the screen. It’s a delicate balance. The play is still rehearsed and performed as a piece of theatre that does not change. It is the shooting of it that has to be very cleverly done so that the play communicates perfectly to an audience. For Aadyam we will be shooting our plays with a multi-camera set up so that the audience gets to watch a professional product, with great production and technical qualities.”
Just like a reluctance to enter movie halls, does she anticipate some hesitance in turning up for live theatre now? The answer is an affirmative.
“Till we have managed to beat Covid or till there is a cure, I think Indian audiences will be afraid to go to the theatre, especially closed auditoriums. Perhaps we will slowly start with outdoor shows, like they have done internationally, where social distancing can be maintained. Or some theatres may experiment with selling 300 seats in a 1200-seater. Who knows? It’s so hard to predict this.”
Shernaz Patel (Wikipedia)
Does she see digital theatre surviving after normal operations resume? “Yes, I do. It is an opportunity to reach a far wider audience, not just within the country, but internationally as well. It has been such a pleasure to watch some excellent work from other countries during the pandemic. That’s the advantage of having a well-produced archive of shows. In fact, I feel that in the future auditoriums should invest in multi-camera fixed set ups that theatre producers can avail of to record their shows. But it needs to be slickly done. We have all been used to archiving our plays with a one, maximum two camera, set up. That’s fine as a record of the show, but not something that one can market to a consumer,” Patel signs off.
It began as “panspermia”, a hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe that was coined by the 5th century BC Greek polymath Anaxagorus. He theorised that the first contaminants – as also other organisms – made their appearance via meteors that had loosened from large stars and plunged down to earth, carrying “seeds everywhere and thus generating life”. Aristotle pipped him at the post with the more believable theory of spontaneous generation of life on earth….writes Vishnu Makhijani.
Forgotten for nearly 2,000 years, Anaxagorus was revived at the turn of the 19th century when astrobiology became a respectable science. Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe published “Diseases From Space” in 1979 that ascribed the 1918 flu pandemic to an unspecified extraterrestrial source.
“It did not go down well. After the SARS epidemic of 2003, the idea was revived briefly – as it will be now, without doubt,” Ishrat Syed and Kalpana Swaminathan, doctors writing as Kalpish Ratna, contend in “A Crown Of Thorns – The Coronavirus And Us” (Context), adding for good measure that in 2009, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has for long conducted air-sampling balloon experiments, had recovered three novel strains of bacteria from altitudes of 27 and 41 km.
Dr Ishrat Syed.
Today, as Covid-19 sweeps the planet, we are panicked and baffled. Bombarded with disinformation and panic-inducing statistics, we are cowed by the enormity and uncertainty of what’s unfolding.
The narrative, so far, has been about a novel coronavirus. But Covid-19 is not just about SARS-CoV-2. It is about the virus and us.
We have coexisted with viruses from the dawn of evolution. What has changed? Is it this ‘new virus’? Or, has something changed in us? Have we disrupted something crucial in Nature?
“A Crown of Thorns” is science and history woven into the human story – the long view on a pandemic that’s consuming us. Kalpish Ratna, writing in the singular, distil their study of plagues and epidemics into a work packed with ideas that provoke and insights that illuminate.
Their previous book, “The Secret Life of Zika Virus (2017) examined the emergence of the Congenital Zika Syndrome. “Synapse” (2019) combines fiction with a heavy dose of facts and deals with crucial breakthroughs in neuroscience, and with cameos from numerous scientific luminaries; the hair-raising stories traverse time, space and the dark underbelly of scientific progress.
Covid-19 was no surprise, the book maintains.
“After the 2003 outbreak of SARS and the 2012 outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), it was only a matter of time before another lethal coronavirus struck us.
“Were we unprepared”, or rather, “Why did we let it happen again?”
“We failed to prevent it because we failed to recongnise a truth that stares is in the face.
“It would be more correct to say we refuse to recognise it,” says the book, that attempts to take the reader away from the “Hai Ram, yeh kya go gaya hai” (Oh God, what is happening) syndrome to a more rational line of reasoning.
Be it yellow fever, zika fever, chikungunya, ebola, Nipah virus or what have you, they might be different but “their landscape of origin is the same. And it is a shockingly familiar one no matter where you live. It is a landscape without trees”.
All these diseases emerged – or remerged, more virulent and dangerous – as a result of human encroachment on forests.
“Historically, we might trace them to tropical rainforests, but right now we must look closer to home. Because the forest was, till very recently, right here somewhere, in and about your housing colony, around that gated highrise and its adjacent slum,” the book says.
Dr Kalpana Swaminathan.
“Disease is driven by capitalism today: the forests of Asia, Africa, Central and South Americas are enslaved to richer nations to produce goods that serve few and bankrupt millions. The use of forests to fuel the greed of capitalism must cease. Else, a landscape without trees may soon become a landscape without people,” the book says.
What else can we do?
Noting that the standard narrative of Covid-19 is biased – the virus gets all the attention, but Covid-19 isn’t about the virus, “it is about us”, the book says: “We are a species in an evolutionary cul-de-sac. The virus is much older at this game of survival. Still, we’ve survived viruses since we emerged, haven’t we…History is the narrative of conquest, disease is the narrative of defeat” and the human race today is “poised between these two”.
So, “why not reclaim the playbook (all the pieces and parts that make up the go-to approach for getting things done)?
“Why not reconsider Covid-19 from the human vantage, from our point of view?
“And while we wait for vaccines and therapies, why not repair health?
“Whose life is it anyway?”
Yours and mine, Kalpish Ratna; so let’s get on with it!
Gopichand HInduja at Sanskruti's Shaandaar Sindhi event
Renu Gidoomal at Shaandaar Sindhi event
In continuation of highlighting the rich cultural diversity of India, Sanskruti Centre for Cultural Excellence organised “Shaandaar Sindhi” on the virtual platform recently, spotlighting incredible Sindhi performing arts, language promotion and cuisine.
Singer, Songwriter, Composer, Guitarist, Producer and MD of music & events company Atmasphere Renu Gidoomal kickstarted the high-spirited event with an invocation and presented Sindhi songs Nangda Nimani Da, Sindhi Abani Boli and climaxed with Mast Kalandar.
Hinduja brothers of the business conglomerate Hinduja group have all spoken passionately on the occasion. While Gopichand P Hinduja accentuated Sindhu civilisation, Sindhi heritage and culture, Prakash P Hinduja and Ashok P Hinduja have outlined Hinduja Foundation’s contributions to the social sectorand philanthropy.
Gopichand Hinduja at Sanskruti’s Shaandaar Sindhi event
Opening his message with “Jai Jhulelal”, GP Hinduja said “Dr. Ram Jawhrani, Dr. Nandakumara, Ragasudha Vinjamuri– thank you for allowing my brother AP and I to say a few words for this celebration of our Sindhi culture. Sindhiyat or the Sindhi culture is one of the oldest in the world dating back to the times of Sindhu civilisation or Indus valley civilisation. That our culture is the oldest and traces its roots to Vedic period, is a fact not known to many, including Sindhis themselves. Sindhu civilisation prospered around Sindhu Darya (Sindhu river leading to the sea), the backbone of the economy, we have had close affinity with water as we were sea travellers and merchants. That’s how the mercantile system (finance and trade) runs in our DNA”.
Emphasising on the importance of preserving the identity, he said “For the survival of Sindhiyat, or Sindhi culture, three things must be passed on to our next generation – one, our language, two- our cuisine and three, our festivals and traditions. Because the main ingredients of any culture are its language, food and traditions. Jeko Chavando Jhulelal, Tehnja theenda Bedapaar!” Prakash P Hinduja reminisced of Sindhi programs he attended in South East Asia, the cruise organised by Sateesh Raisinghani in Spain and the Sammelans organised by American Sindhis, that brought Sindhi people together.
Prakash Hinduja at Sanskruti’s Shaandaar Sindhi event
He also hailed the Sindhis’ contribution in business and spiritual sector, including Brahma Kumaris and referred to Sindhi community leaders in Dubai and other places. Echoing the sentiments of his brothers, Ashok P Hinduja has emphasised on economic growth so that more charitable and cultural activities can be promoted.
Chairman of Global Sindhi Council and Sahyog Foundation Dr Ram Jawhrani spoke on what Sindhiyat means, and stressed on taking pride and celebrating Sindhi identity by preserving the unique Sindhi culture and restoring the lost Sindhi traditions among the young. Executive Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan London Dr M. Nandakumara exalted Sindhu civilisation, recited the Sanskrit poem that mentions Sindhu River, acknowledged the support of people of Sindhi community to Bhavan and recalled Sindhi language classes held on the premises by Chandroo Malkani.
Dr Ram Jawhrani speaking at Shaandaar Sindhi event
He stressed on identifying scholars and recording their works for posterity. Author of Shattered Sindh Scattered Sindhis and Co-Founder of Sindhi Association of UK Raj Daswani recounted the formation of SAUK and highlighted the Sindhi drama & theatre arts, mentioning his wife Geeta Daswani holds the distinction of the first lady to have participated in Sindhi drama in India.
Gulshan Makhija, Hero Parwani and Kishan Ramnani of Sindhu Sakha Sangam presented the beautiful Sindhi Bhagat performance, which added to the vibrancy of the event. Chair of Harrow Interfaith and recipient of 2009 Mayor’s Award for Service to the Community in Harrow Sonoo Malkani presented some of the mouthwatering Sindhi dishes such as Pakwaan Daal, Sayee Bhajee and Besan Kadhee.
Bhagat Performance by Sindhu Sakha Sangam
The event was conceived and conducted by Ragasudha Vinjamuri, Founder of Sanskruti Centre, in collaboration with Sindhi Association of UK and supported by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, while technical support was rendered by Sushil Rapatwar. All have commended with one voice the efforts of Sanskruti Centre for organising this event.
There was a time when she could not afford a studio, and had to move in with her mother. But there was never a time when she made marketable art.… Nalini Malani speaks with Sukant Deepak.
“However, as an artist I never look back at my past. It is important to look forward, as an antenna of the society — what can happen in our near future? If I look back, it finds a way in my art,” says artist Nalini Malani.
The first Indian to win the Joan Miro Prize (2019), considered one of the most prestigious art awards in the world for giving a voice to the “the silenced and the dispossessed all over the world, most particularly women,” the artist says, “I think it is an important step for this prestigious award to spread their field to a more global vision.”
While her work ‘Utopia’ is part of KNMA’s ‘City Tales’ digital exhibition, she is busy with her notebook animations as part of the project ‘Can You Hear Me?’
“I post them regularly on Instagram. As an installation, which I call ‘animation chamber’, it is now installed as a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, on till June 6, 2021. Besides that, I am working on the fellowship project of the National Gallery in London, which research/work project should culminate in an exhibition and publication of spring 2023.”
Known for strong social concerns in her art including issues pertaining to politics, gender, violence and consumerism, Mumbai-based Malini who during the initial days of her career worked in painting and drawing also incorporated film and video later, with memory playing an important role in her art work.
A pass-out from the JJ School of Art, the artist, who received a scholarship from the French Government to study fine arts there from 1970 to 72, smiles, “I always say: Paris was the university of my life.”
Looking ahead with Nalini Malani.
Ask her if her work ‘Utopia’ has a special resonance considering the times we live in, and she replies, “As an artist one always hopes one’s works have a special reverberance. However, it is the viewer who completes the works, and might experience this special resonance.”
Unlike many other major artists, Malani, who still works solo in her studio without any assistants happens to be one of the early artists who strongly brought forth issues of feminism in the Indian art landscape. However, she feels that things have gone worse. “The headlines of the general newspapers of the last years give us evidence of this,” she says.
Recalling the reactions from the Indian art world when she started exploring video, theatre and ephemeral wall drawings, she remembers, “There was no real appreciation directly. One was mockingly called an ‘installator artist’, as if one was a kind of gladiator artist.”
Five books to read during Unlock. (Photo: pixabay)
Stories of powerful female leads, explored in a variety of contexts and evocative of a whole spectrum of emotions, make for good reads, just as the country is getting more and more active post the lockdown…writes Siddhi Jain.
Five books to read during Unlock. (Photo: pixabay)
Apart from the classics, here is a list you can choose from.
‘Mother at Nineteen’ by Gulista Chaudhary
Gulista Chaudhary’s ‘Mother at Nineteen’ is a tale of love, sacrifice, friendship, relationship and foremost- motherhood. The plot revolves around the decisions that we make in life can make or break relationships. Aashna made a decision of being a 19-year-old, unmarried mother. Little did she know that she’ll break all other relationships in the process. The author is a dynamic speaker and personality development coach. She drew inspiration for writing this book from her personal life and also facing ideologies of the male-dominant world.
‘Endurer’ by Kapil Raj
Kapil Raj’s ‘Endurer’ is a heart-rending story of a girl, whose beliefs and horror has been battered, stands up to make choices, rediscovering the meaning of life. The story revolves around Palak who is the epitome of beauty and charisma and lives a privileged life. She attends a reputed institution of higher learning, has a group of close friends, and is the object of admiration and desire. Nothing was right or wrong in her world. Life was a fun fed roller coaster. Newfound love, drugs, cat-fights, patch-ups, crushes, night hangouts, and unplanned trips, she was experiencing whatever passed her way. Her exploration goes too far when she attends a rave party. She wakes up to the horror of finding herself raped.
‘The Anatomy of Choice’ by Harshali Singh
Harshali Singh’s ‘The Anatomy of Choice’ talks about whether choice is really a possibility for women. The story revolves around Bhavya Sharma, the second offspring of the Sharma family that inhabits a large historical haveli near Chandni Chowk in Delhi, with its mysterious mausoleum. This is the second novel in the ‘Haveli series’. ‘If you can’t handle me at your worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best’, this quote attributed to Marilyn Monroe applies to this novel’s pivotal character Bhavya equally if not more. The strength of this dual narrative lies in creating a fascinating plot where the internal and external conflicts of her two protagonists, Bhavya and Noorie, are juxtaposed. The story also complex subjects such as polyamory and amorality, and normalizes them. The themes of love, separation, loss of honour, rebellion, sacrifice, sorrow, and catharsis are present in the story.
‘5 Minutes’ by Vrinda Singh
Vrinda Singh’s ‘5 minutes’ is a thriller. Just like riding on a roller coaster, reading this book alternates between making you feel excited and exhilarated, happy and sad, disappointed and desperate, in just 5 minutes. What makes this book worth reading is the author’s collection of various real-life incidents jotted down into subtle 16 chapters which are fast paced, grounded in reality, adrenaline soaked, grab you by the feels, keep-you-guessing, intriguing, completely unexpected, heart-breaking yet hopeful and a crazy read on the wild side. The author started the story as a thriller and also ended like one but what happens in the middle is exactly what carries the readers through ways of engaging with whirlwind of emotions, confusion, drama, pain and love.
‘Mirage’ By Nilakshi Garg
Nilakshi’s ‘Mirage’ is the new- age story of the female tattoo artist, Bethany Carlson, operating her tattoo parlour in Chicago, Illinois. She is the protagonist of this story. She has seen quite a lot of nasty ups and downs in her life. But we will get to know about it much later. Because of her earlier life, she has not found anyone to trust to date. This is all before she is forced to attend her college’s Alumni party alone. There she meets, the oh-so-handsome, Gerald Fletcher. He is a very straight forward man and from there the story unfolds.
Starting October 22, the British Museum is set to open a major exhibition on the history of the Arctic and its Indigenous Peoples, through the lens of climate change and weather…writes Siddhi Jain.
Titled ‘Citi exhibition Arctic: culture and climate’, it will look at the whole circumpolar region, revealing how Arctic Peoples have adapted to climate variability in the past and meet the challenges of global climate change today.
Through the knowledge and stories of Indigenous Arctic Peoples, the exhibition addresses the global issue of changing climates in a transforming world.
The Arctic Circle is the most northern region in the world encompassing the area of midnight sun in summer and the polar night in winter that covers 4 percent of the Earth. It is home to 4 million people including 400,000 Indigenous Peoples belonging to one or more of 40 different ethnic groups with distinct languages and dialects. Most of the Arctic’s Indigenous inhabitants are involved in hunting, fishing and reindeer herding. These subsistence activities are supplemented by employment in industries such as government infrastructures, energy, commercial fishing and tourism.
The Arctic has been home to resilient communities for nearly 30,000 years, cultures that have lived with the opportunities and challenges of one of the most dramatic environments on the planet. Today, climate change is transforming the Arctic at the fastest rate in human history.
As per the museum, from rare archaeological finds, unique tools and clothing adapted to flourish in the cold, artworks reflecting the respectful relationship between Arctic people and the natural world, to stunning photography of contemporary daily life, the exhibition will show the great diversity of cultures and ingenuity of communities responding to dramatic changes in seasonal weather and human-caused climate change.
Scientists predict that the Arctic will be ice-free in 80 years, which will bring dramatic and profound change to the people that live there and will affect us all.
The exhibition will feature many objects from across the circumpolar region, including an eight-piece Igloolik winter costume made of caribou (wild reindeer) fur, illustrating the relationship between humans and animals in the Arctic. The hunted animal provides food for the community as well as clothing, perfectly adapted to help humans survive the extreme cold.
Carved ivory model group of a dog sled.
Arctic Peoples’ responses to the establishment of colonial governments and state-sponsored religions in the Arctic will feature as well. Stunning contemporary photography of the Arctic landscape and local communities will form part of the immersive exhibition design.
“The ‘Citi exhibition Arctic: culture and climate’ will tell inspirational stories of human achievement while celebrating the region’s natural beauty. It will encourage debate about the future of this globally significant landscape in the light of global climate change. Arctic Peoples have faced different kinds of change, developing strategies and tools to mitigate the disruptive effects of social and environmental change from which we can all learn,” the Museum said.
In a social environment where women giving up professional dreams to put family first is all too common, a new book brings out the story of a couple sharing achievements, and going beyond the notion of “gifting teddy bears and roses to your partner”….writes Siddhi Jain.
Emerging author Saranya Umakanthan’s book “One Day, Life Will Change” launched this March. Published by FingerPrint Publishers, it also has an audiobook version on Audible. Saranya, a software engineer by profession, describes how she found the inspiration for this book.
“I met a lot of women who gave up on their dreams after their marriage with their personal commitments. Some gave up happily which is fine with me. But there were others who lost themselves unable to carry the load of being a perfect woman, losing their hopes and even forgetting what their dreams were in the first place. I saw them floundering in the turbulent sea of hardships drowning slowly, giving in to the harsh struggles of life. Most of the women I know, go through this phase. I saw the lost dreams in their eyes instead of the sparkling twinkle that I had seen earlier. That gave me a thought to begin my book,” she told IANSlife.
“One Day, Life Will Change” is an inspirational romantic novel where the protagonist, Samaira is one such woman with broken dreams. Her vivacious personality disappeared with the adversities of life but her heart longed for happiness, which she had taken it for granted earlier.
Highlighting the role of strong companionship and growing together, the novel shows how she and her partner pursued their dreams against all odds, inspiring one another and travelling the gruelling path of life.
“Life-altering, difficult situations in your life bring you closer to your partner. The bond of love strengthens when you fight it out together with additional strength and a secure belief that you have someone for you. There can never be a sweeter moment between a couple than celebrating their success together.”
In a time when hope runs dry, how will her book inspire both men and women to chase their dreams and hand-hold their partners through tough times?
“When you tumble into the quicksand of negativity, you lose your hope and in no time this pit will swallow your soul draining away your happiness. You need strong will-power to pull yourself out of this depression and misery. Along with your determination, it will be great to have a strong arm of support from your partner. To me, that is the purest form of love you can give or get. Not merely sending thousands of messages or gifting teddy bears and roses.
“In my story, Vivian stands for Samaira, and Samaira vouches her support to Vivian,” the author concludes, adding that love is a two-way street.
