Mumbai’s celebrated literature festival Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest, which is now in its 11th year has adopted a virtual format due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic this year.
The festival, which will also incorporate an entertaining Children’s Festival for two days, will be held for a week this time, with this edition hosting a formidable range of participants including this year’s Nobel Laureate Sir Roger Penrose; the father of modern linguistics Noam Chomsky; acclaimed authors Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Lord Jeffrey Archer, Ruskin Bond, Amy Tan, Neil Gaiman, Howard Jacobson, Robert Harris, Sudha Murthy, Arun Shourie, Fareed Zakaria, Emma Donoghue, Peter May, Ashwin Sanghi, Amish, Shashi Tharoor, Shobhaa De, Farrukh Dhondy, Craig Brown; internationally known thinkers Michael Sandel, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Robin Dunbar, Henry Marsh, Christophe Jafferlot, Tom Friedman; former RBI Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan; historian Ramachandra Guha; renowned cultural figures Javed Akhtar, T M Krishna, Sir David Hare, Naseeruddin Shah, and Miriam Margolyes.
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The festival’s literary awards will be presented this year as well, for the First Book and Book of the Year in the Fiction and Non-Fiction categories, and the Business Book of the Year. The Lifetime Achievement Award to a distinguished literary personality, and the honouring of the annual Poet Laureate, will continue to be among the main highlights of the Festival.
According to Festival Founder-Director, Anil Dharker said, “We are delighted to be able to announce that our LitFest has not fallen victim to the pandemic. The silver lining in our Corona cloud has been that the necessity of holding a virtual festival has resulted in us being able to host a higher number of really star participants from across India and the world, and has enabled us to give global visibility to the much loved and awaited Tata Mumbai LitFest.”
Intercultural arts hub Kala Sangam at Bradford’s Arts Centre has launched a new scheme to provide dance and physical theatre artists with studio time and living expenses so they can restart their creative practice following the lockdown.
The Back to the Studio Packages, which have been made possible by the security provided by the emergency funding Kala Sangam received from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund, will give 20 artists a week of no-pressure studio time along with £1000 to pay for living expenses. Artists will be under no obligation to produce anything specific and will also benefit from developmental support during (and after) their time at the city centre venue.
Kala Sangam reflects the diversity of contemporary Britain through the work it presents, the artists it supports and the communities it engages. In addition to the company’s two performance programmes a year, Kala Sangam delivers outreach activity in schools and communities across Bradford and throughout the country, as well as delivering classes and workshops in a number of art forms.
Alex Croft, Creative Director said, ‘Since we started to reopen our studio spaces, we’ve been listening to artists coming through our doors, and it’s clear that just being in a dance studio again is a significant, emotional, and often overwhelming experience for many people. We want to make sure that when artists finally get that Project Grant or DYCP funding, they’re able to hit the ground running – so we’ve created Back to the Studio. When we say no pressure, we mean it. We want to give artists the time and space needed to find and nurture their creativity’
10 of the packages are going to artists that Kala Sangam already has a working relationship with, but they are making an open call for the other 10. Anyone is welcome to apply but they will be prioritising supporting dancers and physical theatre performers from the Bradford District and/or professional South Asian dance practitioners.
Studio space is available between November and the end of March 2021. Applicants should send a short video explaining who they are, what they would like to do and how their work aligns with at least one of Kala Sangam’s three programming strands (which can be found here: http://www.kalasangam.org/about-us/mission-and-vision/ ) To apply, please WeTransfer your videos to Alex Corwin – a.corwin@kalsangam.org. The closing date for applications is 5 pm Friday 6th November.
In a free-wheeling conversation internationally acclaimed London based artiste Chandra Chakraborty talks to Arundhati Mukherjee from Asian Lite news desk about classical music, its tradition and artistes and art today.
Rishi Vashista, Sri Parasuram, Karna, Arjun, Ekalavya are some of the names that surround our mind, the moment we hear the phrase – ‘Guru-Shishya Parampara’. Not only the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, but this tradition of imparting knowledge from the teacher to the disciple also stands tall in almost all Vedic Culture. It is fascinating how ITC Sangeet Research Academy is keeping up this purest form of schooling even in today’s time. Their disciples never fail to showcase brilliant results of this most devoted form of learning.
Chandra Chakraborty, founder-director of Kalakar Arts, UK is a renowned name in Indian classical and Semi Classical music, all over the world. Only at the age of ten, when most kids were enjoying the Mahabharata tv-series sitting with their parents, Chandra left her home to live with her Guru and Guruma until she got married. In the vast campus of Sangeet Research Academy, from that tender age, her spirits got focused on classical music under the very able guidance of her Guruji, the late Pandit A. Kanan, and Guruma, late Vidushi Malabika Kanan.
Chandra Chakraborty with Ghazal maestro Ustad Ghulam Ali
“My Guruji and Guruma’s place in my heart is nothing less than that of my parents. Perhaps greater. I was nothing less than their daughter. Even my parents always considered that my Guruji’s claim over me is ultimate. Their decisions regarding my life surpassed everything else”, says Chandra.
Throughout her student life, her daily schedule was tightly knitted with rigorous music lessons and riaz, and lessons on languages like Urdu, English and Hindi. Along with this, she has continued pursuing general academic degrees. A common teenager’s life when is laced with Bollywood, street foods, and hanging out with friends, Chandra’s idea of entertainment and fun was to be able to socialise with the then Classical music maestros under the same roof.
While the journey of her own life is so interesting, it is only fitting that she would be drawn towards the very dramatic and tragic life of the ghazal queen Begum Akhtar. Just before the pandemic driven lockdown, Chandra Chakraborty scripted, directed, and performed the musical ‘Akhtari’ at the SSAI International Women’s Day concert, on 8th March 2020. The musical theatre comprised of singing, live music, Kathak dance, and acting by Chandra’s students and other internationally acclaimed artists. Chandra’s first production on Begum Akhtar in 2019 had wowed the audience of the UK. Not only the acting prowess and musical charisma of the queen of Ghazal but also her personal life, her ability to overcome obstacles, and her perseverance influenced Indian Classical and Semi Classical vocalist Chandra Chakraborty to work on her life, time and again.
Before this Chandra had curated and performed on similar life inspiring yesteryear artists like Badi Moti Bai and Saraswati, daughter of Tansen. Incidentally, Padmabibhushan Smt Girija Devi, another queen of Thumri had also been Chandra’s teacher for some time. Chandra’s melodious portrayal of the unknown and untapped sides of such enigmatic stars has often been greeted by a hall full of awestruck audience and standing ovations.
“Since Kalakar is born, every year we try to present something equally unique to the audience. This year is the birth centenary of my Guruji. I wished to do a production on Guru Shishya Parampara. However, due to the pandemic this year, we are conducting the event in a virtual medium. The series so far has garnered immense appreciation from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, India, and Europe,” said Chandra.
Renowned vocalist Girija Devi with Chandra Chakraborty
The weekly interactive sessions and performances have taken place since April this year with Maestros and living legends like Pandit Vijay Kichlu, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Ustad Rashid Khan, Ustad Shujat Khan, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Pandit Gaurav Mazumdar, Pandit Shubhankar Banerjee, Pandit Tanmoy Bose, Murad Ali Khan, Sanju Sahai, Pandit Kumar Bose, Pandit Jayanta Bose and many more performers paying a tribute to the stalwart, Pandit A Kanan. The sessions which are profoundly conducted by Chakraborty brings about the various shades of the teacher-student dynamics. The latest sessions of the Guru- Shishya Parampara series with Padmashree Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri and Nilan Chaudhuri, and also with Pandit Kumar Bose and his disciples P Sudatta Kumari and Chiranjit Mukherjee has been widely appreciated, with live viewership at times reaching past seventy thousand.
Gifted, mellifluous, extremely talented Chandra Chakraborty was considered as a child prodigy in India by many of the doyens of Indian Classical Music. Chandra started singing at the tender age of 3. Her first teacher was her mother Smt Manju Chakraborty. Chandra is also a Gold Medalist in Thumri from All India Radio and a National Scholar of Music and Dance. Before coming to England, she continued her passion for teaching Indian Classical music at Indian Consulate and at Witwatersrand University (as lecturer of Music in the history and society for advanced students) Johannesburg, South Africa.
After coming to London in 2000, Chandra started performing under the banner of well-known organisations such as Milap Fest, Art Asia, Saz-O-Awaz, Darbar and performed few times for Her Majesty the Queen of England. She was also invited to perform at the inaugural ceremony of Commonwealth Games, went to Pakistan to perform and was also invited to perform for Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar at his London residence. In 2011, Chandra Chakraborty co-founded Saudha- the society of poetry and Indian Music with Poet TM Ahmed Kaysher. Saudha organised many concerts including a few at House Of Commons. Presently she is focussing on taking Kalakar Arts into new heights in Indian Classical Music to an international audience. Kalakar Arts UK has a great line up of maestros supporting the journey. The NEDs are Dr Sid Kargupta, Dr Sanjukta Ghosh (artistic director of SOAS South Asia Institute), Dr Imtiaz Ahmed (renowned oncologist and director of Anandadhara Arts), Pandit Vijay Kichlu, Smt Meena Banerjee (author and music critic), Pandit Subhankar Banerjee, Pandit Gaurav Mazumdar and Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan. Kalakar wants to support and encourage young talents by inviting them to perform on this prestigious platform. Kalakar also supports UNICEF by organising charity events performed by young members of Kalakar.
Independent Indian dance and music organisation named Srishti, run by Nina Rajarani MBE has been awarded a grant as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced.
“I am overwhelmed, relieved and grateful for this result. The trust and belief placed by Arts Council England in my company’s work has given me renewed strength to continue forging ahead, come what may, ”Nina Rajarani responded.
Nina Rajarani
Srishti – Nina Rajarani Dance Creations is one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. £257 million of investment has been announced as part of the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.
“This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery.“These places and projects are cultural beacons the length and breadth of the country. This unprecedented investment in the arts is proof this government is here for culture, with further support to come in the days and weeks ahead so that the culture sector can bounce back strongly.” Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden commented.
“Theatres, museums, galleries, dance companies and music venues bring joy to people and life to our cities, towns and villages. This life-changing funding will save thousands of cultural spaces loved by local communities and international audiences. Further funding is still to be announced and we are working hard to support our sector during these challenging times.”, Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said.
Srishti is a resident company of Harrow Arts Centre. Since its formation in 1991 the company has regularly created and toured work nationally and internationally. Artistic Director Nina Rajarani MBE creates authentic classical Indian dance with a present-day flavour, always featuring live musicians who become part of the story, so that her work reaches people who haven’t experienced classical dance before. Nina was awarded an MBE for Services to South Asian dance in 2009 and received the prestigious choreography Place Prize for her choreography of ‘QUICK!’.
Nina Rajarani
As well as the professional touring dance company, Nina runs a successful dance and music school in Harrow Arts Centre. Srishti has many projects in the pipeline and the grant from The Culture Recovery Fund means that Srishti will be able to continue to develop these projects instead of having to close down whilst unable to perform to live audiences. The company will be able to provide paid work to freelance dancers as they develop new work to be shared either online or to live audiences when current restrictions ease.
Stephen Alterâs âWild Himalayaâ wins environmental award at Canadian festival
Prolific writer Stephen Alter has won the prestigious Mountain Environment and Natural History Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival 2020 in Alberta, Canada, for his book “Wild Himalaya” (Aleph) that brings alive the greatest mountain range on earth in all its terrifying beauty, grandeur and complexity.
Travelling to all the five countries that the Himalayan range – 2,500 kilometres in length, between 350 and 150 kilometres in breadth and rising to a maximum height of almost nine kilometres above sea level (Mount Everest) – traverses through India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and China, Alter braids together on-the-ground reports with a deep understanding and study of the history, science, geology, environment, flora, fauna, myth, folklore, spirituality, climate and human settlements of the region to provide a nuanced and rich portrait of these legendary mountains.
Adding colour to the narrative are riveting tales unearthed by the author of some of the range’s most storied peaks – Everest or Chomolungma, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, and Nanga Parbat, among others.
The book is divided into eight sections which delve deep into particular aspects of the Himalayas.
“Orogenesis” explores the origin, evolution, geology, geography and other such core aspects of these mountains; “The Third Pole” concerns itself with weather, glaciers, wetlands and rivers; “Flora Himalensis” details extraordinary Himalayan plants and trees; “Winged Migrants” goes deep into the world of Himalayan birds and insects; “Mountain Mammals” crosses high passes and goes above the tree-line in search of brown bears, blue sheep and snow leopards; “Ancestral Journeys” takes a close look at human settlement in the Himalaya and stories of origin and migration, both ancient and contemporary; “At the Edge of Beyond” recounts epic adventures and great mountaineering feats; and, finally, “In a Thousand Ages of the Gods” examines the essence of Himalayan art, folklore and mythology as well as enigmatic mysteries such as the existence of the Yeti, along with key questions of conservation.
Although there have been hundreds of books, and some masterpieces, about one or the other aspect of the Himalaya, rare is one that has come close to capturing the incredible complexity and majesty of these mountains.
Stephen Alter, a cousin of the late actor Tom Alter, is the author of 20 books of fiction and non-fiction. He was born in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, and much of his writing focuses on the Himalayan region, where he continues to live and work.
His honours include a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright award. His recent memoir, “Becoming a Mountain: Himalayan Journeys in Search of the Sacred and the Sublime”, received the Kekoo Naoroji Award for Himalayan Literature in 2015. His most recent work of fiction, “In the Jungles of the Night: A Novel About Jim Corbett”, was shortlisted for the DSC South Asian Literature Award in 2017.
Why Stephen Alter calls Himalayas home
Alter was writer-in-residence at MIT for 10 years, before which he directed the writing programme at the American University in Cairo. He is the founding director of the Mussoorie Mountain Festival.
In these unprecedented times, when isolation fatigue, gloom and the fear of losing a beloved has also come to grip children, taking care of their mental health is of paramount importance…writes Siddhi Jain.
Here’s a list of books that address the various emotions children struggle with, and can be companions to them during the hard times.
‘The Room on the Roof’ by Ruskin Bond
A classic coming-of-age story which has held generations of readers spellbound! Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted, and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community. Written when the author was himself seventeen, this moving story of love and friendship, with a new introduction and illustrations, will be enjoyed by a whole new generation of readers.
Hearts Do Matter
‘Who Stole Bhaiya’s Smile?’ by Sanjana Kapur
Bhaiya does not feel like playing these days. Could it be because of his new monster friend Dukduk, who is always hanging around him. No one in the family takes Bhaiya seriously. But Chiru knows there is more than what meets the eye. A story about the lingering effects of depression. The book is illustrated by Sunaina Coelho.
‘Hearts Do Matters’ by Anita Myers
What the world needs now in these times is love. ‘Hearts Do Matter’ supports children and adults through the losses and grief in their life. It teaches us that even when loved ones cannot be with us, we can feel their presence in our hearts. The new release is a beautiful picture book about a little girl who has a very special relationship with her mother. Her mother promised she would always be with her, and she shows in the book that she kept her promise in the most loving way.
Was Rajiv Gandhi the victim of “international intelligence agencies” in “what was to become” of him after the 1991 General Elections that were likely to see him return to power after being unceremoniously voted out two years previously?…writes Vishnu Makhijani
Wajahat Habibullah, who was at school with Rajiv Gandhi, and, as a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), served under him, and before that, his mother, Indira Gandhi, in the Prime Minister’s Office , poses the question in his new book “My Years With Rajiv – Triumph And Tragedy” (Westland) — but leaves it unanswered.
As India’s sixth Prime Minister (1984-89), Rajiv Gandhi had been vociferous in championing closer India-US ties, as exemplified by a landmark MoU on technology transfer within a month of his assuming office, a hugely successful visit to Washington in June 1985 and an address to a Joint Session of Congress, the first by an Indian Prime Minister.
This was followed by another visit in October 1987 when the Reagan administration “announced a substantial expansion in trade and the setting up of a bilateral trade promotion group chaired by the private sector with government representation”, Habibullah writes.
Along the way came the CrayX-MP/14 supercomputer, in place of a more powerful version that India had asked for, but nonetheless, “its rapid adaptation to India’s use by the already highly skilled army of computer technologists, led by the youngsters bred by Sam Pitroda, brought India’s revolution in information technology that is surely Rajiv’s most enduring legacy”, Habibullah writes.
All that, however, came unstuck with Rajiv Gandhi leaving office after the rout of his Congress party in the 1989 General Elections.
“There was to be a contrary footnote with Rajiv leaving office, given the sophistication of Rajiv’s PMO under the leadership of Ronen Sen (the Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister) that had crafted foreign relations during his prime ministership that can only be described as gauche” Habibullah writes.
The trigger was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait led by “India’s friend of long-standing Saddam Hussein” and the US putting together a 35-nation military coalition for Operation Desert Shield (August 2, 1990-January 17, 1991) followed by Operation Desert Storm (January 17, 1991-February 28, 1991).
“The war presented India with several opportunities. India could have demonstrated an unambiguous commitment to the territorial integrity of a sovereign non-aligned nation which, in turn, would have ensured India a prominent role in the post-war security arrangements within the Gulf.
“It was a chance to test the benefits of improved Indo-US ties, at a time when in consequence of Rajiv’s own labours, the USA had begun to remedy its Pakistani tilt, cutting aid flows to the country,” Habibullah writes.
But with the end of the Cold War, the non-aligned movement (NAM) was in its death throes when Foreign Minister I.K. Gujral “fatuously embraced” Sadddam Hussein in Baghdad during a mission that was meant to rescue some 2,00,000 Indians trapped in Iraq and Kuwait post the invasion.
“The crisis became hostage to the parallel political drama on India’s domestic front. Polemic replaced policy. Bowing to the pressures of the left, Rajiv’s Congress (I), upon the support of which Chandra Shekhar’s government was dependent for survival, launched a tirade against the USA focussed on refuelling permissions given by India to the US planes, a decision Rajiv painted as a surrender of India’s sovereign status, overlooking that India itself was routinely given such permission by a host of countries.
“Rajiv was at pains to quietly explain to the US Embassy in New Delhi the domestic compulsions behind his actions and stressing that he had no desire to undermine Indo-US relations that he had himself so caringly wrought,” Habibullah writes.
He even travelled to Europe and the Middle East to invoke a NAM peace initiative “to save Iraq from total destruction, only to find Saddam refusing to meet him”.
“Given that the LTTE (then engaged in a bitter civil war in Sri Lanka in which India had unsuccessfully tried to broker peace) was a client of Israel’s Mossad — Israel being a frontline participant state in Operation Desert Storm — and the surety at the time of Rajiv’s return to government, in preparing for which he had reached out to the left, this gaffe resulted in what for me has remained an unanswerable question: did international agencies have a hand in what was to become of Rajiv in India’s general elections of 1991,” Habibullah asks — leaves the question hanging.
Like is unanswered what brought down a C-130 carrying Pakistani President and Army Chief General Zia-ul-Haq, US Ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel and several senior Pakistani military officials near Bahawalpur, 500 km from Islamabad, on August 17, 1988, killing all on board.
“The woman I was yesterday, introduced me to the woman I am today; which makes me very excited about meeting the woman I will become tomorrow.”
KIRAN SINGH
UK-based mumpreneurs Kiran Singh is releasing her latest book; ‘The Woman I Want to Be’ on Monday the 19th of October.
The new title from one of the most successful Asian entrepreneur focuses on discovering the woman you want to be! It is an all-encompassing workbook that addresses talents, qualities, values, perception, self-reflection and more.
Kiran said: ‘The Woman I want to Be’ is all about getting you thinking about your personal development plan. No matter where you are in life, it’s always helpful to revisit the vision of Who you are? Where in your life are you right now in comparison to where you want to be? Where in your life can you upgrade? What is your life can you release and let go of? and more.
Kiran deeply believes that living the vision of our highest self, the “who” we want to be, is not impossible to achieve. In fact, you can be that person today if you first take a moment to step back and sketch out a character study for the “who” you want to be. In ‘The Woman I Want to Be’, Kiran shares how she transformed her life from feeling frustrated. fed-up, overwhelmed, cluttered and confused about living to a curated life filled with purpose and joy.
“You see, self-awareness and/or self-discovery is about knowing and understanding:
your beliefs and principles
what you value and what is important to you
what motivates you
your own emotions
your thinking patterns
your tendencies to react to certain situations
what you want out of life
Kiran Singh, a Single Mum, Lifestyle Coach & Master NLP Practitioner, Podcast Host, Author of an Amazon #1 Bestseller, an Interior Designer, a Vegetarian & Vegan Nutritionist and the Founder and Editor of Design the Lifestyle YOU Desire and My Unique Home. She was born and raised in Norway but UK has been her home since 2008.
Kiran’s strength, tenacity and sheer determination to build a better life for herself and her daughter have led her to where she is today, this has given her the experience, passion and dedication to helping other women who may not be in the best place right now, who wants to turn things around and start to live a life they love and most importantly; how they can step into the woman they want to be.
Throughout her life and her career, Kiran has constantly examined herself, reinvented herself, and built herself into a woman she is incredibly proud of – and it is truly an ongoing process. Her knowledge, experience and life lessons over time, the obstacles and life challenges she has naturally encountered and mastered, are the gifts that she shares as a Lifestyle Coach.
For the past 10 years, Kiran has been a leading voice in life coaching, self-help and the design industry. Her transformative work, wisdom and expertise have been sought out by leading online and print publications such as Top Santé, Natural Health, London Live, The Independent, Metro.co.uk, as well as countless international podcasts and blogs. She has also won quite a few National and International Awards, received numerous nominations and had countless media appearances.
She captures frames of the greatest migration since Partition, but what strikes is not the movement but in fact an uncomfortable stillness — not just of the people but the entire city. A post-war capital — abandoned, but still standing tall, unable to come to terms with the new reality…writes Sukant Deepak.
In the initial days of the lockdown, which forced lakhs of migrant workers to flee cities towards their homes on foot, Delhi-based photographer Parul Sharma decided to capture reality at its most profound, laying bare the state’s poverty of imagination. The result is the book ‘Dialects of Silence’, published by Roli Books. A photographic evidence and document of times shot with a iPhone 11 Pro and a Huawei P30 Pro that not only lays bare the great divide but also reimagines a perpetually buzzing city that even ghosts would be scared to inhabit.
Photographer Parul Sharma
Capturing the migrants at different locations to framing Delhi’s iconic landmarks in their deserted avatars, Sharma wanted to be closer to a frightening reality: Migrant workers, battling hunger and disease, trying to return to their distant homes; bodies of Covid victims being delivered like packages in crematoriums; the last rites in isolation; and the embers of grief.
“For a photographer living through an unprecedented time of fear and horror, the aura of absence had to be captured and memories to be revisited, in the edifices of Old and New Delhi.”
Believing that Photographs capture history in a flash and eternity in a blink, Sharma, who hit the capital’s streets from April 4 and shot over 10,000 images (and continues to), adds, “Books and films can bring to perfection what has been written or filmed long after the moments of creation. Photography doesn’t have that luxury. What you shoot in that moment is what you get. That image is etched in time. It is an unchangeable reality.”
Photographer Parul Sharma
Born and brought up in New Delhi, Sharma, who left her corporate job in 2017 to pursue photography full time, making her first solo ‘Parulscape’ at Bikaner House in the same year and going on to exhibit her works on Naga Sadhus and transgenders in a three-week solo exhibition called Mystico India at Florence’s leading public museum Marino Marini last year, says even while in the job, she realised that she wanted to wanted to pursue photography focussed on architectural design, form, and the geometry of urban spaces.
Ask her why all photographs are in black and white, and she smiles, ” For me the most colorful thing in the world is black and white, it contains all colors and at the same time excludes all. Black and white is how I have tried to live my life, and it is how I want to define my sensibility in art.”
But don’t the subjects come back to haunt her? “I still wake up in a sweat shattered with the horror and sadness and sheer aloneness of bodies that came, day in, day out, to the Nigambodh electric crematorium, the Muslim burial ground and the Christian cemetery. Plastic wrapped bodies on a moving beltway into a gas oven, a young widow reading the fatiha before her husband’s freshly laid grave, the wrapped bundle of a tiny, abandoned baby who died of Covid , waiting for the gravedigger, and the catatonic movement of coffin maker, Mr. Paul, Sawing Timber for coffins June was the cruellest month of all.”
Photographer Parul Sharma
Considering the fact that the photographer’s father is from New Delhi, and mother from the old part of the city, it was natural that she went to the places she knew most.
And it was in June, the idea of doing a book on the lockdown in Delhi came up in a conversation with Pramod Kapur of Roli, who has also curated the photographs in ‘Dialects of Silence’. “Support for the project came from Ashok and Yamini Jaipuria of Cosmo films. The book is magnificently printed on Cosmo synthetic Paper,” remembers Sharma.
Though she wanted to shoot in ICUs, but was not allowed to, Sharma, who feels that photographers have a responsibility to document the present, does plan to exhibit the photographs too. When? “When the darkness lifts,” she says with all the seriousness.
Photographer Parul Sharma
Currently working on her other projects that got delayed due to the pandemic, the photographer, who’s next book ‘Colaba’, (Roli Books) will hit the stands next year says about the city where ‘Dialects of Silence’ was shot — ” I have seen its many avatars and its indefatigable ethos, its evolution as an idea and as an attitude. I learnt how to dream, aspire, love and grieve in this city, that I call home. It’s a very deep connection. Every nook and corner of the city has memories etched and stored in locked rooms, some resolved some not. I still seek answers in them.”
A trained engineer who went to IIM Calcutta, and after a decade long corporate career decided to pause and gift herself some “me time”, not to mention a Creative Writing course in the US later — author Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, whose latest “Girls and the City”, published by HarperCollins India recently hit the stands, has vivid memories of that break during which she wrote her first book…writes Sukant Deepak.
“My husband and I were in Singapore that time, and I couldn’t help but think of my home in Ferozepur. Memories flooded back in. To make sense of them, I started asking questions. My research took me back in time and it was the national library, not any salon that became my haunt. Seven years later, I had a book, my first: ‘The Long Walk Home’,” says the author who now has six books to her credit, including the Mehrunisa series and “The Radiance of a Thousand Suns”.
Talking about her latest, “Girls and the City”, set in Bengaluru, which is tale of female friendships centered on a murder mystery, a whodunit that is more of a ‘who-was-it-done-to, Someshwar reveals that she started writing it amid the #metoo movement, wanting to explore the dynamics between sex and power.
“We are somehow still reluctant to discuss sexual assault and harassment. I saw the book as a way to reignite that conversation. It explores how women navigate everyday misogyny using wit, grit and tenacity.”
Adding that women’s concerns are different from those of their male counterparts, she says, “Men write about themselves whilst women write the world.”
Recalling that when she switched gears, her writing experience was limited to powerpoint presentations, the writer says that she is a self-taught one and quite happy with the fact. “This gives me the freedom to tell the stories that I really want to. I went back to school to gift myself a like-minded community. Whilst I love my friends (class- and work-mates from my previous avatars) I do get tired of hearing: ‘So, when’s the next book coming out?’
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar.
“Now, books don’t come off factory floors… Sometimes it is such a relief to be with other folks who tussle with writing daily. That’s where being part of a Creative Writing program helps.”
For someone who started writing when she moved out of India, the distance from home gave her the perspective she needed to write. “Additionally, that provides me with a sharp prism through which to refract my experiences. Living outside of India, I have gained insights into the Indian diaspora and its varied challenges.
“I write books that I want to read which are not out there yet. It’s liberating to be in a mix of people where each one is trying to tell stories that are important to them. That has been enriching because I have learned that while every story is particular in its concerns and set, every well-told one is also universal in its theme.”
Considering she writes across genres, it is important that she reads widely, indiscriminately and regularly. “I follow every big book with a more contemporary one. The latest one was born amidst the raging #metoo campaign of 2018 and I rode that tide because there was so much that was relevant and urgent. I begin only when the compulsion to write it is stronger than not writing it,” says the author who is presently working on a Partition trilogy.
