As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of St. Mira's College for Girls, the Academy of Indian Dances will be putting up a programme of Bharatanatyam and folk dances on Tuesday, the 22nd of January, 2013. We begin with a traditional Ganesh Vandana - an invocation to the elephant-headed god. After that, we travel from state to state, giving our audience glimpses of different folk dances, traditional costumes and cultures - West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Nagaland. As a tribute to St. Mira, in whose college we will be performing, we will also perform a Mira bhajan in the Bhagavatamela (dance drama) style.Performing in the absence of our guru is a challenge indeed, and we hope to do her credit!Programme: Ganesh Vandana Bengali folk dance Malayala kummi Marathi folk dance Kuratti kummi Pinnal Kolattam Mira bhajan Dandiya Garba Naga tribal … [Read more...]
Walking in Varanasi
Varanasi, the immortal, eternal city, is one with narrow lanes and even narrower by-lanes. Getting to the hotel was like winding our way through a maze, where we had to walk in single file, lugging our backpacks and looking down to avoid stepping in fresh dung. I plodded grumpily at the back of the line. We were travelling with two French friends and being guided by someone from the hotel.We passed people at shops and at doorways nonchalantly brushing their teeth. In Varanasi, unlike in most other parts of the country, foreigners aren't a rarity to be ogled at. It was business as usual for them, calling out to one another across handcarts that looked as if they would never fit in lanes like that. They shouted off and on, and I ignored them as I wrinkled my nose to shut out the animal smells. "Ay, ey, ey!" One part of my mind did think that they were calling to me, but I was not … [Read more...]
Peach Juice
My sister and I coined a beautiful parameter for comparison. "It's like peach juice" means something special to us.Backpacking in Greece, we did something very smart. We realised that we were constantly thirsty and often in need of energy. So we took to buying large packs of juice, rather than shopping all the time for food, and hunting for water fountains. It was an intelligent thing to do - it saved money and kept us active. Both were equally important, and we felt good about ourselves for having thought of it. Later, we would use the same carton for water, filling it at fountains, carrying it around with us.Unfortunately, I don't like fruits much, and so, I don't like juice much. As a result, we ended up buying one particular brand of mixed fruit juice all the time. It was delicious, but repetitive. One fine day, we decided that we would try something different. We decided to buy … [Read more...]
The Awful English Language
Teaching English is impossible. Words like 'enough' are enough to put anyone off, but they don't even begin to scratch the surface. It so happened during one class that I had to pronounce all the words - though, thought, although, rough and plough. The hilarity and bewilderment are impossible to forget.One particular class stands out in my memory as I write this. I remember once being asked what the word 'hook' means. I painstakingly explained the hook and the eye, as well as the hook you hang clothes on in the bathroom, and the hook often associated with the missing hand of a pirate. With my drawing-skills, it requires unlimited imagination to understand what I'm trying to communicate. I felt pretty victorious because my communication was successful, and because I had thought of all three usages. I then asked what the context was because there was still utter non-comprehension in the … [Read more...]
The Ant Colony
Books that I've loved and re-read time and time again have nearly always emphasised character over plot. Take, for example, Anne, Emily, Little Lord Fauntleroy and the little princess. There's something about character that just warms me, perhaps because it's like discovering a friend, rather than having an experience. Stories with exciting plots are certainly a joy to read and do give me a thrill, but sometimes, I need more than that. I need to know all those people who are having those experiences.The Ant Colony was one of those books where I got to know the people in the book, and wanted to get to know them better. I just kept reading it until I had finished! It's one of those books that makes you smile and cry and wonder. So many books that I've read recently have concentrated on complexity of plot at the cost of fullness of character. This one had a simple plot … [Read more...]
Plea for Justice
At one of the places where I teach, many of the children are brought up in the belief that the teacher is next to God. They are silent in class, not bold enough to speak, rarely confident enough to tell me that they did not understand something. It's a huge obstacle I have to surmount with each new student.Thanks to this, and because of the fact that punctuality is the responsibility of the parents of a seven-year-old and not the child herself, I didn't say anything to two children who were repeatedly late for my class. One day, the children, accompanied by their mother, came fifteen minutes late, and I seized the opportunity to tell the mother that this was not acceptable. Duly apologetic, the mother promised that it would not happen again.I thought the matter was over, but sensed undercurrents of something I could not quite place. One girl, not one of the late-comers, glanced … [Read more...]
Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater
Before going to Tadoba, we talked about the fact that sometimes, we see no animals at all. Two of us had been to wildlife sanctuaries before, and wanted everyone to be prepared for an experience that might prove to be disappointing if you only want to see a tiger. Just being in the forest has a charm of its own if we aren't obsessed with seeing particular animals, we said. We would definitely see some animals - at least deer - and some birds. It is a forest after all.Very diffidently, a friend admitted that she could recognise nothing. I assured her that I could identify all of five birds with any kind of surety - and that list included the crow, sparrow and mynah. She laughed at me and all but said that she did not believe me. I told her that one other bird I could identify was the chestnut-headed bee-eater. She looked at me with some measure of awe. It seemed pretty fancy to her that … [Read more...]
Automated People
I went last evening for dance class, as usual. I've been going there for nineteen years, so I walked in as I always do, briskly, sure of where I wanted to go.An irate watchman surprised me by yelling out at me for walking in like that. "How can you just go in without making an entry?""Sorry, I had no idea," I said, mildly. "When did this begin?""It's been there for months now!" he said, grumpily."I didn't have to make an entry last week," I pointed out, writing my name. "And I come for dance class every week!" I looked at the next column and paused."Flat number," said the watchman, curtly."I'm going to the hall...""Why?""For dance class," I said again."Okay, leave this one."My pen hovered over the next column. I could not figure out what I was expected to write."Who do you want to meet?" asked the watchman, as if talking to an imbecile."Erm... I teach dance here. … [Read more...]
A Problem I Never Solved
"This is my favourite! I like it more than you." This argument always bewildered me as a child, and bewilders me even now. I can never know how much anyone else likes anything. The rose may be your favourite flower, but it may not be mine. Yet, I may like it more than you do, and no one can prove that one way or the other!As a child, the more confusing problem was different. I looked at the sky and saw that it was blue. You looked at the sky and said that it was blue. How could I know for sure that the blue I saw was the same as the blue you saw?When I grew older, I learned about the science of colour. Wavelength, and all that. Maybe that ought to have convinced me, but it didn't because I learned that animals are colour-blind. What we see as so attractive in flowers, animal-mates, etc., doesn't look the same to them at all! So, that number associated with the colour was, finally, … [Read more...]
Flat-Hunting
I think flat-hunting is one of those jobs that is most tedious, yet most adventurous, when done alone.After one year in Calcutta, armed with my knowledge of Bangla (largely restricted to daily words like clothes, dishes, wash, pillow, etc.), I decided to hunt for a flat. Approaching brokers made me realise that my vocabulary got me nowhere in the world outside my home, and I took to saying that I did not speak Bangla at all.One enthusiastic broker was excited at this rare opportunity to show off his Hindi, which bordered so much on Bangla that I was able to understand it despite his thick accent. He engaged me in long conversations and was delighted that I loved his Calcutta and the people of his land. Growing steadily more excited, he said, "You want an appointment, no?""Sorry?"He smiled knowledgeably at me. "Students like appointments, correct?"Bewildered, I made a … [Read more...]