The Lightness of being

http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/mainpage.aspx?pdate=2017-04-30

The Lightness of Being

“Once more there sounded within me the terrible warning that there is only one life for all men, that there is only one life for all men, that there is no other and that all that can be enjoyed must be enjoyed here. In eternity, no other chance will be given to us.” 
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek (Greek writer and philosopher 1883-1957).

“The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is, therefore, simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfilment.  The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?” 
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Czech literary icon 1929 - )

“Quite a lusty lot, those sages. What was the name of the fellow who ravished the fisherwoman smelling of fish, right in the boat and gave her body a permanent perfume? And now, look at these poor Brahmins, descended from such sages...Let’s see who wins in the end - you or me. I’ll destroy Brahmanism, I certainly will. My only sorrow is that there’s no Brahmanism really left to destroy in this place- except you.”

-UR Ananthamurthy, Samskara (Kannada writer 1932-2014)

Life is a conundrum and many philosophers and thinkers have written and shared their insights about its unravelling. The above writers have explored whether a human being should take the path of ‘weight’ or ‘lightness’ in their novels.

In a world where the sacred and the profane exist together, we are lost in a maze of big questions such as whether God exists, which religion to follow and  ramifications of our choices in our understanding of virtue and sin. We revel in segregation, compartmentalizing ourselves on the basis of religion, border, colour, language and caste.  The alienation does not end here. There are widening gulfs tearing the hedonists from the pious within communities and families, too.  This rivalry has left many perplexed.  After all, who is the man of God – one who is good but indulges his senses or the one who prays religiously and has no hedonistic desires? The former is wild and nomadic. He loves partying, drinking and gambling. He doesn’t consider having a string of mistresses as an immoral act. On the contrary, the more religious man is celibate and a crown jewel of Vedic knowledge. He considers it vile to give into his senses. For him, it’s all about mind over matter. Which one would you rather be, or to put it concisely, what would you choose - ‘weight’ or ‘lightness’?

The epitaph on Kazantzakis’ tomb illumines the path of freedom - "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free." Kazantzakis’ works, especially ‘Zorba the Greek’, are full of joy. The book is a hymn to life and love that is personified in the character sketch of Zorba, epitome of the pulsating life force. It urges you to stop reading words and go jump into the stream of life and live it king size. An excerpt from the book reads, one must be “wrapping oneself in an atmosphere of daily sights, sounds and smells – wild sage, savoury mint and thyme.”

Zorba, the wonderful Macedonian man lives each day as if it is his last, completely involved in what he is doing, be it making love or working the lignite mines. When he cannot express his feelings and energy in words, he dances with gay abandon to the beat of each moment. He lives in perpetual awe of everything around him. He looks at trees, the sky, flowers, women, children as if he was seeing them for the first time. He revels in the mystery of creation and considers the world his playground to frolic and indulge.  His zest for life is all inclusive. The narrator in the story is a foil to Zorba. He is a writer wrestling in his lair with his writings on Buddha, trying to comprehend the world through words and mysticism.

Friedrich Nietzsche’s concepts, ‘God is Dead’ and the ‘Man as Overman’, patterns the exchange between the narrator of the novel and Alexis Zorba. In the end, it isn’t squiggly inky impressions on paper or endless ruminations and reflections, but the act of living that makes the difference. An Irresistible performance by Anthony Quinn made the lusty, life-affirming character of Zorba the Greek a popular icon.

Milan Kundera is a contemporary writer who has dwelled on similar themes. His novel, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ compares and contrasts cerebral weight with sensual lightness. The first lot are bound by duty, honour, karma and the search for truth. The others live a full life indulging their senses. Self-centeredness, detachment and enjoyment in the present mark their guiding principle in life. They are not guided by regret or the thought of an afterlife. Nonetheless, the climax does not render any type of character contented and happy with their choice.

Ananthamurthy, the doyen of brahmanical practices, initially pitches the moral superiority of Praneshacharya’s yogic existence against the degenerate living of Naranappa in his book ‘Samskara’.  Each character is principled and staunch in his armour. Praneshacharya is an ascetic who is married to an invalid girl and is regarded as the crown of Vedic knowledge. His route to salvation is open, asexual and clear. But Naranappa can see through the bigotry of the entire clan and lives life on his terms. Naranappa dies and has to be cremated by a Brahmin, but no living Brahmin wants to perform the rites for an outlawed one and stain himself. Thus the battle of wills continues even after death, with Naranappa demanding death rites across the void. Pranesacharysa meets his nemesis in Chandri – the prostitute-mistress of his rival. He accidently embraces her and thereafter in his act of loving her, he becomes Naranappa. Thus begins his journey of rebirth, wisdom and a questioning of what he believed to be true.

he common thread in each of the books forefronts the conundrum of the yogi versus the hedonist. What do you choose – weight or lightness?  Perhaps, the wisdom that the duo rest on an even plane leads to the true lightness of being!  If this is the case, ‘Samskara’ would provide the tenet for transformation, liberation and ultimate freedom.

Indian Bond turns 83

http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=19820&date=2017-06-04&pageid=1

                                                               Indian Bond turns 83

“As a writer, I have difficulty in doing justice to momentous events, the wars of the nations, the politics of power; I am more at ease with the dew of the morning, the sensuous delights of the day, the silent blessings of the night, the joys and sorrows of children, the strivings of ordinary folk, and of course, the ridiculous situations in which we sometimes find ourselves.”  That’s our Indian Bond – 

Ruskin Bond, who turned eighty three on 19^th May.  He is in the pink of health and continues to write simple stories imparting wisdom to his readers to be simple and cultivate humor to be happy.

His first ever memoir ‘Looking for the Rainbow: My years with Daddy’ was launched on his birthday this year at the Cambridge book shop in Landour, Mussorie. The book weaves a story around the two precious years he spent with his father in old Delhi. Intimate conversations, long walks, cinema and books form the core of his interaction with his father. He says, "This little book is a tribute to my father who, over a short period of time, did so much to make my life meaningful for me. I wish all the children could have a father like him," He further adds, "I have written about him before, but never at length, and I thought it was time to thank him in the best possible way through a story woven around the events of those two memorable years. Once upon a time, in old New Delhi..."

It has taken him more than seven decades to write about this period in his life. A wound which took a long – long time to heal – and now maybe he acquired the distance and objectivity to write about it. Love you, Bond.  

His first book ‘Nine Months’ went unpublished, but then at seventeen years, he won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, a literary prize awarded annually for the best work written in English and published in UK. ‘The Room on the Roof’ was published in England shortly after he left for India for good.  “I am as Indian as the dust of the plains or the grass of the mountain meadow” – a feeling that has solidly anchored him in the Indian milieu for decades.  Best known for his short stories and poems, he has written a few novels and novellas, too.

“To be happy, be like a flower, this attracts butterflies, bees, lady birds and gentle people.

A flower doesn't have to rush about in order to make friends.  It remains quietly where it has grown and sweetens the air with its fragrance.

God gave this power to flowers and gentle people.” -  Ruskin Bond, ‘To Live in Magic’

The poem ‘A Flower’ is an apt summation of his own qualities of gentleness and sweetness.  He has had a following of the whole Indian continent and abroad, too. Film makers have flocked to him to adapt his stories into films, and he has readily obliged by reworking his novellas into screen scripts. The foremost example is that of ‘A Flight of Pigeons’, based on the 1857 mutiny made into film by Shyam Benegal.  Thereafter, Vishal Bhardwaj worked on the book ‘Biniya’s Blue Umbrella’, and the short story ‘Sunnana’s Seven Husbands’ – and made them into films titled ‘The Blue Umbrella’ and ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’.  His first published work Room on the Roof was adapted into a BBC TV series - The Dehra kids.  In 1990, there used to be a TV show ‘Ek Tha Rusty’, based on his Rusty series, with many an autobiographical reflections in it. Several stories have been incorporated in the school curriculum in India, including "The Night Train at Deoli", "Time Stops at Shamli" and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. Scenes from a Writer’s Life and A lamp is Lit are leaves from a journal about his life as a growing child and later years as a writer.   So much for being a gentle flower!

What classifies Bond as a unique writer and segregates him from others is that in spite of his British descent, his writing is not Eurocentric. After a four year sojourn in England, he chose to settle in India permanently.  He writes like a man completely and absorbedly immersed in the vast landscape called INDIA. The stories are an authentication of his deep appreciation and love for India and its people. And yet because of his background, he is able to distance himself and render an overview of all that is not right in his adopted country. The personal travails of his protagonist are juxtaposed with the social, political, cultural, religious and communal fabric of the geographical area around him - a subject of much critical acclaim in his works.  Women on Platform 8 and The Eyes Are Not Here, are must read stories.

The poem, ‘Cherry Tree’ is about the poet’s ecstasy over a tree of his own which took eight

Years to grow.  He is expressing his wonder at the ways of nature and how the cherry

Blossoms are fragile and quick to fall. The tree gives him immense joy when he can see

the stars and the blue sky through dappled green tree.

Eight years have passed

Since I placed my cherry seed in the grass.

“Must have a tree of my own,” I said,

And watered it once and went to bed

And forgot; but cherries have a way of growing,

Though no one's caring very much or knowing.

And suddenly that summer near the end of May,

I found a tree had come to stay.

If you love the ‘Blue Mountains’, are awed by the spectacular and mystical creations on earth, and enthralled by the petty foibles and exchanges of human beings – read his literature; a truly meditative quest.

The Brave New World of Goan Writing

Chuffed to bits!   

  

  

Book launch 'Brave New World of Goan Writing' @ GALF (8th Dec, 2018).

https://www.facebook.com/jugneeta.sudan/posts/916201318579205

My literary essay 'Camoes in Goa- Journey of an Epic' won First Runner-up non-fiction award JRLJ, 2018.

Camoes is to Portugal, what Shakespeare is to England.
'They were not of an age, but belonged to all ages"
(adapting Ben Johnson)
Camoes has been eulogized by literary icons through the centuries, but in my essay I took the story to Goa.
(Credit: Landeg White)

Tap to view pics of the launch and the book.
The link for buying the book is given in the site.
Beautiful Christmas n New Year gift for the literary inclined.
And those who wanna own a slice of the precious riparian sliver on the Arabian Coast of India.
Viva Goa!

Some Honest Films

http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=17825&date=2017-04-09&pageid=1

 Some Honest Films

You know an honest film when you see one, like I watched ‘Masaan’ at ESG, last week. The viewer identified with the escapism of characters (Deepak and Devi),  the former’s clan entrenched in rituals of a burning ghat and the latter’s tied to a conventions of patriarchy. Also, last weekend at Sunaparanta amphitheatre, a set of 3 films, again can be classified as honest cinema. The classical fare of ‘The Color Purple’ directed by Steven Spielberg, ‘Thelma and Lousie’ by Ridley Scott and ‘Mirch Masala’ by Ketan Mehta.

I first encountered ‘Celie’, the protagonist of ‘The Color Purple’, in my post graduate study. I was shocked. Nothing in my life or reading had prepared me for this encounter. The film is based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker. I had goose bumps through the reading of this novel. The experience was something like when I first met Scarlet O’Hara of the fame of ‘Gone with the Wind’.  

 Shabnam Minwalla, a journalist with Times of India summed up this interlude very succinctly, in one of her articles written in 2011, celebrating 75 years of ‘Gone with the Wind’. She recounted how she first met Scarlet when she was 13 years old and Scarlet was of course 16. Three decades down the line, she vividly remembered Scarlet’s green muslin gown, matching Moroccan slippers and ever fluttering eyelashes. Not to forget, her 17 inch waist and grand obsession for Ashley. But most of all, she remembered her overwhelming disapproval. For, you see, heroines were not supposed to flirt, scheme and steal their sister’s suitors. They were supposed to be kind, loyal and obedient. Even if they felt such emotion, they were supposed to camouflage real human sentiment under a lot of kind sweet words and beset with guilt, flog and berate themselves continuously. Little heroines of Enid Blyton, Carolyn Keene, and Mary Alcott had done just that. Compared to all of them, Scarlet was a heartless vixen. So like Annie Zaidi writes in her book ‘The Good Indian Girl’, we all wanted to be good girls, because being bad girls , the consequences were very harsh.

    

Therefore when I met Celie, nothing had prepared me for her grotesque world of poverty, incest, paedophilia, racism and sexism. Celie had to live with and struggle with all these realities in her life, when she was just 14 years old. Alice Walker coined a new term for black feminism – ‘womanism’. She said that the black women had a different reality to grapple with and all women issues could not be studied under one umbrella of ‘Feminism’

    

 This film was Steven Spielberg’s first attempt at serious cinema. But he, too, came in for flak later for not doing justice to the book’s defence of lesbianism. Roger Ebert called it the best film of the year (1985) and though it was nominated for 11 Oscars, but won none. Truth is very hard to confront and accept. Society, mired in superficiality and hypocrisy, refuses to acknowledge hard facts of life. The black men too opposed the film for the portrayal of violence of black men on black women in their households. The entire gamut of factors makes the film an honest attempt at filmmaking. People also say if Steven Spielberg had not made this film, nobody would have read the book, and the tales of human horror would have gone unacknowledged. Here I am reminded of Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘Tell the truth but tell it slant/ Truth must dazzle gradually/Or every man be blind.’

   

  Thelma & Lousie was called the last greatest film about women. The director Ridley Scott has often been given the epithet of a feminist director. He is comfortable with the term –“Lots of people are uncomfortable with strong women, I am not” adding further, “the problem isn’t strong women, we are.” Known for other strong women centric films like G I Jane, Monster and Alien, he went on to direct Thelma & Lousie because he wanted to show a parable about two women, who unaccompanied by their male escorts traverse a territory not designed for them.

    

If a woman wants to be completely free and unrestrained as men are in our society, there is no place for them in this world. That is why the film is said to a flight that ends in flight(sic) in the Grand Canyon, because the two women find that they have only each other and the whole system is pitted against them. They want to have fun and undertake a road trip – a road trip which turns into a series of crimes. The road is metaphorically harsh, winding and rocky for the women. And metaphorically speaking again, it’s a long, long, long, l o n g. lo o ng, l  oo n g, l  o o n g  road to freedom. The film  hailed 90’s feminism but 26 years down the line, the situation isn’t different. A Sisyphian mountain where a feeling of triumph at the top may delight momentarily, but the boulder is slated to roll down all the way to the bottom again and Sisyphus has to roll it up again – an unceasing activity.

   

‘Mirch Masala’ is Ketan Mehta’s best film so far. An unapologetic feisty woman, tyrannical man, fields of red chilly plant and rustic Gujarat – all come together to create a potent drama. The melodramatic film throws up myriad artistic possibilities which engage the viewer completely. The cinematography is spectacular, with colourful ghagra cholis of women contrasted with the white attire of men topped with colourful turbans. The red chilly on the green plant, glistening, robust, ripe, promising and beautiful stands for passion and lust. Later, the red chilly powder denotes the red colour of revolution, the red of women’s menstrual blood and fiery red of a woman which makes her ‘Kali’ when full of vengeance.

A symbolism of feminism, the film portrays animal imagery versus human intellect. Animal instinct in humans is pitted against their powers of reasoning and intellectualism, but alas, isn’t harnessed much, when humans act enslaved to their basic instincts just like animals. The standoff between Sonbai, the peasant woman and Subedar, the tax collector, opens up a playfield of study in human behaviour. But superimposing every scenario is the frame Panchatantra story ‘The Tiger and the Clever Hare’ – when one day it is the hare’s turn to become the feast of the lion and he decides against it.

   Sonbai, impersonating the hare is self-possessed with a bold countenance, who does not indulge in self-pity. Not for a moment does she think of sacrificing her self-respect for the welfare of her community or village. Very few humans are able to take that kind of a bold stance faced by pressures of family ties and commitments. She has no dilemma or doubt and unfazed, she faces the situation.

  

  The films become a study in human nature of power, self-esteem and hypocricy. These are attempts at honest film making – therefore, they are iconic.  

Souza's Passion Series

http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=17983&date=2017-04-16&pageid=1

The Passion of Christ

FN Souza, the prominent artist of the Bombay Progressive Arts Group was born in Saligao, Goa. Brought up in a strict Catholic family, he was exposed to Christian iconography from his childhood. When he moved to Europe in the late 40s, he saw the grand scale of art and sculpture mirroring Christian religious myths. He went on to paint the complete ‘Passion series’ from the ‘Agony of Christ at Gethsemane’ to ‘Christ at Emmaus’. Critically acclaimed ‘Good Friday at Goa’ also forms a part of this series.

Souza was tormented by the crucifixion of Christ and he painted the scene over and over again. Sketches in his MSS bear witness to his passion and torment. Souza once said, “The Roman Catholic Church had a tremendous influence over me, the enormous Crucifix with the impaled image of a Man supposed to be the Son of God, scourged and dripping with matted hair tangled in plaited horns” (F.N. Souza, ‘A Fragment of Autobiography,’ F.N. Souza: Words & Lines)

The paintings which brought him acclaim from international art critics in the 60s are ‘Crucifixion’ and ‘The Deposition’. One of the Crucifixion paintings (1959) was acquired by the Tate Gallery later. He was one of the five painters chosen to represent Britain at the Guggenheim International Award and was hailed by critics by John Berger, as one of the great living painters of the times. Geeta Kapur commented on this, “He has painted many versions of Christ, not all of them so bitterly contemptuous. The famous painting of the 'Deposition’ is not without a tragic content. Characteristically, however, Souza treats even tragedy in his own way, permitting no element of grace to enter the horrifying drama of Christ’s death” (G. Kapur, ‘Francis Newton Souza: Devil in the Flesh,’ Contemporary Indian Artists)

Souza etched Jesus not as a divine figure, but as a human, suffering fear, sadness and anguish writ large on his face. He made the scenes palpable with tragedy and trauma. Taking cues from all-time greats Titian, El Greco and Georges Rouault (first passionate Christian artist of the passion series of 20^th century), he brought his subjectivity to the paintings.  From Rouault, Souza took the thick black line, glass painting technique and tragic human expression. The crying women, distorted morphology of faces of the disciples aggravates the horror in the paintings. The expressionistic color palette and impasto application renders the dark sky menacing and Gothic, foregrounded with the rusty chrome of Christ’s face and earthy ground.

A psychoanalytical approach to his passion series – ‘The Last Supper’, ‘Lament of the Dead’, ‘Death of the Pope’, Christ in the Garden’, ‘Christ Tormented’, ‘Crucifixion’, ‘Good Friday in Goa’ culminating in ‘Christ at Emmaus’ is very absorbing. It throws up elements of childhood repressions and lacunae which formed an important part of his psyche. As Victor Rangel Ribeiro, the nonagenarian writer from Goa (shortly coming out with biography of FN Souza), points out that the strict Catholic ritual and imagery of Christ impaled on a cross, impinged on Souza’s mind as a child and found expression in his paintings later. Ratan Parimoo, the art critic, has compared Souza’s passion series to that of Francis Bacon and Graham Sutherland. The distorted thick black line and crisscrosses making up the contours of human faces express the suffering of man, a coming together of divine and human predicament understood and assimilated by viewers better. They can identify with the tragedy, based on their own experiences in life. ‘Art reflects life, life reflects art’ paradigm brings them closer to Christ’s story. God is no longer distant, divine, and majestic. He is like us. He suffers, His spirit fights with His weak flesh. He goes through torment and battles to rise above His emotions, to meet His destiny.

On the other hand, the paintings also indicate human apathy and cruelty. The analogy with Christ is that the best amongst us, the wisest, the noblest, the purest, the most righteous, we put to death. This practice has been a part of human nature from as far back as antiquity. Plato was tormented by Socrates’ death, and made the latter the prime spokesperson of his writings-- ‘Dialogue’ and ‘Apology’.  Plato was the first to offer view of Socrates as the martyr in the line in which he ends one of his Dialogues, the Phaedo, “And that was the end of our friend- who was, we may say, - all of those of his time whom we have known- the best and wisest, and the most righteous man.”

Carrying the image of Christ to the 16^th century – Pieter Bruegel painted the ‘Road to Cavalry’. The unseen Jesus in the middle of the painting carries a cross to Cavalry for his crucifixion and the red-tunic soldiers personify the Roman guard of Pontius Pilate. Thus, the Passion of Christ is superbly juxtaposed with the passion of Flanders, being crucified by the Spanish king’s army, in Bruegel’s days. The sunny side on left of the painting is balanced by the darkness of press of people to the right who have come to witness the crucifixion on the Golgotha hill. The painting conveys binaries of progress and regression in succeeding ages of the earth and repeated patterns in the story of mankind.

In the modern era, amongst other examples in art, Georges Rouault painted ‘Road to Cavalry’ again.  

And Lech Majewski, in 2011, decided to make the subject matter (Bruegel’s – Road to Cavalry) a visual gaze that extends beyond viewing in an art gallery to a film, ‘The Mill and the Cross’. This creative endeavor by Majewski is an attempt to preserve legacy of art and history for posterity and is a savory sampling of the passion series in contemporary times.

Besides the image of Christ carrying the cross, another marked feature of the film was expressions of people on way to cavalry – unconcerned and hardened against injustice, lest their remorse should invoke soldiers’ ire. They are inured, moving from one horrifying spectacle to another, preserving their own skin, till time indicts them. During Bruegel’s days, myths commanded lives of people and their imprint in the arts was discernible. A craggy high rock surmounted by a colossal windmill (Cosmic Mill) represents the universal law of God. The mill owner views the entire scene non-committally perched on a high platform, as the grinders of his mill crush grain ceaselessly.

Metaphorically, Christ continues to be hanged from antiquity to contemporary times. If suffering and trauma is part of the human story, so is injustice, apathy and cruelty. ‘Good Friday’ is a living reality today, but maybe Resurrection i.e. ‘Easter’ is hope that somewhere beyond truth lives on.  Happy Easter!  

   

Man Womanly and Manly Woman

Why the world needs more 'manly women' and 'womanly men'

https://www.dailyo.in/lifestyle/androgyn-homosexuality-transgender-sexuality-sigmund-freud/story/1/19901.html

Last month John Lewis, the UK retailer crossed a landmark by introducing unisex clothing for its children's retail line. Now people may buy clothes for their children according to their personal choice and need.

Is this a step towards merging of genders, taking human society away from gender discrimination? Although adults, partly motivated by the celebrities, have cross-dressed since the American counterculture revolution of the 1960s, this small step could have noteworthy ramifications. For example, let's talk about psychological androgyny.

Feminist psychologist, Sandra Bem, would most likely have been pleased with this development. Sandra led an egalitarian lifestyle with her husband, sharing equal responsibility for house chores and upbringing of their children. Each pursued their career, earning laurels in their respective fields. She propounded the Gender Schema Theory in 1981 to explain how gender roles were a result of conditioning and social control. Berm's Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), used the term "androgynous" to refer to healthy individuals who exhibited combinations of both masculine and feminine stereotypes.

Be forewarned that psychological androgyny is not to be confused with homosexuality or transgenderism. It is an evolution of behavioural patterns; wherein human beings find a balance between the feminine and masculine traits of their personality. There is no opposition, but on the contrary, a coexistence of yin and yang energies in one's mind.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the greatest living psychologist of our age points out:

"Psychological androgyny is a much wider concept, referring to a person's ability to be at the same time aggressive and nurturing, sensitive and rigid, dominant and submissive, regardless of gender. A psychologically androgynous person in effect doubles his or her repertoire of responses and can interact with the world regarding a much richer and varied spectrum of opportunities. It is not surprising that creative individuals are more likely to have not only the strengths of their gender but those of the other one, too."

The most perfect of human beings in history, Leonardo da Vinci's genius and accomplishment has bewildered humanity. However, Freud's 1910 essay dwelt on his sensitivity, indecisiveness and gentle personality, traits attributed it to the female sex.

It is also intriguing to note that although Virginia Woolf's book-length feminist essay, "A Room of One's Own", begins with the cogent argument on the pathetic condition of women writers in the literary canon, it ends with a case on androgyny. Virginia witnessed a man and a woman meeting at the kerb and getting into a taxi, and seeing thus, a refreshing calm assailed her senses. She writes, "The sight of the two people getting into the taxi and the satisfaction it gave me made me also ask whether there are two sexes in mind corresponding to the two sexes in the body and whether they also require being united in order to get complete satisfaction and happiness?

"If one is a man, still the woman part of his brain must affect; and a woman also must have intercourse with the man in her." She turns to Samuel Taylor Coleridge for ratification - "The truth is," the celebrated poet and philosopher wrote in 1832, "a great mind must be androgynous".

Shiva is worshipped as the ultimate man, yet the underlying secret is revealed in the Ardhanishvara form of Shiva.

She adds, "Coleridge perhaps meant this when he said that a great mind is androgynous. It is when this fusion takes place that the mind is fully fertilised and uses all its faculties. Perhaps a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine, I thought. But it would be well to test what one meant by man-womanly, and conversely by woman-manly." After that she emphatically declared that William Shakespeare, Keats and Coleridge were man-womanly.

The patriarchal model of our society has overlooked the symbolism of a "womanly man" and a "manly woman" in the iconography of Indian religion. It has been there all along, a change in perspective and it becomes apparent. Jaggi Vasudev, the mystic and poet, explained the symbolism of the Ardhanishvara thus: Shiva is worshipped as the ultimate man, yet the underlying secret is revealed in the Ardhanishvara form of Shiva. Here he is half man and half woman. Further the metaphors and images of Tamil Bhakti poetry conjure up a precise icon, a concrete image of Shiva:

• My master who rules over Accirupakkamdisplays two forms,
• having taken as half of himself
• the soft girl with waist as small as gathered lightening.

"Shiva is in harmony with that what constitutes him - male and female. Therefore he is ecstatic," expounds Vasudev. If the inner masculine and feminine meet, you are in a perpetual state of ecstasy. If you only do it on the outside, it doesn't truly last. A cross-pollination has to take place within the psyche of the human being.

Adrienne Rich in her poem, Diving into the Wreck, writes -

• This is the place.
• And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
• streams black, the merman in his armored body.
• We circle silently
• about the wreck
• we dive into the hold.
• I am she: I am he

In popular culture "Ziggy Stardust" was the androgynous alter ego of David Bowie. Michael Jackson, Elton John, Prince and now Madonna, Anne Lennox, Michael Stipe are a celebration of androgyny and sexual ambiguity.

Where gender was still understood as a binary, Bowie spoke for the team: "Society for the prevention of cruelty to long-haired men". He wanted to wear his hair long without being indicted for it. Through his songs and performance, he sold the idea that androgyny was cool. His revolutionary assertive personal style subverted labels prevailing in human identity across stereotypes. Emphasising it, Lady Gaga told Ellen DeGeneres, she wants her fans to know "It's OK" to be a "freak". And behind these 20th century androgyne idols stands the ghost of the 19th century extraordinaire - Luisa Casati.

When a society allows people to express their psychological make-ups across gender boundaries and stereotypes, the outcome can only be more creativity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote, "If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude."

Classical Drama Festival Goa

http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=17801&date=2017-04-02&pageid=1

 Classical Drama Festival

Imagine ‘Bhagvadjjukiyam’ the old Sanskrit literary text set to contemporary theatre with Bharatnatyam and classical music. Further imbue it with folk art and you have a sampling of the theatre fare staged at Kala Academy last week.   

 The Classical Drama Festival was a potpourri of four plays from ancient Sanskrit theatre of India. National School of Drama in collaboration with Kala Academy brought together theatre repertories in different parts of India to stage their plays in Goa. Rendered in three languages, it was a colorful spectrum. Plays sourced from great Sanskrit playwrights, Bhasa, Kalidasa and Bodhayan were ingeniously staged by contemporary directors like Ratan Thiyam, KN Panikkar, SM Kulshreshtha and Waman Kendre with support from their skilled cast and crew.  

‘Urubhangam’ and ‘Mohe Piya’  were plays written by Mahakavi Bhasa (approx 2^nd century BC to 2^nd century CE), whereas ‘Shakuntalam’ and  ‘Bhagvadjjukiyam’ were penned by Kalidasa and Bodhyan (between 3^rd to 7^th century CE). These playwrights wrote prolifically. Besides drawing from the two Indian epics, they mirrored the socio-political and religious thoughts of the people of their times. Subverting and bringing minor voices to the fore was another accomplishment of these writers.

Sanskrit theatre which flourished from the first century CE onwards employed female characters in feminine roles. Now this fact is indeed very unique and surprising considering the role of women in theatre and cinema post Mughal/British period in India. Another interesting fact, the plays always ended on a happy note or a resolution of issues inspiring hope. Comedy in all its hues – puns, satire, irony, dead pan humour - was frequently used to portray gravitas in human condition. Aristotelian tragedy had no place in Sanskrit theatre (except plays by Bhasa), unlike the Shakespearean drama. It was unorthodox for an Indian Sanskrit drama to end on a sad note.

The elements of the play were mapped on ‘Natya Shastra’, a treatise on performing arts written by the sage Bharata Muni. The Hindu Sanskrit text encyclopaedia states that, “The Nāṭya Śāstra is notable as an ancient encyclopedic treatise on the arts, one which has influenced dance, music and literary traditions in India. It is also notable for its aesthetic "Rasa" theory, which asserts that entertainment is a desired effect of performance arts but not the primary goal, and that the primary goal is to transport the individual in the audience into another parallel reality, full of wonder, where he experiences the essence of his own consciousness, and reflects on spiritual and moral questions.”

Coming back to the drama festival at Kala - ‘Urubhangam’ directed by Ratan Thiyam, was the first play in the series. Thiyam is one of the best directors in contemporary theatre and the expectations were high. He brings to the forefront Manipuri theatre  comprising of classical Manipuri dance, Thang Ta the martial art form, and Wari Leeba narrative style of recitation.  Exponent of ‘Theatre of the Roots’,  his path-breaking work adapts classical theatre to contemporary times, evoking a commentary on existential dilemma. Once a person watches a Ratan Thiyam play, he is completely sold out on Thiyam’s artistry, spectacle and intellect – and asks for more.   

The insurgencies of Manipur deeply inform Thiyam’s work.  The inter-ethnic strife between the two tribes, Nagas and Kukis, has caused chronic violence in the state, ever since it started escalating in early nineties. Against this backdrop, ‘Urubhangam’ depicts Daryodhana as a repentant human being. The villainy in this legendary character is subverted to expose human qualities. The play portrays his fight with Bhima, in which the latter takes advantage of Daryodhana’s weak position and smashes his thighs beyond repair. The repentant Daryodhana contemplates on meaninglessness of war and his relationship to his parents and his family.

Late KN Panikkar did not disappoint with the staging of ‘Shakuntalam’ either.  The play was presented by Sopanam Institute of Performing Arts & Research.  Panicker’s, engaging ‘rangapadam’  - stage directions still being followed, made the audience easily forget the language barrier if it existed for some. Shakuntala signifies ‘prakriti’ – nature in its purity and Dushayant the king, the exploiter and plunderer, who forgets his karma. Kalidasa’s symbolism to conserve and preserve nature triumphs in the end with the king acknowledging his folly.

 ‘Bhagvadjjukiyam’ directed by SM Kulshreshtha, the only director present at the performance was indeed a treat. The audience gave it a standing ovation for its classical music, Bharatnatyam and the equally skilled acting and dance performance of its cast. Yamraj (Amrit Sinha), won accolades for his graceful mudras. The pompous yogi and his mischevious disciple got the sequence rolling. They exchanged an invigorating dialogue on the duality of soul and body. Their interactions with the courtesan were comical and revealing. Finally the ‘parakeya parvesha’ resulted in hilarity when the courtesan speaks the language of the yogi and the yogi behaves like a courtesan. The play displayed utter mockery of Buddhist monks, their beliefs and relation to the courtesan.

'Mohe Piya’, a reworked title of the Sanskrit play ‘Madhayam Vyayoga’ directed by Waman Kendre, formed the closing play of the festival. The central character of Hidimba, a marginal voice in the Mahabharata, illuminates the fact that ancient Sanskrit writers were subverting the main plot-line of the epic and shining a torch on fringe voices. That Hidimba is portrayed as a courageous, thinking woman who takes exception to her husband (Bheema) staking his claim to her son after years of separation and negligence, is another surprise in the plotline.

Live musical score would have livened the acts even more. A couple of them were very loud, the musical score jarred the ears of the audience. The battle scenes could have been concise to improve the effect of the plays.

Overall a great change from the Indian English drama spectacle, a classical odyssey which drew you in with its ethnic appeal.