B.N. Goswamy
Art and Indian seafaring
“Sham no Varunah”
(Be auspicious unto us, o Varuna!)
THUS runs a verse from a Vedic hymn to the god of waters, words appropriated so aptly by the Indian Navy as its invocatory motto.

8-yr-old dance prodigy
By Ramesh K. Dhiman
WHAT can be the ultimate aim of human existence for a lisping little lass of barely three plus? Dilly-dallying with the dolls, perhaps? Vacantly watching humming birds perched precariously on treetops and singing sweet nothings? Or simply shooing away darting dragonflies? But, for ingenuous Aanchal, this age of innocence was purposeful and full of promise to envisage a mission in life. At eight, the dancing little damsel feels the dream that she had cherished at three plus is fast shaping up into a stark reality.

Russia rocks to MTV beat
By Peter Henderson
GLOBAL music video purveyor MTV says its one-year into Russia has been a success despite the economic crisis as stations across the country say they want their MTV.

Triveni, confluence of music, mind, ambience
By Vandana Shukla

TRIVENI the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical, mysterious Saraswati, or Triveni, a tree in Ravneet Kaur’s house in Sector 3, Chandigarh, that grows neem, peepul and banyan, all in one. It provides the right metaphor for what many culturally committed people have in mind—a confluence of sanctity of music, purity of mind and heart and simplicity of a houselike atmosphere. Thus, Triveni has come into being without any office-bearers and sponsors and free of any commercial motives. It is a voluntary effort of like-minded people to bring classical music and other dying traditions in the field of music to the forefront in an uncontrived, personalised manner and give classical concerts a new dimension.

Triveni envisages to provide a relaxed ambience to genuine music lovers and artistes in an inter-active manner, where the artiste does not feel distanced from the audience and vice versa. In the process, it will also serve the purpose of providing local talents who may not get the luxury of big concerts or may feel uncomfortable performing before a large and passive audience.

A genuinely interested audience can do wonders to an upcoming artiste not only by appreciation but also by constructive criticism. Keeping this in mind, the concert is followed by a simple, contributory, vegetarian meal in the company of the artiste. Triveni is helped in this regard by volunteers like Primila Puri, a vocalist from Patiala Gharana, who has opened the doors of her house to be used for the purpose, and another volunteer, Anupam Mehta, who has given her sophisticated music system for the service.

As part of its first baithak, Triveni invited Javed Ali and Mazhar Ali of Patiala Gharana. Patiala Gharana came into being in the undivided India and matured its gayaki with Sukoon or Chaindari that became the hallmark of its exponents and created a dazzling effect by the skilful use of paltes and sapat ki taans. The only musical gharana from Punjab, it produced stalwarts like Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, Ustad Barkat Ali Khan and Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan whose gayaki influenced the Indian sub-continent in an unprecedented manner. Lately the gharana has lost its sheen in the absence of patronage that does not seem to come about even from its home state. The grandsons of late Bade Gulam Ali Khan, and Mazhar are trying to keep the tradition alive.

Javed and Mazhar chose to sing compositions of Bade Gulam Ali Khan. Both brothers reflected composure and elan. The selection of bandishes for the inaugural baithak in raga Rageshwari, Aaj anand mukh chandra badan and Shubh din aaye.... were appropriate for the occasion. After a delicate and romantic rendering in Chandni Kedar, Pee kee suratiya more man bhaayi..., the artistes switched over to raga Adana, Chadha Raghuvir Randhir dhad Lanka ko sang Lachman liye dhanush dhari....., that required a vigorous treatment with an extensive use of gamak. The duo did justice to both moods. The gharana is also well known for its artistic embellishment of thumris and dadras.

The brother duo presented selected compositions, weaving endless ‘lraade’. The atmosphere was so informal that while rendering a devotional composition, Hari Om tat sat..., when the artistes forgot to sing one particular stanza, they were corrected by one of the listeners and the duo were prompt to comply.

The artistes were highly appreciative of the initiative taken by the volunteers to create an awakening of culture in the city. As Javed says, “These days when people do not spare a little space for close relatives, Puri has opened her house to strangers to create a relaxed atmosphere for music lovers.”

Mrs Atmaram, an eminent educationalist from the city who is also a promoter of art, said the city needed something like this for long.

Diwans, an industrialist couple who travelled all the way from Parwanoo, said “We never experienced listening to music in such an unpretentious atmosphere where the artiste is so approachable. The first baithak had more people than it could accommodate. What people need is initiative. People do respond.”

Triveni will invite Pushpa Hans, a veteran Punjabi folk singer for its next baithak. Pushpa will sing sufia kalam and traditional Punjabi folk like “Heers,” another beautiful form of music.

B.N. Goswamy
Art and Indian seafaring

“Sham no Varunah”
(Be auspicious unto us, o Varuna!)

THUS runs a verse from a Vedic hymn to the god of waters, words appropriated so aptly by the Indian Navy as its invocatory motto. When the deity is envisioned — as he often is in Indian art — as a benevolent figure seated with a jewel-filled vessel in one hand and a noose in the other, one does not immediately realise that it is his twin powers that are being hinted at. For, while he is capable of conferring upon his devotees all the bounties of the deep, those rainas that lurk in the bowels of the ocean, death too, symbolised by the noose-paash, is his domain.

Nobody could have understood all this better than those ancient mariners who set sail for the high seas, placing their faith in their skills and their lonesome boats afloat on the endless expanse of waters, but also in the benevolence of Varuna, “lord of the heavens and of the worlds below”, as a hymn says, “Knower of the path of the birds, and of ocean routes along which vessels sail”.

For all the length of our coastline, we in India, certainly those lying in the north, have difficulty thinking of ourselves as a seafaring people. At least not like the Phoenecians of the past were, or Italians and Englishmen continue to remain. And yet it is remarkable how much the samudra figures in our myth and our thought. Consider the great myth of the “churning of the ocean”, for instance, recovering from its bottomless depths the greatest of the ratnas, among them the nectar of immortality itself; or the titanic battle that raged for aeons between Vishnu as Varaha, the Primal Boar, and Hiranyaksha, for recovering the earth that the demon had appropriated and hid in the waters of the ocean.

There are in our land accounts of settlers leaving the shores for far destinations, countless tales of traders on the high seas, missionaries and pilgrims fitting out boats for embarking upon long voyages. The seas, and seagoing, are never for from one’s thoughts.

What interests me specially, in the midst of all this, however is the manner in which these figure in our art. An occasional carving, or a rendering in a painting, of a sailing boat — in the telling of a Buddhist Jataka tale, for instance, or a Jaina legend — comes as no surprise at all. One also knows coins — like those from the 2nd century Satavahana period — on which boats are graphically represented.

But some things, at least in the context of India and of Indian art, one is not really prepared for. To two of these objects, which fascinate me, I would like to draw attention here. One is a now-famous terracotta seal from the Indus valley, from Mohenjodaro in fact, and thus going back to the third millennium BC. It is an oblong object, with what is almost certainly a representation of a boat, the raised prow and stern at either end clearly delineated. What looks like a cabin is placed in the centre of the boat, although there is no mast, nor does one see any oars.

What one does see, however, are two birds, one at either end, fore and aft, facing in opposite directions. Why are they here? Are these, one wonders, those disha-kaks, “direction finding birds”, that one reads about? Birds which were carried aboard, because, when released, their unerring flight towards land helped mariners in directing their vessels towards it? One Buddhist text, it is known refers to such birds, and the famous Pliny, describing the region of modern Sri Lanka, mentions such “direction-finding birds” often being carried on sea because the Great Bear was not visible to seafarers in those surroundings.

The second, like the first, is also not an object of art proper — even though it employs art — but it is equally fascinating. This is a category of charts on paper, what in the area of Kutch and Saurashtra, are referred to as a malam-ni-pothi, something like a sailor’s “pilot” in the Western world.

One knows the Kutchis to have been among the most intrepid sailors of the world, their skills and the instruments they carried aboard their vessels having always elicited admiration. But I was not aware, even when I was writing my book on painting in Kutch years ago, that these wonderful, startling, objects even existed. But apparently many have survived, mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Beautifully drawn on paper, and discreetly coloured where necessary, these diagrammatic charts are filled with figures and notes, recording orientations, distances, the courses that ships have to navigate, containing things like rhumb lines and stellar bearings. On one chart preserved in the National Museum in Delhi, there is a note in Kutchi characters stating that the ship has embarked from Muscat and is sailing to Nicobar. Much is marked on the chart, including polestar altitudes close to the ports in Ceylon, and distances are meticulously recorded. Another has rhumb lines reaching from Socotra to the Red Sea, the Makran coast and the western coast of India. There is excitement in these pages, wonder mixed with a sense of adventure.

A battle on sea

A large drawing of uncommon interest in the National Museum shows a battle on the high seas. Finely drawn against on uncoloured ground, it shows several large ships facing in different directions, teeming with people, guns firing, smoke billowing. At the bottom is a four-line inscription in Takri characters which speaks of “sahukare da jahaz” (a merchant’s ship) being surrounded by “farangie de jahaz” (ships belonging to Europeans). What is surprising is the fact that it is an 18th century Pahari work, for neither in respect of date nor the area from which it comes, one is prepared for a subject like this. But then one thinks of all those floating kathas in which sahukars so often are buffeted about on the high seas, but think just in time of their ishta deity who rescues them, of course. It is one of these that may have been in the painter’s mind!

8-yr-old dance prodigy
By Ramesh K. Dhiman

WHAT can be the ultimate aim of human existence for a lisping little lass of barely three plus? Dilly-dallying with the dolls, perhaps? Vacantly watching humming birds perched precariously on treetops and singing sweet nothings? Or simply shooing away darting dragonflies? But, for ingenuous Aanchal, this age of innocence was purposeful and full of promise to envisage a mission in life. At eight, the dancing little damsel feels the dream that she had cherished at three plus is fast shaping up into a stark reality. “The hitherto hazy-looking life’s mission is etching out clearer and closer”, she coyly confides.

“I spotted a powerful spark of my daughter’s inborn talent, when she, at the bidding of a group of picnickers at Zakir Rose Garden, Chandigarh, one sunny Sunday afternoon, danced to a popular film number: “Choori jo chhanki hathon mein, yaad piya ki aane lagi...” All were greatly impressed and lavished praise on the little dancing doll. She was three at that time”, recalls Kanchan Saini, the proud mother, who herself is a dancing celebrity.

A class III student of Sri Guru Harkishan Public School, Aanchal is under the protective tutelage of her mother. She gave her debut-making dance recital at a school cultural soiree before an appreciative audience. Then there was really no looking back for this lissome little Cindrella of the dancing world.

She did her school proud when she won the first prize for her scintillating dance presentation at a colourful cultural programme. This encouraged Aanchal to pursue her abiding passion heart and soul.

With many firsts to her credit kitty, Aanchal is going the whole hog to ascend the dizzy heights of the dancing world. She bagged three best dancer’s awards at Teej festivals organised by the Chandigarh Administration in 1994; the Sanyog Arts in 1998; and the Ramp world, this year. Aanchal romped home with yet another best dancer’s award at a glittering dance competition organised by the J.S.R. Productions, a film company engaged in the production of feature films and TV serials. The host company was so impressed by her dance performance that it offered to chisel her into a fine dancer and project her in the world of performing arts. This also proved a boon in disguise for Aanchal.

Falling for the innate talent of this dancing prodigy, Sanjiv, the ‘Balram’ of popular tele-serial ‘Krishna’, who was the guest of honour proposed to rope her in his forthcoming serial “Lakeeren” for a dance sequence. At yet another cultural extravaganza organised by the Sutlej Activity Club, Roopnagar, the chief guest, the DC of Roopnagar, was so impressed by her performance that he gave her a cash prize of Rs 1100 from his own pocket.

Currently learning the rudimentaries of Kathak from her mother, Aanchal has participated in some 25-odd dance competitions and cultural programmes held in Chandigarh and outside in a span just four years. Her lively dance recitals at the city’s Plaza carnivals have been big draws.

Aanchal has performed the traditional folk dances of Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. She intends to prove her mettle in Himachali, Manipuri, Bihari folk dances also. “To achieve her chosen mission, she is going steady with her daily ‘riaz’. She steals whatever little time she can from her gingerly planned study schedule”, informs Aanchal’s mother.

On education front, too, this promising danseuse has maintained a track record of 85 per cent and above score, right from her pre-nursery standard. She fixes priorities between the studies and her first love — dance — so that both become complimentary to each other.

Aanchal is too little to divulge her definite future plans. But, she is pretty sure to make it to Bollywood one day by becoming a top dancer of the country. When prodded to name a few star Bollywood dancers, she ends up shooting back a one — liner “Raveena and Madhuri are icons and my heartthrobs. I enjoy watching them perform electrifying dance sequences”.

Aanchal’s hobbies include bird-watching, painting and watching a select few TV serials like; “Amanat”, “Heena”, and “Fugitive: the most wanted”, to be more precise, which she just cannot miss. “No film-viewing on TV. She is a bit choosy about it, if at all she does...”, says her mother.

Russia rocks to MTV beat
By Peter Henderson

GLOBAL music video purveyor MTV says its one-year into Russia has been a success despite the economic crisis as stations across the country say they want their MTV.

MTV Russia, a domestic offshoot with its own hip video jockeys, a mix of homegrown and foreign videos and ever-present nose-picking cartoon heroes Beavis Butt-head have become a hit.

“This is one of the strongest launches of MTV anywhere,” MTV Russia President Boris Kaz says, adding, “There is a very strong vibe about MTV.”

The key to the success is its formula of giving the audience a steady diet of Russian and Western music and entertainment news and giving a wide berth to political and economic news pounding Russia in this election year.

A crowd of some 80,000, outstripping most political rallies of any stripe, recently streamed to an outdoor concert to launch MTV’s new Russia slogan, MTV Party ‘Ya, which pokes ironic fun at the old regime it is helping Russia leave behind.

The crowd draw on the edge of Red Square, a long stone’s toss from where Communist Party leader Vladimir Lenin still lies in state, was a free concert by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a Los Angeles band.

But a walking and scoffing Beavis Butt-head drew more applause than most of the Russian warmup bands.

“We only watch MTV,” affirmed Natasha, 17, who had squeezed to the front row along with her friend Tanya, 16.

“Our TV is bad — boring” Tanya said of the other Russian fare on the airwaves and added that the two watched about four or five hours of MTV per day and saw the video jockeys as friendly, older brother and sister types.

About a third a Russia, 50 million people, can now tune in to MTV, making it one of the nation’s biggest channels. MTV has been broadcast here since 1989, but only with the launch of MTV Russia last September, has it expanded aggressively.

Its start-up at the beginning of Russia’s economic crisis — as the rouble began a 75 per cent slide against the dollar — has hurt profit projections, executives say, declining to forecast when MTV Russia would break even.

But the new environment has also given MTV more room to grow by cutting competition, Kaz says.

MTV Russia programming is strongly focused on entertainment, with a recent show featuring interviews in Russian with Cuban baseball players in the USA between video clips.

The broadcaster is slowly increasing the number of Russian bands on the channel of about 40 per cent of programming now.

No Russian bands have been shown abroad, though William Roedy, president of MTV/VHI Networks International, says the long-term plan is to do so.

“There is a tremendous pent up demand in creative culture,” he said recently. Roedy said the Russian music scene had grown up over the past decade from a strict diet of hard rock. — Reuters