Choosing crayons as his medium
By Kavita Bhargava
FOR about four decades, the creative artist within him had to remain contented with manufacturing artistic teaching aids for tiny-tots.

An evening with Nayyar music
By Varinder Singh
A romantic era of music and songs created by the inimitable Mohammed Rafi and O.P. Nayyar duo, all was there, but sans Rafi.

Docu-feature on Assam hero By Durga Ghosh HE took on the might of the great Mughals and thwarted their move to annex Assam, scripting a hallowed place for himself in the annals of history.

The "dark buds of song"

Choosing crayons as his medium
By Kavita Bhargava

FOR about four decades, the creative artist within him had to remain contented with manufacturing artistic teaching aids for tiny-tots. Forced by family circumstances, he had to earn a livelihood thus suppressing the artist within.

But, as they say, true art never dies. It flows in the veins. The septuagenarian artist too picked up the colours at the ripe age of 62 to fill in empty spaces, that too in an entirely different medium.

Jagdish Sethi is undoubtedly the only artist in the state of Jammu and Kashmir who has chosen an entirely different medium for his creative works. Rejecting oil and water colours, he has chosen crayons as his medium of expression.

Despite entering the field of painting quite late, Sethi has no remorse at all. In just four years, he has made over 500 paintings, clinched a state award and held an exhibition of his works which were widely appreciated by art lovers.

Exploring crayons as a medium of expression and an outlet for his creativity was only a chance factor for Sethi. He had initially started his career as an art teacher and served in a few reputed private institutions of Jammu for more than two decades. He picked up crayons as these were easily available in his house and comparatively quite cheap. Besides, there was no need of costly canvasses.

Playing with colours without any pre-conceived thoughts, Sethi explores these colours to the maximum. “I worked with colours throughout my life, but to play with colours I started at the age of 62 and I am still doing so,” says an exuberant Sethi who paints for hours together and is an amazing bundle of energy. While painting he becomes so engrossed in it that he forgets about his surroundings and draws inexplicable joy from his works which are quite stunning.

One can hardly believe that he has painted these in crayons and oil pastels. Till now, crayons were associated with school children, but the kind of work created by him is astonishing. He uses crayons in such a way that one can hardly differentiate between an oil painting and a crayon painting. For applying crayons, he has developed his own technique and made some tools of iron.

Sethi says he was at first hesitant in displaying his paintings before the public. He was not certain whether people would like it or not. But when he exhibited over 50 paintings recently at Abhinav Art Gallery in Jammu, the response of art lovers was overwhelming. Mr Ashok Jaitely, Chief Secretary, J&K, who inaugurated his exhibition termed it “a discovery”. Indeed, it was. Never before had any artist thought of using it as a medium. The response to his exhibition forced him to extend it by two more days.

Since then, a number of his paintings have decorated prestigious places, including Raj Bhavan, Jammu. Remembering the moment his first painting was sold, Sethi says, “I became young that day”.

Sethi started his career as a commercial painter at the tender age of 18. He worked at wall paintings, sign board, science models and portraits, of leaders for various schools. Throughout his life, he worked in different schools of Jammu like National Middle School, Oriental Academy, Jagriti Niketan and DBN School for 16 years as drawing teacher and then as general line teacher. All these years, he also made teaching aids for almost all private schools of Jammu which included educational charts, wall paintings, play-way methods, educational toys, etc. His various science models won various prizes in school.

Sethi’s transformation from a commercial artist to a creative artist was indeed unique. A brief ailment rendered him miserable for some time. At the age of 62 in 1996, he suffered a facial paralytic stroke and was bed-ridden for quite long time in a state of despondency his pent-up feelings got an outlet though the creative form of painting. Since then he has never looked back and worked enthusiastically day and night thus making over 500 paintings. After entering the creative field of producing teaching aids of immense value, displaying and selling them at handicarafts exhibitions organised from time to time and in educational institutions, his venturing into the world of vibrant colours has also been quite a success.

Most of Sethi’s artistic expressions, have been inspired from his surroundings. Life in its varied forms around him provides him with a lot of themes. As he himself says, “I am inspired for my paintings from my surroundings only”. His “surroundings” include the themes of environment, culture and traditions of this state.

The congested lanes of old Jammu city, ponies carrying construction materials in these lanes where no vehicle can approach, gujjars, tree worship, rag-pickers, tulsi-worship and river banks, Mubarak Mandi complex, Lord Ganesh, brides...are some of the themes on which he has worked.

The Gujjar and Bakerwal communities have a special place in this artist’s heart, as he feels that these people are easily identified. Before giving a shape to his ideas with colours he makes sketches first and then works on them.

Many of this beautiful paintings are of Lord Ganesh in vibrant colours. Different poses of the Lord have been depicted in these works. Besides, he has also worked on folk traditions of the Dogra land.

Sethi’s works, as he himself says, are abstract to some extent. Many of these are three-dimensioned with very bright colours.

As a 13-year-old boy who had witnessed much bloodshed during Partition, exodus and survival Sethi has reflected all of his pensive thoughts in his paintings. His painting titled, “Exodus,” has his impressions of partition during which the refugees are holding their meeting under a pepal tree.

His works like “Reminiscent of pre-Partition,” “Exodus,” Search,” Village Folk” Man’s Molestation of Nature” etc are some of his contemplative asserted works.

In his creative pursuits, he has the full cooperation of his family members. His son Prabhat, who, has now been managing the manufacturing of teaching aids and their largescale supply to various schools in Jammu, has also been greatly inspired by his father. It was his father who sent him to Bangalore for training in manufacturing these artistic aids. Prabhat has now set up a small manufacturing unit in his house only. His wife Bindu, who was a student of Sethi and has learnt the craft of making toys, also helps him. Recently, he won the first prize in a painting competition held at Abhinav Theatre. Besides, Sethi’s wife Shanti has always been a great source of inspiration for him.

This artist, however, seems to be disturbed by the fact that even though J&K Cultural Academy has been set up for the promotion of art and culture in the state, he has got no encouragement or financial help. The Chief Secretary had directed the academy secretary to invite Sethi for artist camps so that fellow artists would see this medium of expression, but he has not been invited to any such camp till now. Besides, not a single student has approached him for learning this art. “Perhaps, they are not interested in working in crayons.” Sethi says. Due to lack of financial support, he is also not keen to exhibit his works in various parts of the country.

But he is fully confident about continuing his artistic pursuits. At the age of 65, Sethi seems to be still going young.

An evening with Nayyar music
By Varinder Singh

A romantic era of music and songs created by the inimitable Mohammed Rafi and O.P. Nayyar duo, all was there, but sans Rafi.

Yet, the evening came alive with hundreds of diehard Rafi fans converging on Tagore Theatre at Chandigarh on Saturday for the Rafi Memorial Nite organised by the Yaadgar-e-Rafi Society in collaboration with the Lions Club International. O.P. Nayyar, the man behind dozens of lively songs, which inspired a generation to fall in love with life, was in the midst of them.The only difference was that this time Nayyar had donned the role of a receptive listener, and quite naturally he might have been feeling elated to see the next generation humming his compositions. He also shared with the audience some fond memories of the time spent with Rafi, composing music and in personal spheres. The audience was amused to learn that the tall man of music was in love with the colour black. “I believe in black as black is beautiful,” he said receiving a shawl from the organisers.

And the tribute to the legendary singer took off with a song by Mohammed Naushad, Aana hai to aa... “from Naya Daur”.

The romantic ambience, synonymous with Nayyar, was further strengthened with Amarjit Singh and Rinku Kalia singing a “Kashmir ki Kali” number, Hai re hai,yahi jazbaat rahen din raat meri jaan balle-balle. The composer could be seen nodding his head with the “taal.”But what set the ball rolling was the instrumental part of Subhan Allah hai, haseen chehra hai... sung by Arvind Verma. One could easily visualise “Yahoo” Shammi Kapoor trying to please his beloved while travelling in a truck in some remote and beautiful part of the Kashmir valley, with “dhol” and “algozas”, an O.P. Nayyar essential, playing in the background. Then came B.D. Sharma and Pushpa Saini with Uren jab jab zulfein teri... also from “Naya Daur.”

As the evening progressed, so did the mood of both the singers as well as the audience. N.K. Talwar and Veenu belted out, Deewana hua badal, kya tumne ada paayi, yeh dekh ke dil jhooma, li pyar ne angraai... again from “Kashmir ki Kali.” A musical group comprising Suresh Naik on dholak, Parveen Rathi on tabla, Subhash Naik Chitranjan on drum, Sudarshan and Vibal Sharma on guitar, Vinay Kalia and Raman Kant, on the keyboard and Purshotam on sitar, under the baton of Raman Kant, gave support. Raman himself took to the mike when he sang Yoon to humne laakh haseen dekhe hain, tumsa nahin dekha... The only problematic spot in the programme was the presence of small kids, who kept adding to the musical ambience their shrieks and thus disturbing serious listeners. R.S.Kala and N.S. Nikhit Ali brought forth the beauti of Sar par topi lal, haath mein resham ka rumal, ho tera kya kehna. out of “Ek Mussafir Ek Haseena”.

Suddenly, all those sailing on the musical “Titanic” went serious when V.M. Sharma rendered, Tukde hain mere dil ke....and later, Phir miloge kabhi is baat ka vada kar lo... by Sukhdev and his female companion.

Then it was the turn of two doctors, Anil Sharma and Jassal, who brought alive the songs Lakhon hain nigah mein, zindagi ki raah mein... and Bahut shukria, bari meharbani... accompanied by Rimmi Chopra. What let the audience go berserk was, Yeh chand sa raushan chehra, zulfon ka rang sunehra... by S.K. Kathuria. The same was the case when Gurpal Singh came on the stage with Hue hain tum par aashik hum, bhala mano bura mano.... Amarjit and Prachi were equally impressive when they presented Aaye hain door se... and later Dinesh Sharma with his Humdum mere maan bhi jaao....

Towards the culmination, the programme turned cathartic with the Veenu Kautish-Dr Jugraj duo who sang Roka kai baar maine dil ki umang ko...

As expected, the veteran musician was swarmed by hundreds who touched his feet and extended autograph books for getting his autograph. He encouraged the budding talent by giving prizes to the winners.

Docu-feature on Assam hero
By Durga Ghosh

HE took on the might of the great Mughals and thwarted their move to annex Assam, scripting a hallowed place for himself in the annals of history.

And now more than 300 years latter, Lachit Barphukan, the great Ahom General has once again been resurrected on celluloid by director Mridul Gupta who has made a 90-minute docu-feature on the hero in Hindi.

“Historians have ignored Assam, but history has not. The state has a glorious medieval history, but not much is found in the pages of Indian books,” state Governor Lt Gen (retd) S.K. Sinha says in a special appearance in the film.

Assam was the only state which did not bow to the might of the Mughals — Lachit Barphukan played the pivotal role in driving them out permanently and should be given a pride of place in national history, he said.

The film traces the Muslim invasion in the region since 1205 when Assam was ruled in the west by Koch kings and in the east by the Ahoms, covering a period of nearly five centuries.

The film, however, focusses mainly on how Lachit was made the Commander-in-Chief of the Ahom army and his strategy to drive out the Mughals and take on the might of commanders like Mir Jumla and Ram Singh, says Gupta.

“I have highlighted the naval battle of Araighat in the film which finally drove the Mughals out, and drew the western limit of Assam to the river Manas,” he says.

The film is replete with the military strategies and methods of warfare adopted by the Ahom Commander that ranked with the best in the world and also leaves modern defence analysts awestruck.

“The military skill, grit strategy of the rulers is indeed striking as the Ahoms not only conquered an unknown land, carved out an independent, vast and invincible kingdom, but also fought for its independence for about 30 years more without any formal and exclusive military department”, says noted Assamese actor Pranjal Saikia who’s anchored the film.

The absence of a regular standing army in Assam and a permanent Commander-in-Chief was tided over by the practical wisdom of the Ahoms.

“Their army became so highly organised, well-equipped and disciplined as to extract untinted praise for their Mughal adversaries”, continues Saikia.

The film also provides interesting information that the Mughal General Ram Singh, who was sent by Aurangzeb after Mir Jumla failed to annex the whole Assam, had observed, “Forts have been constructed by the Ahoms on tops of hills and the outlying plains are also too narrow for the purpose of an open engagement... . The enemy is beyond the reach of our heavy artillery and it is for this reason that the Assamese had proved invincible in their wars against foreigners”.

Commissioned by Doordarshan and scheduled to be telecast soon in three episodes, the film named after the General, “Lachit Barphukan,” has been dedicated to “Soldiers who breathed their last in defending their motherland.” — PTI

The "dark buds of song"

In the realm of culture, outsideness is a most powerful factor in understanding ...A meaning only reveals its depths once it has encountered and come into contact with another, foreign meaning: they engage in a kind of dialogue, which surmounts the closedness and one-sidedness of these particular meanings, these cultures.

— M.M.Bakhtin

I wish here to stand back, and simply let the reader share some poetry that I came upon recently. The poems are of special interest to me for they are inspired by, or shall I say occasioned by, encounters with works of Indian art, something that one does not see too often. Even more, they are by “an outsider”, a gifted New Zealand woman poet, and have therefore a flavour, a limpid mood, all their own.

Something about the poet a little later, but the poems first. One of them is titled “ The Girls on the Walls of the ‘Dutch Palace’, Cochin”. For reasons of space, I can only reproduce only a few, scattered lines from the poem. But anyone who has seen those wonderful but peeling Mattancheri murals — teeming with sensuous figures ceaselessly in the process of expanding, swelling, from within outwards — will recall the images to the mind at once.

In heat too wet to hold/ a pencil eyes crawl / along cool beams,

lift off a maharaja plank / and swing out to a sea / thickened by trees.....

The girls are alone with / their lord

And what is he doing? / placing the tips of his limbs / into compliant recesses

The girls bear their bliss lightly,

their faces as smooth as / the curve of a bullock’s hump....

Like a tree house / the ‘Dutch’ Palace swings / on its stem,

on its walls / stories of love and war ...

Look again and you will see / only the gaps

The eyes wiped off / a blue face ...

A history of delicate erasure

And, in between, noiselessly slipped in, are the voices of the “girls painted on the walls” themselves: “blinded by the loss of our blue lord”. “We smell like all the spices of the trade/” they say: “our ears nostrils navels toes / skewered by pearls.”

Another of the poems, “Stone Girl”, take one to Orissa.

To look for a god of your own go first to that yard / with its army of girls / coaxed from the walls of Konarak still braiding their hair, / kicking trees into life, / crouching open-haunched before the sun god

Find the one with the rippled face.

The flow of flawed stone / mottling her lip / and one gourd breast / (a string’s width from the other) / is enough to / tip you into worship......

The poems are by Diana Bridge, a distinguished academic with a background of Chinese language and art, who lived in India for four years from 1993 to 1997. Published earlier this year, not all her poems are the same mould, of course, nor do all of them engage with the sculpture and painting of India. There are in fact, as she says in the introduction to her volume, three narratives in her work which encompass — apart from India — China, New Zealand and other places. But it is evident that the first one, in which she interacts with Indian art, reflecting a “love, growth and disillusion contour”, remains the closest to her heart. How else would one explain Indian images that keep silently floating in, batik-cloud-like, into poems that belong to another time, different spaces?

An “outsideness”?

The cover of Diana Bridge’s volume of poems features a detail based on a painted figure from Ajanta (or is it Bagh?) by — appropriately in the context — a New Zealand artist, Christine Hansen, who has never seen the caves herself. Is it an “outsider’s” impression ? An interpretation? An essay at entering a different world? But, back to the poem. One is struck, repeatedly, by the gentleness with which Diana’s eyes alight on little details, catching the sudden glint of though upon the brow of familiar things. She bends her ear to pick up ‘the Heartbeat of Shiva’ as his consort,“small scale / perfectly / subordinate / furls into his side”; senses “a dark bud of song spinning / in the temple’s heart”; sees in Nepal,“Russian Roerich braiding snow, / one blue purple, / the hot gold of his sun / reflected off a / soft drink bottle.”.....