Bad Hindu

Bad Hindu is a play by Sunanda Raghunathan's troupe Gudugudupukkari. It was staged in Alliance francais Madras on Nov 25. The title of the play does have a major role in either bringing in or keeping out an audience, and it was more so evident in this play. A rather dull head had shared information about this play in a group stating, ' go find out if you are a good hindu or a bad Hindu'; i was worried this was not the kind of negative rave this play deserved, and made me wish the actual turn out for the day had been better.

I had earlier had the opportunity to watch Sunanda's tamil play Mundhirikotte in 2016. The play had been written by Sunanda for a program wherein she along with a bunch of  other Indian playwrights had been mentored by British council. I had also had the opportunity to attend a workshop conducted by Sunanda in this context. 

I had been quite blown away by the writing and acting in Mundhirikotte. The actors who had been cast in that play had won me over with the ease with which they stepped into their roles. They made a 30 something guy playing a school boy look so very natural. i loved the writing for so very effortlessly transporting the audience to a remote place in Parangipettai near Cudaalore and yet not get lost in the details, but stay true the bigger picture. So i had quite a lot to expect from a Sunanda's play. And in Bad Hindu , i must say Sunanda has achieved a new high.

In this play Sunanda has beautifully married elements of Kattaikkoothu, the traditional folk theatre played in temple festivals in the Tamil country, and elements of modern English theatre-  this play had been conceived and executed as a part of her course in Theatre in London. 

The play opens with a stage setting of a mini wooden dais placed between two mannequins, one modelled after a Raja charecter in the traditional Kattaikoothu, rich and gallant with all its embellishments and another 'musketeer' like looking mask draped in coils of red textile ( later in the play u realise the mannequin has flowing hair and it is feminine).  Sunanda also appears with her face' one half painted to depict a man and the other half adorned to depict a woman. While you eagerly await the story that was going to bind these  binaries to unveil, Sunanda walks in bouncing and announcing herself as the Kattiyakaran, who was going to take us through the story of the sacrifice of Aravan. The mention of Aravan, the Naga prince, born to Arjuna and Ulupi, and who would later be married to a disguised Krishna- the binaries quite fall in place.

While in the first few minutes you feel Sunanda was not doing enough justice to meet the energy and verve that are the mark of a  Kattiyakaran of a traditional Koothu performance, but very soon she convincingly settles down into a rhythm, tenor and wit that are as much a remarkable feature of the Kattiyakaran performance. You realise, as the play proceeds, given the loops and repetitions, that this was quite an intelligent choice.

Sunanda,  gives the audience a feeler of the story of the Mahabharata, narrating the key event of disrobing of Draupadi  that leads to Kurukshetra war, the mother of all wars. This narration is in English and she peps it up with interesting bits like Duryodhana and his 100 siblings have probably unintentionally inspired the ploy in every regional movie that the bad guy is always surrounded by a big coterie of henchmen to do his bidding.

She switches to Tamil while enacting the koothu segments of the Sacrifice of Aravan, she takes due care to apprise her audience with the translation of the tamil lines to come. Music and singing are important aspects of a koothu performance. While Sunanda's singing leaves much to be desired, her clear diction of the line and the strength of the language carry the show for the day. The lines, as she later revealed were taught to her by a traditional koothu artist Thilaga, add a lot of strength and character to the play.  

While you ready yourself to immerse in the sad story of the Aravan, the canny manoeuvres of Krishna, the ill fate that falls upon the poor souls and the contemporary relevance of a marriage between Aravan and krishna etc., you are jerked into interruptions in the narration by the alter ego of the Actor. 

The alter ego reminds one of the characters we encounter in online networking platforms. It interrupts the performance by passing judgments on the personal values of the actor and demands that she makes amends before she can proceed with the performance. The actor does everything in her means to appease this alter ego so that she can resume her performance. 

These interruptions and the subsequent loop of enacting Aravan's sacrifice, together make for a very interesting cocktail of social commentary, spirited performance, and an immersive story telling experience. Sunanda has intelligently choreographed these loops and has averted her audience from slipping into boredom by pepping these loops with witty engagements with the audience and having them eagerly look forward to the next segment of the Aravan story to unveil in the loop.

The Q n A session after the play revealed that the title alluded to the fact that the actor was a Bad Hindu in the sense that she had to keep taking rebirths to appease her alter ego. I thought the title could  as well been used as one of the judgements, a closing one, that the alter ego passes on the actor, which in turn the actor could be shown losing in making amends.

The absence of music in the koothu segments was quite conspicuous. Sunanda mentioned that this was intentional, as she wanted to avoid the unintended flavour that music might add to the play. It may be said that, for many in the audience the koothu segments in the play would be a first time eperience of a traditional koothu performance, it would be better justified in serving it with a minimal dabbing of musical instruments.

In all, it was a terrific one woman show ably accompanied by Charles on the lighting and other talents on designing the stage and managing the sound. The play is a immersive roller coaster ride,  that  takes you through the ancient times of the Mahabaratha, in a language that sounds very folk, witty snide remarks at our contemporary times and morals and the lack of them that are ever relevant. 

I wish to add again that, this is not a play about good or bad Hindu but about a terrific theatre experience.

a Koothuful Night

It was a nice oppurtunity to catch a therukkoothu performance happening in the city. I had all night to myself, with family away, and could afford to take rest the next day from work. so i did not want to miss the oppurtunity of getting to experience Theatre all night. I had once got to experience this when a couple of years earlier Ponniyin selvan was staged at Purisai. i traveled all the way to the village near Vandavsi to experience theatre at that hallowed venue for theatre. 

The full range of Dramatics, the span and wealth of this rich tradition of Bharath Koothu was presented to me on a platter in a documentary, 'Kelaai Draupadai'  made by Shashikanth. The film maker had spent many sleepless nights capturing the entire gamut of the Bharatham play. He had called it Kelai Draupadi as both the parayanam ad the theatre happen in a way of telling Draupadi the story of Mahabharatha. The story of the war unviels in a way matching and corresponding to the events of the day in the 18 day Kurukshetra war.

Poster of Sashi's Docu

The occassion this time was of Bharatha Koothu happening at adjuncts of festival in Draupathi temple off Eldams Road in Teynampet, near Tatvaloka, promptly brought to my notice   by an artist friend who was following the festival from first to the last day, documenting it.The festivities had started on Chithirai and continued for the entire month. There was Bharatham exposition in the evenings from 6pm, wherein chapters from Mahabaratham were naratted with music and songs. The exposition was followed at 10 pm by enactment in street Theatre the contents of the evenings exposition.

I was fascinated by the elaborate arrangements that had been made and surprised at how the spirit of village lived gloriously in a little pocket in the city amidst all the hustle. The venue for the Bharatha parayanam was a very spacious hall attached to the Draupadi temple. I was happy to find such spacious hall for performance ( as good as Asthika samajam in Alwarpet) in such a cramped neighborhood. 

The koothu was being performed by Angalaparameswari troupe from Veedur near Tindivanam. I visited the festivities on the 25 th day of Chithirai and got to listen to portions of Arjuna being cursed by Urvasi in the Parayanam in the evening and managed to catch the action in koothu for a couple of hours that night. I hurried back to catch sleep, to face my next day at office.

But two days later, i had the night to myself and the next day off, so i could catch the full action. It was, however,  sad that i could not catch the parayanam that evening. Listening to the Parayanam, helps you makes sense of finer aspects of the koothu, i had gathered on my previous scuttled visit. On this night it was the valor of Abhimanyu that was being enacted. The story itself had a few new things to offer. it was interesting learn of the accident as a result of which Abhimanyu, in the womb gets absorbed by a demon's spirit. It is here that i missed the Parayanam, it would have educated me on these finer details.

The performance itself was unfolding like a magic. i was watching it with a sense of awe, constantly aware of my pithy surrounding, while looking up to the stellar performance this troupe was weaving out of thin air. I was in a crowd of about hundred people sitting on a street, facing a temple, at the gates of which the platform was set, ( some lying down and already asleep, but still don't want to retire to their home; young lads testing their ability to stay awake, not really bothering to follow the play absorbed in their own gossip, reveling in breaking the rule of drab rule of sleeping in the night)I was constantly battling to ward off the stench from the drainage near by; struggling to save my self from a potential infection from the continuous coughs of this seemingly TB stricken man sitting next to me; perennially bothered by the inconvenience in sitting for long; always wondering how late into the night it was, wondering how are the actors keeping the tempo up, wondering what were they going to do to keep the audience engaged and restrain from dozing off; constantly looking out for a better place to move, without causing a stir in the audience, raptly absorbed in the performance. 

The performers had the daunting task of keeping me engaged in spite of all this, and i was fascinated by the magic they kept weaving, in keeping me hitched to the play.The little nondescript space on the street that was the stage underwent magical and spiritual transformations with the verve, colour, spirit and energy they brought in with their simple music and spirited performances. The music had just two components- a pair of cymbals and a couple of drums, and of course the magnetic voice of some of the performers. It was sad that most of them had lost their voices. The players knew their strengths and played to it.

PC Prabhu Kalidas

The best part of the play i loved was the way the boys in the troupe transformed into fine and attractive looking ladies, complete with mannerisms, grace in movement, voice, resplendence of a woman and energy in dancing. One thing that kept me busy and hooked during the course of the play was to try and guess which boy actor was going to turn up as a lady next. They thrilled and surprised me every time.I guess this was a crucial tactic in keeping the lay audience hooked to the performances. ( at the end of the night's performance i was eager to catch up with the person responsible for making up the artist. i surprised and humbled to learn that they did not have one and that the artists made themselves up)

PC: Prabhu Kalidoss, and Raja sekar Pandiyan

The performances were liberally laced with common place dialogues and diatribes. This is another little shock factor that keeps the audience amused and engaged. 

It was a very educative, humbling and a memorable night, experiencing street theater in all its glory, live and fabulous. 

Young Marx- the movie

I got to see the movie ' Young Marx' at the Goethe institute Chennai, recently. The screening was a part of the programs put together by the Institute to commemorate 200 years of Marx. This was a deeply moving movie and gave me a fair introduction to the life and works of the most celebrated Comrade. it is sad that i have done very little reading in the area of Marx and communism, so i did not want to miss the opportunity of watching this movie, hoping to get a fair idea of what this man's life and work was about, and this movie did treat me very regally to this subject.

the movie opens up with sequences of what a loving couple Marx and Jenny are. Marx is not afraid of voicing his ideas against the prominent personalities of the time and Jenny strongly supports his ravings and ideas. Marx and Engels' first meeting is very acrimonious, with Marx spewing aspersions at Engels for being a rich and a spoilt kid feeding upon the Slums for his scholarship. But very soon they become the friends and the best pals they would be for the rest of their life. 

Marx' continued struggle with poverty was a very painful feature of the movie. the continued alienation due to political alienation makes things very difficult. But Jenny's love ad Engel's friendship prove to be the best things to have happened to Marx in his struggle full life.

The contribution of Marx and Engels to the world history be seemed to be in defining the relation ship of the Labor with the Bourgeois in definitive terms as being absolute polars and one of clear confrontation.  They made it clear and soundly that the Labor had no option but to fight and win his rights, else he is only bound to be taken advantage of. The ideas till then were kind of Placatory and aimed at incremental consensus building. But Marx and Engels turned the tables and declared a war on inequality and exploitation. Thanks to this historic moment we have better conditions for Labor today.

Marx worked very hard on his writings. He wanted to put together a solid theory to frame the aspects of his struggle. The film closes with the historic declaration of the communist manifesto. It was fascinating to learn under what pressing circumstances Marx had put together the principals that would define centuries of struggle for labor rights across the world.

The movie also captures brilliantly Engels' dilemma of living off his father's wealth and fighting against the exploitation that the wealth earns. Engels' love story, in contrast to that of Marx, comes across as experimental and with shades sadness.

Benitha Perciyal

ஸ்பேஸஸில் நடந்து முடிந்த ‘உழைப்பை ஆவணம் செய்தல்’ என்னும் கலைக் கண்காட்சியின் ஒரு பகுதியாக, 29/3/2018 வியாழன் மாலை ஓவியர், கலைஞர் பெனிட்டா பெர்சியால் அவரது கலைப் பயணத்தை மாணவர்களுடனும், பார்வையாளர்களுடனும் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளும் நிகழ்வு அரங்கேறியது. இதில் ஏறத்தாழ இரண்டு மணி நேரத்திற்கு மேலாக தன் பயணத்தை, தன்படைப்புகளின் காட்சியுடனும் தன்அனுபவங்களின் விளக்கங்களுடனும், பார்வையாளர்களின் மனதோடு ஒன்றும்படி சிறப்பாக பகிர்ந்து கொண்டார் பெனிட்டா.

archiving labour at Spaces

கல்லூரி நாட்களில் மறைக்கப்பட்ட ஜன்னல் கண்ணாடியில் பிடிபட்ட தன் பிம்பத்தை பதிவு செய்த முதல் படைப்பு முதல், ArtChennai யில் பங்கு பெற்ற சிற்ப படைப்புகள் வரை, என தன் பயணத்தை அதன் பாதிப்புகளுடனும் திறந்த மனதுடனும், ஒரு மூத்த சகோதரி தன் இளவல்களுடன் பகிர்ந்துக்கொள்ளும் வாஞ்சையுடன் இனிய தமிழில் எளிமையாக அமைந்த அவரது உரை, நிச்சயம் சென்னையின் கலை வரலாற்றில் அது ஏற்படுத்திய ஆழ்ந்த தாக்கத்திற்காக காலத்துக்கும் பேசப்படும் என்பதில் சிறிதும் ஐயமில்லை.

http://gallerysoulflower.com

பெனிட்டாவின் தொடக்க கால ஓவியங்கள் அவரது தனிமை உள்ளத்தை படம் பிடித்து காட்டுபவையாக உள்ளன. தனிமையில் அவருக்கு உற்ற தோழியாக நின்ற ஒரு இலவம்பஞ்சு மரம் அதன் பஞ்சுக் கொட்டைகளாக, கொட்டைகளின் கூடாக, பெனிட்டாவின் ஓவியங்களிலும் பிற படைப்புகளிலும் தொடர்ந்து பயணித்து வருகிறது. பெனிட்டாவின் வாழ்வில் பெரிதும் பாதித்த இந்த இலவம்பஞ்சுக் கொட்டைகூடு, பின்னாட்களில் அவருக்கு உற்ற தோழமையாக அமைந்த ஜெர்ரி என்ற அணில் குஞ்சும், ஜானி என்ற நாயும் அவரது படைப்புகளில் பிரதான இடம் பெறுகின்றன.

gallery soul flower 

பெனிட்டா தன் ஓவியங்களுக்கு கடுமையான செயற்கை வண்ணங்களைத்  தீட்டுவதில்லை. தேயிலை, காப்பி, இவற்றின் கரைகள் மற்றும் இயற்கை தாவர மற்றும் கனிம வண்ணங்களையே தீட்டுகிறார். இயற்கையோடும் நிலவுகின்ற சூழலோடும் இயைந்த இந்த அம்சம் அவரது பயணத்தில் மேலும் பலவாறு பரிணாம வளர்ச்சி அடைந்து, பெனிட்டாவின் படைப்புகளின் தனி முத்திரையாகவும் அவரது மனப்பாங்கு மற்றும்  கலை செயல்பாட்டின் ஆதாரமாக அமைகின்றது.

பெனிட்டாவின் ஓவியங்கள் கவனம்பெற, அவர் டெல்லிக்கு கோஜ் என்ற அமைப்பில் தங்கி ஓவியம் படைக்க அழைக்கப்படுகிறார். அங்கும் தனது அறையின் அருகாமையில்அமைந்திருந்த மகிழ மரத்தில் கட்டியிருந்த தேன்கூடு பெனிட்டாவின் மனதை பெரிதும் கவர்கிறது. அவர் கோஜில் தங்கி உருவாக்கும் படைப்புக்கும் ஆதாரமாக அந்த தேன்கூடே அமைகிறது.

ஓவியங்களிலிருந்து பெநிட்டவின் படைப்புலகம் மண் சிற்பங்கள், மரச் சிற்பங்கள் என விரிவடைகிறது. பல அயல் நாடுகளுக்குச் சென்று கலைபடைக்கும் வாய்ப்புகளும் வந்த வண்ணம் இருக்கின்றன. கலை மொழியும் களமும்  விரிவடைந்தாலும் அவரது படைப்புகள் தன் தனிமையைக் குறித்த ஜபங்கலாகவே அமைகின்றன.

இந்தச் சூழலில் பெனிட்டாவின்  2008 இலங்கை பயணம் ஒரு பெரும் திருப்புனையாக அமைகிறது. தன் வலியையும் தனிமையையும் மீறி உலகியல் நடப்புகள் பெனிட்டாவை பெரிதும் பாதிக்க ஆரம்பிக்கின்றன, இந்த முக்கியமான இலங்கை பயணத்தின் குறியீடாக கிராம்பு பெனிட்டாவின் படைப்புகளில் சிறப்புப் பெறுகிறது.

@ Kochi

இவ்வாறாக தன்னை சுற்றியுள்ள, தன்னை பாதித்த விஷயங்களைக் கொண்டே பெனிட்டா எங்கு சென்றாலும் தனது படைப்புகளை உருவாக்குகிறார். ஒரு புதிய சூழலில், அயலூரில்  கூட்டுக்காட்சியில் பங்கேற்கிறார் என்றால், அவர் படைப்பைப் பற்றி எந்த முன் தீர்மானமும் இன்றி சென்று, அங்கு தன்னை பாதித்த மற்றும் அங்கு கிடைக்கும்பொருட்களைக் கொண்டு படைப்புகளை உருவாக்குவது அவரது பாணி. இதனால் அவரால் பல முறை கூட்டுக்காட்சியின் ஆதார கருத்தின் அறிவிப்போடு ஒன்ற முடியாமல் போய்விடுகிறது,

பெனிட்டாவின் ஓவியம் மட்டுமல்லாது சிற்பங்களும் சிறப்பாக கவனம் பெற்றுள்ளன. சீனாவில் அவர் அகர்பத்திகளைக் கொண்டு வடிவமைத்த வட்டக்கோட்டை மாதிரியான சிற்பம் சிறப்பு கவனம் பெற்றது. பெனிட்டா தன் சிற்பங்களுக்கு ஓர் அசைவுத்தன்மை கொடுத்து விடுவதில் குறிப்பாக இருந்து, அவற்றுக்கு உயிர் புகுத்தி விடுகிறார். மரப்பசை கொண்டு அவர் செய்யும் சிற்பங்கள் காலப்போக்கில் உருமாறுவதன் மூலம் உயிர் 

கொள்கின்றன. அவரது சிற்ப செயல்பாட்டின் முத்தாய்ப்பாக ராஜஸ்தானில் சிற்பக்கலைகூடமாக உரு மாறியுள்ள ஒரு அரண்மனையில் பங்குக்கொள்ள உலகளவில் அழைக்கப்பட்ட வெகு சில கலைஞர்களில் பெனிட்டாவும் ஒருவர் என்பது தமிழகம் பெருமையாக கருதவேண்டிய விஷயம்.

@ sculpture park 

பெனிட்டா இந்த பயணத்தின் மூலம் இறுக்கமானவாராக, தன் சூழலின் மீது தாய்மை அக்கறை கொண்டவராக, இயற்கையின் மீது தீரா காதல் கொண்டவராக, நம் வணக்கங்களுக்கு உரியவராக வளர்ந்து நிற்கிறார்.

Merry going around in Mumbai

A recent visit to Mumbai in the first weekend of Feb, planned solely to visit the ‘India and world’ exhibition at the CSVSM, turned out to be a very delightful ‘Merry going around’ visit. I had very little agenda for the trip other than visiting the exhibition which was a joint effort of the British council and the National Museum , Delhi- as a result it was a rare opportunity to see some rare Museum pieces from different museums across India and from Britain, all under one roof. One other agenda was to catch the art on display at the Mumbai airport. But it turned out to be a very fortuitous time to be in the city with so much happening in the city around the Kala Ghoda festival. I am writing this post just to convey what a beautiful art rain that i was soaking in over two lovely days.

On arrival at the airport, i wanted to visit the art museum at the airport. I took my time walking thru the corridors of the airport leading to the exit, chewing on the gorgeous art works on display. The corridor seemed to be growing too long for me to keep ambling through all the works. I approached the help desk near the baggage collection place. The young personnel posted there, proved to be very kind and helpful. I asked him if he could arrange for a safari through the art museum. Though he seemed not to know much about the service, he made many queries and finally landed up on the right person. I was told the safari could be arranged during my next visit for departure. I was asked to report a little early for the departure. The safari, i was told, might take an hour. My departure was early in the day, and even though it was an odd time to be doing a safari i was assured it could be arranged. That assured, i moved on to my next item on the agenda.

As I started off from my room near Church gate station, walking into MG road, from Flora fountain, the festivities of Kala Ghoda and the exuberance of art galleries in Mumbai slowly caught upon me. It was a pleasant feeling that i was walking past the Jehangir gallery. I had always heard so much about the events in it that i could not resist checking into the gallery. The gallery is an assortment of many spaces each qualified to operated separately as a gallery space. Of the many works on display on the day of my visit, works by Subhash Babhulkar, from Nagpur were different and appealed to me.

Stepping outside the Gallery, i walked into the main venue of the Kala Ghoda festival, where i got to walk through some very spirited art installations celebrating the idea and theme of the festival. Just at the periphery of this venue was the Goethe institute, that was hosting an exhibition ‘ State of housing’, and it had Ranjit Hoskote as one of its curators- a reason good enough for me not to miss an opportunity to engage with RH’s work . I could only afford a very rushed walk through the exhibition. However a studio space in the show , where Nfdc documentaries on the subject were playing in a loop, few scenes from the docu ‘Burning sun’ by SNS Sastry made a special impact on me.

Hurrying out of Goethe, i could enter the CSVSM campus, and i had to walk through a space where there was an exhibition of works by studio potters and alongside this there was also a space for children to get their hands on clay and turn the potter’s wheel, guided by artisans. A Little further up towards the museum, there was the Coomarasamy hall of the CSVSM, that hosted a film festival. I made a note of the films that were listed, may be for some other time.

Having thus finally reached the gate of CSVSM and having gained a feel of the place and the events around it, i wanted to step out and catch a quick bite for lunch. But as soon as i stepped out there was the NGMA standing tall before me- a place i have again heard so much about and have always wanted to visit; now lunch had to wait further.

NGMA was hosting an exhibition called Nature Embedded- a Design Technology Experience. It had just opened the previous day. The show was an immersive meditation on Nature, and design ideas that invoke nature, thereby seeking to re-awaken the nature – culture bond. In my hurried viewing of the show- an exhibit which displayed a video featuring perspective views of dog, bird, fish was interesting; Scroll hangings featuring calligraphic take on nature and posters featuring quotes on nature was engaging too; A photo series featuring Kumbh mela seemed strangely out of place. I looked forward to taking away some publication based on the exhibition, but it was not available as of then.

Just as I was winding up my sojourn in NGMA, I saw that they were making arrangements for a talk. I thought it would be nice to listen to the curator, Dr. Ajanta Sen of IIT Bombay, talk about the show and decided to stay back. And to my further delight it wasn’t a talk by the curator but a talk by Paola Antonelli, Curator from MoMA, New York. She was going to talk on the title- ‘ Role of Design in connecting with the outside world and The Museum as a Facilitator’

It was a great privilege listening to someone with such a vast exposure to international projects, talk about her experiences and sharing her insights about Curation. Her talk proved to be a wonderful window to look at the works of many artists and designers, the working of MoMA and finally, also gave us a sneak peek into the The Milano Triennale 2019, she is curating. It was sad that i could not stay back for an interaction with her, as i had to push off to the CSVSM auditorium to listen to Dr Goswami talk about the subject of Representation of time in Indian Art.

There was little more time in hand before the talk and i used it steal a look at a gallery in the Neighbourhood of the kala Ghoda that hosted a show of Nudes by different artists. The show was closing that day, and i did not want to miss it. The show was mostly about the works of FN souza- whose nudes very painted in a bizarre style, and also had works of K G Subramani and Laxma Goud.

I was looking forward to the talk by Goswami, an opportunity to listen to someone who has written so much about Indian art- a crowning achievement in itself that topped an illustrious service in the Indian Administrative services. At this talk i was also sweetly surprised and felt blessed to listen to Ranjit Hoslkote,  who has made a mark for himself through his writings, critical writings and curatorial ventures, introduce Dr Goswami, pepping it up in his own neat way.

Dr Goswami’s talk hovered around the Rajasthani paintings and how time was represented in them. He indulged his audience with joy in narrating the puranic episodes to illustrate the scenes in the painting. He pointed out how in many of these paintings the same character was shown frozen in movement across two different time frames to give us the idea of time elapsing. This insight would certainly help anyone appreciate Rajasthani paintings better.

I rushed out of Dr Goswami’s talk, to attend a talk at the Goethe institute on Restoration of Heritage structures. This talk was very instructive on how a good restoration process takes a lot of time and how it is to be done taking in to account the history of the place. When this talk closed there was still time to catch a dance performance at NGMA, but they had changed the venue and hence i took a stroll down to the Gateway of India and a catch a glimpse of the well lit structure and also a travelling art installation resembling the moon. It was a big silvery disc hanging from a giant supporting structure.

The next day i headed straight to CSVSM, hoping to join a guided walk around the India and World exhibition. I was fortunate to get a guide all to myself. The Docent, who, i gathered, was pursuing a Museology course at the museum, proved to be very well informed and very efficient at taking me around the exhibition giving suitable, historical and curatorial contexts to the exhibits.

I was very impressed with the Docent’s knowledgeable ways so much that i wished he showed me around the whole of CSVSM. But that was not to be,and i had to settle for an audio tour of the bigger exhibition. However i did not have much time, as i had to rush some 10 kms to attend a talk 'Clay in Converstaion' that had Madhvi Subramaniam among others, talking about the forthcoming ceramics Triennale.  I did not want to miss an opportunity to listen to an artist of international repute, working with ceramics. The talk was at a revamped building called G5A in a complex that was earlier spinning mills. I was duly educated by the cab driver, who dropped me at the venue, that this was the place of a horrific rape crime that was in the news some time back. At the talk i was treated to glimpses of the works and career of some of the leading ceramic artists in India.

After the talk i grabbed a veg roll for lunch from what looked like the manufacturing facility of a famous food delivery brand and headed to Piramal Art gallery for a talk cum performance, Drawing a line through Landscape by Nikhil Chopra. There was a mix up in the venue and was delighted to be joined by two more folks who were also lost and on the trail to the event at Piramal. We headed to the new venue, which also happened to be at walking distance from Bhau Daji Lad museum, which was my next stop for a walk through of their contemporary exhibits, called Assymetrical Objects, of artist works that included Jitish Kallat, Reena Kallat and Shilpa Gupta.

Later that evening had some wonderful poetry readings in store for me and another opportunity to listen to Ranjith Hoskote, this time in  a panel hosted by Nancy Adjania. The panel also had other wonderful artist like Shilpa Gupta. The talk kept mentioning an exhibit on at a park opp Victoria building, and In what little time i had before closing hours of the night, i hurried to catch this show at the park. 

But it was sad that the curator of the show had decided not to reveal names of the artists and there was no write up (again a curatorial decision) against the art pieces on display to help the viewer appreciate the work. I am of the opinion that such an intervention might have worked in a cubical space, but not in this park.

I had to retire in time to bed so that i can start early the next day to catch my flight back home and before that take a tour of the Art displayed in the Airport.

An appointment for this tour that i had made on my arrival came good and thanks to some smart people at work, even in those early hours of the day i could take my long desired tour of the art in the Airport.

I hope to write separately and in more detail about each of these events in this eventful visit.