Why we celebrate Sankranthi!

I love the way we interpret the festivals in India.

Sankranthi falls today and it is a festival of harvest, new beginnings, and new ideas. Alicia looks at it in a different way.

Wish you and your family a very happy pongal.

Was Dance my first love??

My very dear friend, Pooja Venugopal made this happen! A guest post from Ambili Babu. That's psychology + emotions + dancing + creativity & attitude for you!

Read on...

No it wasn't!! It was just another extra curricular activity. I recall as a 5 year old,when every Saturday and Wednesday I would wear my red salwar kameez accessorized with a long bindi, largely drawn eyes and a dangling earring would rush to my class to meet my friends and of course, my guru.

But my early memories of dance are strenuous dance postures with severe cramps and repeated ‘adavus’ (basic steps), I could never understand the purpose of trying so hard to emote something so simple. If communication was the purpose might as well ‘Say it’!!

I was moulded into it, fitted into theories of dance and Natya shastra, as years rolled on dance became an integral part of my Soul, I began to think, breathe and feel dance. But sometimes I pondered if I was restricting myself to the frames of the conventional theories, but what use was it if I couldn't use it for a divine purpose? Was I limiting myself to be just a an entertainer or performer?? These were just questions that juggled within, I needed an answer but I never did.

Years later when I finished my schooling and I headed to Bangalore to pursue my studies, I was a part of a reputed institution, where arts of all kinds and forms were nurtured and developed, I was happy to be there, but I was afraid if I would lose my identity as a dancer. When one fine evening as I walked through the streets of Koramangala, I found a flyer with a dance pose on the ground, I picked it up, it read ‘Indian Contemporary dance.’ I was wondering what this could be. But I had a spark within and thought what if I found an answer to the question I always asked myself!! That weekend I prepared and enrolled myself to a journey that turned my life!

Freedom ‘of the dancer in you, there was no limitations, no boundaries, it was an endless ocean of experience and learning! My guru told me in the first class ‘you are a bad dancer and I wonder if u know that!' It crushed me. I cried and thought was all my prior training in vain? What was I doing?

But as my training progressed the mysteries and the purpose of dance began to unveil. We were trained with the basics of 12 formal styles of dance and martial arts. My guru once said, ‘you have conceived dance, it is still an embryo, you need to nurture it, protect it, think effectively of its growth, you should be aware of what is within you, until you deliver a full grown healthy baby-your choreography’ that becomes your own production a combination of your creative and intellectual power. This changed my life and yes I found an answer to the questions I had. Training under him for 6 years brought tremendous meaning in my life, as a dancer and above all as a human being!

Whatever you feel becomes an emotion which in turn could be directed to a movement, your body reacts to that movement, your eyes, your limbs, even your breath is controlled in respect to your emotion, so why not use these movements as a powerful medium of communication? Dance should not be limited to just movements, and showcasing mythological and historic events, it has divine power to evoke a thought, to translate a social message or sometimes to just reflect the expression of your soul.

When I look back at my journey, I realize all my prior training as a child has strengthened me to use abhinaya (expressions), mudras (hand gestures) and adavus to create newer movements and to use it effectively!!  When we create, every movement has an intellectual and creative flavor and thus enables us to produce a well crafted piece, and may be it could be your masterpiece.

I moved on then to create pieces I called, Women empowerment, Suicide, Abortion - Oh My Child!, Choice- A temptation? and many more. Some were huge successes while some a failure, but I am still learning and believe I will keep translating  my thoughts as long as The Lord enables me.

Today, when I train a bundle of kids, all I tell them is ‘Experience and feel every movement and it will transform your lives and thoughts. Nurture your body and mind and each of you have a great purpose as a dancer which they have to unveil themselves!!

And of course I strongly believe and know today ‘ Dance was my First Love’!!

Understanding art

We all know Aelita is a child prodigy and has unfathomable talent! Here is a video for you to grasp how children from now will be!


Imagine what no baggage, no fear, no limiting expectations can do! Here is to creativity and passion and improving!

The Taj Conspiracy: Book Review

Long. Really looooooong. That's how I felt when I saw this book and it came as a surprise package. I have to agree this is heady stuff. Coming from a background in history with special interests in architecture, especially Hindu and Mughal aerial topography, I have found this interesting. To put into perspective, this is a combination of history meets crime meets bollywood meets murder meets emotional atyachar meets chemistry meets carbon dating meets snake charmer meets communal riots meets reality of life in India meets unity meets sincerity! But for a change I kind of liked it!

Here is how the story goes. A dead body is discovered by Mehr, a Katrina Kaif styled history loving, Indian origin NRI who comes to India in search of her roots and finds herself entangled into the exploding story of communal riots and how some elements play the cards to fight it out for the Taj Mahal and the Shiva temple in the same structure.

In the process she meets, archaeologists, fanatics, survives several murder attempts, meets police officers, has close encounters with her own ghouls and goes through what we can call a bollywood style chasing sequence with mysteries all around. It is an exciting journey to follow Mehr and try to understand why we need to accept the reality of History and move on with a wider all accepting view. In between you find yourself transported on a lesson in linguistics and calligraphy, to a cave in Kashmir and enter in to the minds of criminal eradicating pest-control mode of policing by Pratap and SSP Raghav who are true in their spirit and passion but have different styles.

Sprinkle in some onion sautéing and old monk fueled revelry and a delirious liking for the dead bodies and how they are treated. You would need to find time and effort to follow the actual plot of declaring Taj as a Shiva temple and different pieces in the puzzle to make sense. How Mehr, aided by her two police friends solves the mystery and comes to a close shaving climax where she is rescued by the hero is very entertaining to read.

I liked the small chapter style and a matter of fact reporting with importance on food, moments that can get missed in a blink, action, in fact well packed action and the depth of knowledge in the author, especially when treating architecture and mystery. This is beautifully handled and woven into the story. Though it can be slightly cut short, may be by 50-60 pages, I think it is ok as long as the reader doesn’t get bored. The book made me go back to my college days where we used to spend hours discussing the differences in the temple architectures and the materials used and what was the reason. 

To summarize, this is folklore + action + local detective + politics served with hot masala chai for you. What is missing is sugar, but isn’t that the way SSP Raghav likes it?

Rating: 3/5

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Monday Blues: Create your own world

Wayne Thiebaud said... An artist creates his own world. Be your own artist and create your own world. Guess what, make it beautiful. No, make it awesome.

Wayne transformed the way food is looked at. His painting is displayed as Google Doodle on its 12'th birthday.


PS. Wayne's pic is from here.

Redefining Vogue

Irving Penn (June 16, 1917 – October 7, 2009) was an American photographer known for his portraiture and fashion photography well known for redefining Vogue!

RIP Penn.

Pic

India... What else?

The real rocky

Art is an impression of life?

My pick of the best movies of 2008

Here are my favorite movies in no particular order:

The Dark Knight- Obvious, right?  This is on everyone list.  It speaks to how good this movie was that everyone thought the movie would be good when it came out and then it went and beat all of those high expectations to do even better than everyone thought.  Everyone was good in this.  Maggie Gyllenhaal was an upgrade to Katie Holmes.  Heath Ledger blew it out tha box, yo.  And Aaron Eckhart continued to prove he can hold his own with the best. The only thing I didn’t like about the movie, was Christian Bale’s grating “Batman voice”. Other than that, this movie defined how a Batman movie should be made. Hopefully a few actors get Oscar noms.

Wall-E:  Whirring amid dilapidated skyscrapers and equally tall compacted trash heaps, he's the last living thing on Earth (aside from a little cockroach friend). WALL-E has developed a tender and inquisitive personality doing what he was built to do--allocate and dispose of human waste--day in and day out for the past 700 years simply because no one turned him off when the human race left the now-hostile planet. Soon though, the directive-oriented automaton Eve comes crashing into WALL-E's life from above, immediately becoming the object of his infatuation. At the drop of a hat, the little guy follows her back into the dangerous unknown, where the sight of two robots gliding through the cosmic ether, dancing via fire-extinguisher propulsion, joins the many memorable moments of a deceptively simple, expansively romantic story.

Iron Man- Probably another obvious choice.  This movie was lightning in a bottle.  The combination of Robert Downey, Jr, a great story and a hero that not a lot of people really knew about combined to create one of the best comic book movies of all time.  How about Gwenyth Paltrow?  Wow, she looks fantastic.  Good to see her back.  Jeff Bridges was his usual awesome self.  Oscar nomination for Robert Downey, Jr?  I could watch him play Tony Stark in like 15 more Iron Man movies.  Hopefully some special effects awards, too, because the suits looked fantastic.

Valkyrie- I was surprised how much I really liked this movie.  It doesn’t end happy.  But you should expect that going in.  I find the whole Hitler and the dynamics of the Third Reich fascinating especially because I have a Masters in History and WW I & II are great stories.  Seeing the story of German soldiers that think Hitler is the ruin of Germany is a great hook.  These German nationalists band together in a secret coalition to assassinate Hitler.  Great story. Good to see Bryan Singer return to his X-Men/X-Men 2 form.  Tom Cruise is really good.  I really like him as an actor despite his off camera shenanigans.

Kung-Fu Panda- I had to succomb to the undeniable AWESOMENESS that was Kung-Fu Panda.  Jack Black was born for this role. He may, in fact, have found his Shrek.  This movie is funny, touching and full of action.  I love kids’ movies and this was one of the best I have seen in a long time.  The opening monologue by Jack Black made me laugh so hard I think I blacked out for a second.

The Incredible Hulk- This movie is a “semi-sequel” to the 2003 Ang Lee fiasco. The Hulk effects are much better and the action is much more “action-y” and less “artsy”.  Norton plays the constantly on the run and fear of changing Banner perfectly.  I think the switch of Liv Tyler for Jennifer Connelly was a wash, but William Hurt for Sam Elliot was a winner.  Great, great Hulk movie.  I hope Norton returns for the Avengers movie in 2010.

Quantum of Solace- Bond continues his kick ass revival.  Daniel Craig and the Bond re-vamp has really infused some life into this character.  The gritty, “not afraid to get blood on my tux” Bond is a joy to behold.  I think Craig is groeing and learning on his way to be a Connery.  And barely, at that.  The intricate plot of both this and Casino Royale almost require multiple viewings, but you can read my review on QOS here.

Second Nature by Tokujin Yoshioka

Wall Hanging

Ice table, Chair, Wall painting

Ice Rainfall

Abstract art using ice to depict the cold complex feeling called Second Nature.

Source: FFO

Happy Children's day

Each one of us have a kid in them. This kid not only comes out when you are alone or feeling childish but also when you make choices, purchases, decisions. What you undergo in your childhood has its implications on how you behave, why you behave, what you feel, why and so on. So if you are a person who can change the way children feel in your house, friend's place, do it. Make them feel the right way, learn the right lessons, understand the right things at the right time, pick up the best qualities and see life in a better way. After all raising a child is like painting a masterpiece, sculpting a huge sculpture. You don't do this in a day. Its done over a long time, one stroke of the brush or chisel at a time. Do it in such way that it is a good picture and not a messy one.

Unlike a picture or a sculpture in this case the picture also knows where it is going and how it is being made. Each coating of paint, stroke of the chisel is remembered and shapes its character, behaviour and the psyche. Good luck.

Happy Children's Day!

Pic: Eden

Riz Raizada vs Drona

Fifteen hundred special effect shots. Locations straddling three continents, and one man's imagination. A Rs 22-crore villain. A seven-foot gladiator from Thailand. Technicians from England, America, Namibia, Czech Republic, Australia, South Africa and Italy. Six VFX studios. One hundred and twelve shooting days. Four hundred and twenty-six days of post-production. One film. Drona.

The most expensive character in the film turned out to be the villain. Riz is a sorcerer who can teleport himself, halt things mid-air and conjure up water, fire and illusions. His character took up the most number of special effects. But a figure of Rs 22 crore can still shock. "Everything from his clothing to his weapons to his magical abilities required a lot of budgeting," says Arya. "His sets were the most expensive to create."

Drona is getting ready for release on October 2. So what are the expectations connected to this extravaganza of a film where potential losses amount to staggering figures? Simply put by Behl: "Huge."