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Colours of folk art
Tribal and folk art forms are among the most glorious living traditions of India.
Charu Smita Gupta chronicles the evolution and resurgence of these in her book
Indian Folk and Tribal Paintings. Excerpts:
ART,
among the tribal and folk communities in India, was never indulged in
purely for pleasure. Its purpose was equally to pacify the malevolent
deities and to pay homage and express gratitude to the benevolent
ones. Festivals are linked to the two agricultural crop cycles of
sowing, reaping, harvesting, and storing; festivities are also related
to events such as birth, puberty, and marriage.
Water
in safe hands
Known as kuhls in Kangra,
these canals, which bring water from melted snow and rain to the
plains from the Dhauladhar ranges, have become polluted due to rapid
urbanisation. An Austrian doctor, backed by local women, has launched
an initiative to keep the kuhls clean for providing safe
drinking water, writes Nirupama Dutt
MOVE
into the countryside in the hills and it is common to see women
washing clothes by narrow streams gushing alongside roads. The song of
trickling water is the continuous magical music of the Kangra valley
in Himachal Pradesh, which is crisscrossed by thousands of irrigation
canals.
Small
is beautiful
R. K.
Bhasin writes about Matheran, India’s smallest hill station
A
signboard at Dasturi Naka, the entrance to Matheran, situated at a
height of 803 metres, in Maharashtra, carries the information that it
is the tinniest hill station in India, the only pedestrian destination
in Asia and the most clean hill station in India, which has been
declared as eco-sensitive-zone by the Government of India.
Stonehenge
A rave venue, says expert
Stonehenge,
one of the most famous pre-historic sites in Britain, has long baffled
archaeologists who have argued for decades over its 5,000-year
history. Now a researcher has claimed that it was a venue for ancient
raves.
Chips
for Jumbos
Vipul Goel
THEIR
deft strokes transform a frail, earthly figure into the mighty Indian
demigod Hanuman. Their soft touches can change a scrawny pork-marked
face into that of an ‘apasara’. But the make-up artistes of the
Kathakali theatre, the classical dance drama of Kerala, are destined
to remain the unsung, backstage heroes unlike the actors, musicians or
drummers, who hog the whole limelight.
That
messed-up look
Anju Munshi
YOU
may consider yourself fashionable but that is not enough. You have to
sport the look of the day. The messed-up look tops the popularity
chart at the moment—the art of looking carefully careless.
Mohandas
is a metaphor
Based on a real-life
incident, Mazhar Kamran’s Mohandas is about loss of values such as
honesty, integrity and non-violence, says Shoma
A. Chatterji
Mohandas
is the story of an ordinary man and had to be portrayed by a face that
was unfamiliar to my audience but also by a powerful actor. I could
never have made it with Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir," says
cinematographer-turned-director Mazhar Kamran about his directorial
debut, Mohandas.
Danny
chose me over Indian actors: Dev Patel
Dev
Patel, who has won much critical acclaim for his performance in Slumdog
Millionaire said he landed the role after director Danny Boyle
could not find an Indian actor to play the young slum-dweller Jamal.
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