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Chasing the desert
Rajasthan is made up of 26 former
princely states and territories, each with their own proud and
distinctive character.
Their collective wealth of tradition and
culture — their vivid colours, crafts, music, dance, language, and
literature — is to a large extent a response to the challenges of
living in a difficult terrain
Gillian Wright
Rajasthan,
is modern India's largest state, extending over more than 340,000 sq.
kilometres. Roughly divided into two parts, the west comprises the
shifting dunes and scrublands of the Thar Desert, the easternmost part
of the Saharan-Arabian desert zone. The heart of this desert is
locally known as the Marusthali — the land of the dead. Over vast
areas of the Thar ruled the Maharajas of Bikaner, Jodhpur, and
Jaisalmer. Protecting the south and eastern part of the state from the
advance of the desert is the ancient mountain range whose name,
Aravalli, literally means an obstacle in the way. Temperatures vary
from almost freezing in winter to above 50 degrees centigrade in
summer. Brief monsoon rains can be torrential and transform arid areas
into tapestries of green. A quarter of India's livestock is to be
found in Rajasthan. This amounts to 55 million animals including 12
million cattle, 14 million sheep, 17 million goats, 24,000 horses, and
70,000 camels.
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| Wells in the desert often belong to different communities and castes. This well in Barmer district belongs to members of the Rajput caste. A woman hauls on a rope to raise water in a rubber pouch. Her husband then pours it into bags slung over their donkey |
’Art & Soul
Vanishing strokes
Calligraphy, or the fine art of
writing, may not have many takers today but the form continues to
survive in some pockets of the country
B.N.Goswamy
I shall first say
something about the art of writing…. The letter, a magical power, is
spiritual geometry emanating from the pen of invention; a heavenly
writ from the hand of fate; it contains the secret word, and is the
tongue of the hand…. Superficial observers see in the letter a sooty
figure; but the deep-sighted a lamp of wisdom. The written letter
looks black, notwithstanding the thousand rays within; or, it is a
light with a mole on it that wards off the evil eye. A letter is the
portrait painter of wisdom; a rough sketch from the realm of ideas; a
dark night ushering in day; a black cloud pregnant with knowledge; the
wand for the treasures of insight; speaking, though dumb; stationary,
and yet travelling; stretched on the sheet, and yet soaring upwards.
Abu'l Fazl in the Ain-i Akbari, ca. 1590
I
do not exactly remember when but I am sure I have written in
this very column on the art of calligraphy, especially Islamic
calligraphy, before. And I might even have cited the words —words
that I find irresistible — of Abu’l Fazl, that great chronicler at
the court of Akbar. Why then, it could be asked, am I returning to the
theme? It is for two reasons: one arising from my visits to Delhi and,
two, because I read recently about some fine calligraphers, who
continue to practice this art at Hyderabad.
Wellness
Don't get hyper
Every two out of 10
individuals have high blood pressure. The causes are varied —
high-stress levels, obesity, diabetes, smoking, alcoholism, sedentary
lifestyle, high salt intake, etc. But lifestyle modifications can help
lower blood pressure and prevent the risk of cardiovascular diseases
Our
goals today are materialistic and monetary and we give
everything we can to achieve them. Our priorities have changed. Health
is majorly ignored and considered nothing but secondary. The incidence
of stress-related diseases is rising. One such stress-related disease
that every two out of 10 individuals are diagnosed with is
hypertension, which in layman's terms is called high blood pressure.
Society
Parenting in the age of social
media
As the social world shrinks to a
fist-sized mouse or the tip of a finger, the rules of social
interaction are getting increasingly blurred
Aditi Garg
Trusting
parents and digital-age teens that take them for a ride easily,
make for a troubling prospect and is the stark reality. According to a
survey by McAfee in seven Indian cities, 79 per cent of parents trust
their kids with the content they access on the Internet but a
startling 47 per cent teens have seen sexual content online. 70 per
cent parents trust their kids to tell them about their online
activities, while 55 per cent teens admit they don't.
travel
Gateway to Land of Thunder
Dragon
The charming small town of Paro
in Bhutan lies on the banks of meandering Paro Chhu River. In a time
warp, the place is cautiously opening up to the modern world
Kavita Kanan Chandra
Visiting
Bhutan is like visiting a fairy land with imposing dzongs
(fortress), rugged mountains, gushing glacial rivers, towering peaks,
winding roads and lush dense forest. People walking on streets in
their traditional clothes, buildings made of stone, mud and carved
wood and the warm and friendly natives are quite fascinating. You
might get carried away by the sight and consider that the ‘Last
Shangrila’ indeed remains in the time warp. However, you might be
mistaken to some extent for the tiny Himalayan kingdom is opening to
trappings of modern world but cautiously. People watch television,
keep mobiles and modern modes of transport has made connectivity to
the world much better. What will amaze you is the balance that has
been maintained between traditions and modernity by the Bhutanese
people.
Entertainment
Many shades of love
Unconventional romances are
increasingly becoming the norm in popular Hindi cinema as directors
give a new spin to a tried and tested genre
Saibal Chatterjee
Fluffy
boy-meets-girl yarns that end in the young lovers surmounting
all odds and living happily ever after have always been, and will
always be, staple Bollywood fare for the teen market. However, a new
breed of Mumbai filmmakers is increasingly veering round to the
Shakespearean view that "the course of true love never did run
smooth".
Balraj
Sahni: A class act
Balraj Sahni’s films carried
the signature of his inimitable style, sober body language and
soft-pitch dialogue delivery
Shoma A. Chatterji
It
is sad that a sterling performer like Balraj Sahni is hardly
remembered in the year of his 100th birth anniversary. The actor, who
acted in some wonderful plays, is associated with a few classic films
like Do Bigha Zamin (1953), Garm Hawa (1973) and his
biggest commercial success Waqt (1965.) His low-key and subtle
portrayals like that of the farmer-turned-rickshawpuller Shambhu
Mahato in Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zamin and the sad Salim Mirza
caught between his love for his Indian roots and the political
pressure on him to migrate to Pakistan after Partition in Garm Hawa
are unforgettable.
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