The Splendour of Masters

I am a hyper kind of a person. Someone once said of herself - “My mind is always in constant chatter with itself in which I think about a million things” and I was like – THAT IS SO ME!!!! Only Music, especially the flute has a calming effect on me. From as far back as I can remember the Flute was always my favorite. It inspires me, stirs such emotions and even though this may sound like an oxymoron – it energizes while bringing about a greater peacefulness.

Just the thought of listening to THE Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia energized me!!! The Splendour of Masters - a brilliant coming-together of varied genres from Indian and western classical to jazz with the maestros- Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Gwyneth Wentink on the Harp, George Brooks with the Saxaphone, Fazal Qureshi, Mukul Dongre, Subhankar Banerjee on the Tablas and finally Gino Banks on the Drums - what a mélange!!! Sounded very, very unusual and interesting.

Don’t ask me what ragas were played…I don’t have that kinda knowledge unfortunately. But we were treated to some mind-blowing chemistry between the Flute and Harp, Saxaphone and Drums, Flute and Saxaphone, Drums and Tabla and finally all of them together.

The Harpist - Gwyneth Wentink also explained the basic chords and strings of the Harp…not that it made any sense to me. But it was appreciated by many other in the audience – the musicians. She was excellent and reciprocated Pandit Ji with ease and what they managed to create that day was truly meditative. In the middle, a string broke in her harp, but she didn’t let that worry her too much and continued to play.

Geroge Brooke went Indian - sitting cross-legged, presenting a Western instrument in a Kurta!!! He on the saxophone and Gino Banks on drums then played some real peppy music, which left many tapping their feet.

A soul rendering solo – a lullaby from Brooks followed.

The grand finale with all of them playing together was a spell-binding experiment, playful at time, dark and brooding at others.

A Mesmerizing evening!

Swami and Friends

An adaptation of R.K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends – I knew I had to go for this. I know not one Indian who is not a fan of Swami made particularly famous by the DD serial ‘Malgudi Days’. I can hear many of you humming ’taa na na nana ta na’

The brochure said…’faithful to the novel but adapted and directed with a fresh perspective’. I would so agree with that for this one time many will come out as fans of Mani.

Mani, with his curly hair and idiotic smile just stole the show. As the ‘sutradhar’, when he was telling the anecdotes to Rajam, the faraway, dreamy look in his eyes was so natural.

“What is the holy trinity?” Swami’s ‘Vishnu, Brahma and Shive’ bought out laughs in the audience, but Mani’s ‘Swami, Rajam and Mani’ along with that idiotic laugh, had the audience roaring.

This is not to say that Swami was not good. The helplessness and ‘I can’t understand the logic of the Arithmetic teacher’ came out brilliantly.

For the history teacher all I can say is my biggest regret is why I didn’t have him as my teacher - with his enacting classed would have been very interesting!!!

A well spent Saturday evening!

Our Destiny, Life and Prayers

From Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Overall, an OK book, a one time read. But there were these 2 or 3 bits that I just loved …Simple words…but so profound.

Coincidentally, all are from the Pray section of the book….surprising because I wear this badge of being a very unspiritual person!!!

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Better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody’s life with perfection. So now I have started living  my own life. Imperfect and clumsy as it may look, it is resembling me now, thoroughly.

God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are. God isn't interested in watching you enact some performance of personality in order to comply with some notion….

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Richard found himself praying all the time. His prayer was always the same. He kept begging God, “Please, please, please open my heart.” That was all he wanted – an open heart. And he would always finish the prayer for an open heart by asking God, “And please send me a sign when the event has occurred.” After a few months of praying constantly for an open heart, what do you think Richard got?That’s right – emergency open-heart surgery. His chest was literally cracked open, his ribs cleaved away from each other to allow some daylight to finally reach into his heart, as though God were saying, “How’s that for a sign?” So now Richard is always cautious with his prayers, he tells me. “Whenever I pray for anything these days, I always wrap it up by saying, ‘Oh, and God? Please be gentle with me, OK?”

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Of course God already knows what I need. The question is – do I know? Casting yourself at God’s feet in helpless desperation is all well and good – heaven knows, I’ve done it myself plenty of times – but ultimately you're likely to get more out of the experience  if you can take some action on your end. There’s a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, “Dear saint – please, please, please ….give me the grace to win the lottery.” This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, “My son – please, please, please…buy a ticket”

A Wedding Album

Maybe it would be unfair if I said that this play didn't meet my expectations, probably because  I had recently seen Miss Meena - a creative masterpiece and this set the benchmark quite high.

Moreover, just by virtue of it being a Girish Karnad play, directed by Lillete Dubey, boasting a star cast with Lillete Dubey, Ira Dubey, Suchitra Pillai, Utkarsh Mazumdar, Amar Talwar one really has some high expectations.

The acting was brilliant – no doubts about that. Guess the story line was not very intelligent and that’s why we didn't see  any of the expected sharp and witty humor one associates with Girish Karnad. In fact I think the story was more appropriate for a  B-class Bollywood movie than a play with such a brilliant cast!

It reminded me of one of those Govinda-Karisma Kapoor movies, which were a rage in the 90s. There were several of them, but I am sure no one remembers which one was which. There will definitely be confusions on which scene / dialog / song was in which movie. The movie made you laugh for a bit, but nothing that stayed with you for even a minute after the movie was over.

The theme is how the traditional Indian Wedding has changed in today's globalized, technologically advanced world…a subject which maybe could have been handled more innovatively. But the characters where stereotypes.

So we have this EDUCATED, LIBERAL, MODERN urban middle-class family – an elder daughter who lives abroad with her professional husband, a son who is a software designer BUT the younger daughter is willing to marry a suitable boy from the US whom she has never met. The play starts with the brother making a video of his younger sister to showcase her to the prospective groom. Not theatre material…I say… Bollywood material!

But not to take everything from the play …it does have some charming moments and witty dialogues. Utkarsh Mazumdar was brilliant – his portrayal as Appa who still lives in the past had everyone laughing, especially when he would repeat the dialog about ‘had his brother been alive…’

The prospective groom from the United States (not sure of his name) was super….his American twang was just out of the world. His talk, his body language, accent… everything was just so USA returned!

Maybe if the play stayed in this one theme, it would have done better…but me no expert. This is just my personal view, but the play tried to raise too many questions and in the end leaving some of them unanswered…as in what was with the dead uncle. And the most ominous one…did she find happiness getting married to that obnoxious creature or as advised by her siblings..that if things didn't work out, she could always come back, did she return?

Miss Meena

Finland was fun…a lot of fun, but one thing I really missed about Bangalore was the theatre scene especially Rangashankara. I returned and was dying to catch a play…it didn't help that Rangashankara was closed for 2 weeks for maintenance and renovation.
Finally, Miss Meena was playing one weekend. I hadn’t heard about the group before but it sounded good. Couldn't find any company to join me, so heights of desperation…I decided to go alone and that also the evening show. It was so worth it.

Miss Meena‘s script is loosely based on ‘The Visit’ by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. The tagline was "A Play In English and a Smattering of Other Languages". Only it wasn’t just a smattering. There was some Hindi, wee bit of Kannada and a bit too much Tamil for my liking and understanding.It was a bit irritating, but the play was so brilliantly creative that I would still recommend it to people who don’t speak Hindi, Tamil or Kannada.

The plot revolves around a film star Miss Meena (earlier Asha), who is returning to her native village Pichampuram after two decades. In the meantime Pichampuram has descended into a state of dire poverty. The play opens with the villagers hoping that Meena will rescue her village. The onus is put by the villagers on Ravi to plead their case since they had something going many years back and she must still have some feelings for him.

Ms. Meena arrives …and that was the 1st glimpse of creativity. So we have this group of people singing a song (Miss Meena, Miss Meena, avala pere Miss Meena) and it suddenly they converge into a circle in the centre of the stage. The lights dim a bit, but its not totally dark. The circle opens up to give us our first glimpse of Miss Meena who has apparated in the middle of that from god alone knows where. How the hell she reached there…I still haven't been able to figure out.

Miss Meena agrees to help the village…in totally filmi style she announces that she will make her final film here and that would boost the village as many people will visit it in her remembrance and to pay homage to her. The film will also star the villagers. But in return for that…she wants the life of Ravi. It seems he had dumped her…and as they say - ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’

And suddenly from the sweet Meena….she transforms to the bitter. Throughout the act  effortlessly she reflects the pose-for-the-camera-sweetness and underlying bitterness.

What I liked best about the whole act was the creativity that shone in the usage of the props…simple props like iron bucket, brooms (the big bamboo ones used to sweep fields etc), winnowing baskets and other handicrafts, a roll of bubble wrap were used in such inventive ways.

I was just wondering what they are trying to achieve when the broom handle was used to suddenly lift the bubble wrap to a height…it was a waterfall! Complete with round winnowing baskets placed as stones to walk on!

A bucket and table frame turned into a cow….and believe me it looked really good. During the shooting of the film, a bicycle pump is used as a microphone, a broom and a churner used to create a boom microphone, and a bucket on stick represents a camera.

The bus scene was amazingly hilarious. A winnowing basket became the steering wheel, the brooms the handrails, the table frame the frame of the bus…this complete with the the slow-motion of the people moving backwards and forwards had the audience roaring.

But the most inventive was when right there in front of us, the cast constructed a statue of Ganesha using the brooms for this ears, sun glasses for his eyes, a length of red fabric(which was elsewhere used to represent a garland) his trunk…it was a very recognizable Ganesha!

Another interesting aspect of  the play was the spoof on films and the parodies on movie clichés. So whether it was the rendition of a film climax with the gunfire and screaming or the ‘baaap ki beti’ sequence, they sure were a hit with the crowd. The father in the sequence is a cripple, and the way the actor enacted the crippling walk was hilarious.

And finally, a brilliant cast makes the play a must watch. Not only did they play multiple roles to perfection, but they way the enacted insects and winged moths accompanied with oral percussion was brilliant.

Africa Calling

Several times during the course of my wanderings in Oulu I saw beautiful posters of dolphins. They said Villi Meri…couldn’t figure out if it was one of those aquariums like Deep Sea World in Edinburgh or was it a movie.

Google and Google translator to the rescue – Villi Meri means Wild Ocean. It was a film being screened at Tietomaa Science Center in Oulu, with special screenings in English on request! Tag line for the movie – Africa meets the Sea.

Africa...has been on my wish list for as long as I can remember. Even as a young girl in school I remember seeing photographs of my cousins who had visited Mombasa in East Africa, and thinking …gosh I do so want to be there too!!!!

The centre boasts of a magnificent super screen theatre. Believe you me, it not one of those kahli peeli boasts. The screen was super-duper.

The movie overall was a documentary to raise awareness of the effects of pirate fishing and global warming on the marine life. It lays stress on the fact that only 1/100^th part of a percent of the seas is protected and the need for marine reserves.

But it was based around a place called the Wild Coast on the coast of South Africa, where shoals of sardines head towards the coast in June/July every year. They are followed by all kinds of predators – various species of Dolphins, Sharks, Whales, Seals and Gannets.

The Gannets can plunge midflight to depths as deep as 10 mts to catch the fish!

This phenomenon is referred to as ‘The Sardine Run’ and it seems that people can catch sardines with bare hands at that time of the year as the swirling shoals are gigantic in size and very close to the surface and coast – the shoals can be upto 7 km long! More than fish, these shoals look like an oil spill in the sea.

The photography and the effects were brilliant. In the opening scene I felt as if I was sitting in a helicopter and approaching the coast!!!!

In between they also covered the local people and African music…the drum beats are something that make you just want to dance!!!

A place I love and a good screening make for some wistful thoughts. I just wanted to catch the next flight to South Africa after seeing that movie.

And then last week someone sends me pictures from an African Safari….too much of a coincidence. I just have to plan East and South Africa this year!!!

Naariyal Paani

The advert was really nice…a man in jeans and white tee sprawled out on luxuriant green grass, holding a tender coconut. Alongside it said - "The play begins with the character madly in love and every time he tries to share his story with others it is of no avail. Frustrated, he decides to present his story and reach out to the general public. He wants himself to be heard. He goes on and books Ranga Shankara to tell his story to the world."

Funny name for a play, was my first thought. Couldn’t figure out how Naariyal Paani fitted in with the love story! The one thing that stands out in my mind was me thinking after the play ... was the description in the advert really apt?

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it.

As the protagonist comes on the stage, he is accompanied by two musicians playing the Tabla and Guitar. At regular intervals during the course of the play they enter the stage from one end and leave from the other end. The protagonist gets irritated with them and wants them to leave. But they in a sing song way talk to him and tell him that he cannot get rid of them, as the guitarist t represents the universe, while the actor playing the Tabla signifies his own physical presence.

During the entire play the protagonist is in conversation with the audience, wanting to tell them about his love for a girl.

He comes across as a man with a disturbed mind, though this is not explicitly mentioned at any point of mind. I guess it is left up to the viewers to interpret and develop their own perception...was he always like that or did he become like that when he lost the girl he loved.

His acting was superb, especially the way he enacted himself cycling for football practice and how he would stop, park his cycle and stand behind the tree to observe the girl. His way of talking like a small innocent child was so endearing especially the way he gets upset when he reaches the place late to find that she has already left. He takes you into his innocent world, his reaction when he comes to know that she is getting married to someone else, his staunch belief that she does not want to get married and will return to him one day soon.

Another thing that I felt was...was this whole story a make belief, a figment of his imagination or did he really love a girl, did he really wait and collect the empty coconut after she had finished the tender coconut and left the stall. Though, I did feel that he had not ever confessed his love to the girl but just liked to believe that she knew and loved him back.

I guess by now you would have guessed where the name came from... he would secretly observe her when she came to drink Naariyal Paani at the stall and collect the empty coconut after she left!!!

Hamlet, the Clown Prince

Another delayed post on a play that I watched quite some time back ...one which I really enjoyed and I must say has become one of my favorites.

The director, Rajat Kapoor, is one of my favorite actors and I was still in awe from a recent play, The Blue Mug, which I had watched sometime back when I got the email for this one.

The advertisement itself was quite interesting.
"The production is a creation based on William Shakespeare's HAMLET- in English and gibberish. A bunch of clowns are putting up a show of Hamlet- They sometimes misinterpret the text, sometimes find new meanings in it, sometimes try and understand it, very often make a mess of it.
They choose to use some phrases from the play and mix it with gibberish. They even edit the text, throw out some important scenes, and made a mess of the order of things as if the pages got mixed up. But through this all they are simply looking for the essence of Hamlet. And trying to find a context for it in our own times"

I hadn’t read Hamlet, so I was a bit apprehensive that I may lose out on some of the nuances of the play. Luckily one of the girls going with us seemed to know it by heart and gave us a good rundown on the story as we drove to Rangashankara.

At RS, we grabbed some good seats and were pleasantly surprised to find Rajat Kapoor, with an unkempt beard and arty look sitting there in the audience.

A day before I had Googled a bit and found that here again, like in Blue Mug, there was no script but the whole play was created during the rehearsals. This was evident in the 1st scene of the play itself, when we find them making references to Bangalore. I believe when they play was staged in Mumbai and Delhi, they made references to those cities.

The play is about a company of clowns who want to stage a play…i.e a play in a play!!! The clowns are thinking which play to stage and who will play what role when one of clowns reaches late. When he is questioned he makes fun about the distance of the Bangalore airport from the city…on how the taxi kept going and going. Since the airport moved from the city to the outskirts this is a major irritant for frequent travelers, so you could see many people in the audience bursting out into laughter.

The opening scene is all gibberish…how the actor’s mange to talk nonsense in such a consistent way is admirable. How does one learn a line of gibberish! Guess it must be impromptu!!! But that again requires a different level of confidence.

The introduction by the clowns to their play was simple but totally hilarious -"Clown Company presents TRAGEDY!!"

Throughout the play, the clowns in the play acknowledge the audience and converse and joke around with them directly.

It is good slapstick comedy, very witty unlike some comedy shows which think that comedy is all about buffoonery.

One of the actors was amazing. Guess he was not really interested in tragedy, so he breaks into impromptu dancing – Michael Jacksons moon walk which at that time was in everyone’s mind due to his recent death. Or he would suddenly break out into songs from Lion king. He had everyone roaring with laughter.

At one time, he plays Hamlet’s dead father’s ghost. Since he is not allowed to talk, he starts using dumb charades to explain to the clueless Hamlet what he wants him to do to avenge his death!! God! I nearly rolled over from my seat at this scene.

But it was not all comedy. Somewhere between the laughter are poignant scenes. Especially Ophelia’s drowning, which was quite touching.

One has to watch this play to understand how it is possible to make a serious Shakespeear play funny. It makes you laugh so much that you sides hurt and your face muscles get tired!

All in all...a great show. Totally entertaining, not to be missed.

The Stones

I saw this play a couple of months back...started my blog on it but never got down to finishing it, till now.

It is inspired by a real life incident. In 1994 two Melbourne teenagers in a dangerous rush of teenage rebellion were kicking stones off a freeway overpass. One of the stones smashed the windshield of a passing car and killed the driver.

This play starts with the playful exuberance of the 2 kids aptly referred to as Yahoo and Shy boy. Yahoo, the leader of the two always eggs on his shy friend challenging him to do several tasks, which not always the shy one is confident of doing or wants to do, especially the climbing on the top of ladder. He is shown to be aggressive with a swagger, more like a street tough in the making. The Shy Boy is more of a childish prankster and a reluctant follower who always lets himself to be prodded on by Yahoo. It's he who is guilt-stricken after the crash and confesses to his mother who takes him to the police. A trial follows and the trauma the Shy Boy goes through was very well enacted.

It was a brilliant play which left one thinking for a long time. The best thing about the play was that after it finished the actors had a q&a/comments session with audience.

They asked their first question, would you give the 2 boys a guilty or not guilty and one could feel the dilemma that each one of us felt while answering that question.

There were several other best things about the play...

The sets were minimal, no elaborate props. There are only 2 artists who did a role play. They play the two boys and with a simple change of shirt by one and police cap by the other they change to the 2 detectives investigating the play. And this is done so well. They just walk backwards on the stage itself for a few steps and return as the new avatar.

They conjure everything out of thin air, with their guitars and bodies adding a range of witty sound effects, from the sound of the stones going smashing down on the freeway to the trailing echoes of a sewer.

As adult interrogators, the men are merciless but at the same time the one interrogating the Shy Boy also seems to want to help the boy. In one scene they are shown trying to empathize with the boys, asking the question – what if their own child was involved? They seem unsettled and confused in what they really think and want – guilty or not guilty?

The one question that was on everyone’s mind was what finally happened to the boys? Not surprisingly, they had a hung jury and then a second trial was held. At the end of the trial, all felt that the trauma faced by the children was punishment enough and they were acquitted. However, where the boys are now or what they are doing is not known. The names of the boys were kept hidden from the media and the theater group, in order to respect the privacy of the children. Which is where the media in India can learn a lot – respect what should be digged up and what should not be.

It seems that the wife of the driver who was killed was invited to watch the play. She came but left half way without any comments.

As is very rightly said - the play has no easy answers but it dares to ask some big questions.

Gaudi's Barcelona

The consensus among all of us was that we first aim to see the absolutely not to be missed modernist architecture of GAUDI.

Gaudi is considered to have one of the most unique and distinctive architectural styles. His work has greatly influenced the face of Barcelona Architecture and we see his work all over the city.

His work was greatly influenced by forms of nature. There is a small museum inside the Sagrada Familia that has models and photographs which explain why a particular part of the temple was designed the way it was and how it was inspired by nature. The nature aspect is reflected in his use of curved construction stones, twisted iron sculptures, and organic-like forms.

Gaudi also adorned many of his buildings with colored tiles arranged in mosaic patterns, which make them a breathtaking visual experience.

Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia which is considered to be his greatest, yet unfinished masterpiece. It has been under construction since 1882!!! (Nope…its not a typo for 1992) The construction is entirely dependent on donations and is expected to be completed around 2026.

The spindle-shaped spires of Sagrada Familia are striking. They also have another significance for me…it is seen in all Logica presentations, wallpapers!!!

The mile long queue said it all. At first glance it seems a bit ugly...guess because it’s a far cry from the traditional churches and temples...but after a few minutes one realizes that its beauty lies in its ugliness. Slowly one gets used to the sculpture and before you know it you are a fan of Gaudi and are admiring the building for its magnificence

The design has 3 facades but only 2 are complete. The Nativity facade to the East signifies the birth of Jesus. The scene of the birth of Jesus with 3 kings was very elaborately done. One can feel the happiness all around in the sculptures here.
In stark contrast to that is the Passion facade to the West which has representations from the physical, spiritual, and mental suffering faced by Jesus. The sculptures of the figures cut in straightish lines show a gaunt and tormented Jesus. The pain and suffering show on the faces of all the figures. There was one especially of a sad man which was amazing! There is also a figure of Jesus on the Crucifix which was quite impressive. The mosaic patterns on top of that seemed to have been added to act like pacifying factor.
The Glory façade to the South which is yet to be completed will represent the life and death aspects of Jesus’s life.

Next stop was the Park Guell. The bus dropped us at a place from where there was a 2 miles walk on an incline to the gates of Park Guell. Thank god for the small curio shops on the way where we took respite from the boiling sun. The only problem with that was that we ended up buying stuff which we now needed to carry with us all the way up and back!!!

Park Guell was originally planned as a garden city that combined housing and a park area since Guell was apparently enchanted with the English gardens and also wanted to re-create this in Barcelona. The design was integrated with the surroundings so the viaducts, containment walls, and twisting columns are all covered with colourful mosaics.


There is an enormous staircase that leads to the park. The stairs are decorated with waterfalls and sculptures depicting animals. The most outstanding one is the small, multicolored mosaic covered dragon.

Inside the park, is the Hall of a Hundred Columns with the most beautiful roof which seems perfect for some ball room dancing!!! But on that hot sunny day it was the haven that all the tourists were looking for – more so as the noise from traffic was almost inaudible here. The columns hold up the enormous square from where one can enjoy some of the most spectacular views of the city.
From the square there is a nice, winding corridor which leads to the house that Gaudi built for himself that has now been converted into a museum. The corridor has a very ancient look…the walls and columns looked like just stacks of stones.
The other interesting Gaudi buildings were the Casa Batlo and La Pedrera.

Barcelona – July 2009

A must and long pending blog on Barcelona...a city I fell in love with immediately. It dislodged Paris as my favorite city in the world.

What I loved about Barcelona was the balance...between the modern and the traditional, between art, culture, sports and nature. It’s a complete city where you can get a flavour of everything.

So on one side you have the churches with their traditional Gothic architecture and on the other side you have the modern architecture – houses and churches designed by Gaudi; various museums and art galleries interspersed with the Olympic stadium and the football stadiums; La Ramblas - a shoppers paradise versus Montjuic – a walkers paradise with all its tropical plants and trees.

By the time we finished off with the immigration formalities and checking in at the hotel it was already around 2:00. A quick freshen up and we decided to just go hang out at La Ramblas.

After some aimless roaming around just getting a feel of the city, we decided to take the hop on hop off bus. The idea was to do the whole route to mark out the places that we want to see.

Even in the blazing heat I opted to sit in the open open on the top floor of the bus..no regrets about that. Barcelona is soooooo beautiful. They have the most amazing artwork at the street corners and roundabouts and musicians playing on the streets. Even the roofs of shops were artistic...so to say!





Some of my other favorites were 'Cap de Barcelona' (Head of Barcelona – a piece of Modern Art and the Smiling Lobster.


Another unique one was seen at the entrance of the Port of Barcelona called Ones or Waves, a sculpture by Valencian artist Andreu Alfaro. It is a stainless steel tubular sculpture formed by seven arcs whose undulation suggests the waves of the sea.



But one of the things that impressed me the most was at the Vila Olímpica. During the Olympic Games in 1992, the Olympic Village was originally constructed for the participating athletes on the opposite side of the city to the stadium. This area was originally a disused Industrial site but when the area was being developed numerous sculptures were made from materials recycled from the wasteland. The sheds in the below photo are all made from recycled stuff...I appreciate and admire their social commitment.

By the end of the tour I had marked out sooooo many places to see that I was like ...SO MUCH TO DO/SEE...SO LITTLE TIME’...the next day was gonna be quite busy!!!

TO BE CONTINUED

The Blue Mug

"Konkana Sen Sharma makes her debut in theatre with the Blue Mug" - a headline in Bangalore Times. I am an absolute fan of Konkona so I googled some more and as I went through the cast I was like WOW!!! The entire cast was very impressive - Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Sheeba Chaddha and Munish Bhardawaj.

I also read that the content of The Blue Mug was evolved by a group of actors and the director through a series of workshops and that it is a work without a script!!! Very interesting!!!

It is a play based on 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat' by psychiatrist Oliver Sacks, and takes us into the world of the neurologically impaired.

It’s a different thing that as I watched the play I didn’t feel that any of them was neurologically impaired. To me it seemed more like ordinary people trying to deal with the bizarre world of memory and creating bits and pieces from their forgotten past.

Some of my friends who went with me found the play a bit haphazard. There was no continuity or a storyline is what they felt.

However, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of one of my all time favorite Audrey Hepburn movie - Two for the Road. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, and scenes from latter part of her life are juxtaposed with those from the beginning. Quite entertaining.

Also many of the anecdotes were ones that I could identify with…whether it was Rajat Kapoor with his Mango parties in Delhi (in my case Chandigarh/Jammu) or Sheeba with her description of the Saharnpur house, the galis and the all in one mundu!
When Vinay Pathak was talking about his Dad’s first visit to his hostel I was like – “that could be me!”

Ranvir Shorey and Konkana played a doctor/patient duo. For some reason his mind had stopped at a particular age and he could not remember anything from that point on. Even if he was told something, in the next few minutes he would forget. Ranvir Shorey was quite a humorous but at the same time the entire sequence was done in a very sensitive way.

Couple of things - I felt that Konkana Sen was not used to her potential. And I couldn’t understand why the play was called “Blue Mug”. There was a Rajat Kapoor memory around a Blue Mug so maybe coz of that.

A lovely play and also it was very realistic. So much so that at the end I was wondering if the actors were actually playing parts from their own lives!

An Idiot For Dinner

Attending this play was nothing short of an adventure. Poorvi booked my ticket for 12th June without actually talking to me. Unfortunately I had a team building outing on 11th and 12th and wasn’t sure if I could make it back from Angsana in time to reach RangaShankara by 7:30.

So I passed on my ticket to another friend but kept feeling bad that I wouldn’t be able to see this play coz the moment I read the synopsis I knew I would love it...I had nearly cracked up when I watched Bheja Fry!!!

12th June 4:45 PM - we are on Old Madras Road moving towards Outer Ring Road and I think maybe I can make it. So on an impulse I call Poorvi. She was on her way. I couldn’t decide if I should ask her to wait for me especially since I didn’t even have a ticket! But she was like…I’ll wait, you come fast...

I tried calling Rangashankara for a ticket but couldn’t get through. So I thought I had better not delay Poorvi, but she wouldn’t listen. Boss and another colleague were sharing the cab with me so I couldn’t even ask the cab driver to step on the gas. Finally after dropping off my colleague I suggested we take a short cut and trust my luck...one stupid truck in front of us moving at 0.5 km/hr grrrrrrrrr.

I was sure I am not gonna make it but finally at 6:30 or so I reached the Bellandur crossing and then Poorvi drove like crazy. And while waiting for me she had managed to get me a ticket too (from someone who was trying to sell off their extra tickets- WOW)

7:15 PM - All well as we crossed Woody’s. I had just started to relax thinking that we’ll make it. But just then on the last stretch we met a massive traffic jam. I thought I would burst into tears...it took us 15 mins to cover a stretch which shouldn’t take more than 5 mins!!! This is namma bengaluru for you!

As we entered RangaShankara the 3rd bell was ringing and our friend was waiting at the door with the tickets. Just made it in the nick of time...one second more and they would have closed the door.

Well...was the evening worth all the tension and running? YES, absolutely. What a knockout performance, totally hilarious and one helluva a de-stresser.

"An Idiot for Dinner" is an adaptation of a French movie titled "Le diner des cons". It was also made into a famous Hindi movie- Bheja Fry with Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey.

A rich publisher and his friends meet every Wednesday evening, where they each have to bring an Idiot along. They have a good laugh at the idiots' expense. At the end of the dinner the host with the biggest idiot wins, while the idiots never figure who the joke was on.

One such idiot (?) that the publisher finds is Mr. R. Golden Gopu, an income tax officer who has an obsession for making matchstick models of the wonders of India. Just hours before the dinner, the publisher twists his back and has to stay home, and at the same time his wife who is very upset with her husband's idea of amusement leaves him.

Gopu visists the publisher at his home and tries to help him – for the sore back and to help him get his wife back. What results is absolute chaos and pandemonium.
The idiot manages to make Sanjay's back problem worse, bring his mistress home, drive his wife into the arms of a sex maniac and get his income tax audited.

What I liked best was Golden Gopu’s voice message which went as follows (in a sing song manner)
R Golden Gopu
Cannot talk to you
Don’t weep
Leave a message after the beep.

Totally hilarious!

Gopu was definitely the show stealer. His body language, expressions and his acting skills were just excellent. Gopu’s friend Hari whom he calls for help in getting the address of the sex maniac was very good too...just so into the skin with the character.

A must watch rib tickling comedy!

Bhikre Bimb

In spite of a crazy busy schedule when I heard that Rangashankara was playing a Girish Karnad play I just knew I had to make the time and effort to watch it. The cherry on the cake was that it was featuring Arundhati Nag!!!

Tickets were initially booked for 1st May, then changed to 30th April…nearly didn’t make it…but eventually really glad that I did go for it as it was tooooooooooo good.
Bhikre Bimb is a dramatic monologue and Arundhati Nag as the protagonist was just brilliant.

It is story of Manjula Nayak, a professor of English literature who has been an unsuccessful Kannada writer till she finds international acclaim when she writes an English novel, which becomes a bestseller.

The story starts with her introducing the audience to her novel in a TV studio, prior to a film on it being telecast. She comes across as a proud kind of a person as she mocks the people who criticized her and seems to lash out at them.
After she finishes her introduction, she is confronted by her own image on the screen which poses questions on betrayal of her mother tongue Kannada and identity when she chooses to write in English.

The image or we could say her divided self continues to question her about her personal life and her relationship with her parents, disabled sister and her husband and makes her confront the truth about herself. She tries to brush off everything but at the same she looks helpless and goes on to justify each of her actions. Even though she is the so called ‘vamp’ in the story, one cannot but feel empathy for her. It could also be something to do with Arundhati’s acting which gave me the goose bumps - her dialogue delivery, expression especially the one of helplessness and the look of 'imagine my plight too'

Eventually she comes clean on her plagiarism - the best selling book was actually written by her sister but instead of publishing it in her name after her death she goes on to publish it in her own name. One can’t feel scorn but only pity for her as she tries to put it all down to a misunderstanding by the publisher on the name of the author.

By the end of this confrontation she is on the brink of madness and again Arundhati was so convincing.

Arundhati Nag deserved every second of the standing ovation that she got!

Woyzeck – an adaptation by Anmol Vellani at Rangashankara

Woyzeck by Georg Büchner is set in Prussia in the 1830s. He left the work incomplete at his death, but it has been variously and posthumously "finished" by a variety of authors, editors and translators and has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre repertory.
An adaptation of Woyzeck by Anmol Vellani was playing at Rangashankara. As I read the synopsis I thought ...it sounds quite depressing but it would be a play where a good actor can create magic...and was I right...but more on that later.
It is the story of Franz Woyzeck, a disturbed soldier with an illegitimate child by his mistress Marie. Woyzeck earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for the Captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the Doctor.
As the play proceeds we see that there is deterioration in his mental health and he has hallucinations. Meanwhile, Marie grows tired of Woyzeck and turns her attentions to a handsome Drum Major.
With his jealousy and suspicion, Woyzeck confronts the drum major, who beats him up and humiliates him. This leads Woyzeck to murder Marie and then kill himself.
The set was very simple, using very few props and a cardboard wall… but still very effective. Infact what I must appreciate is that even with the minimalist set, I can compare it in effectiveness to the plays that I have seen in West End which rely so much on detailed sets, costumes and live music.
A special mention must be given to Anish Victor who as Woyzeck gave an outstanding performance. It was intense...so intense that you could see the beads of perspiration on his forehead. In one scene where he is supposed to faint he falls from a small wooden box and gasps were heard from the audience. He was sooo still at that moment that we felt he had actually fallen down and was not acting...BRILLIANT.
Generally his portrayal of a disturbed man was so convincing. His eyes, his facial expressions and the way he spoke...all was awesome. The other actors were good to, but just paled in front of him.
The other actor that I really liked was the Tavern Keeper. She carried herself well and her role gave the much needed comedy in the otherwise somber mood of the play.
All in all...a brilliant evening which convinced me that theatre is about ACTING and in the end the stage, props, costumes and music don't matter.

Almost Single

Recently I was in Alipurdwar, where my friend and her friend insisted that I should read 'Almost Single'. The author is alumni of my school, so loyalty to a fellow Welhamite demanded I read this book.
I was stuck at Siliguri airport due to bad weather and managed to complete the book in a couple of hours. I won’t say anything about the book. The reason being simple...recently a visitor to my house saw the book lying around and wanted to know what I thought about it. And I couldn’t remember for the life of me what I read in the book...and that is so NOT like me at all. If someone asks me what I think of a book like Kite Runner, I can point out the exact sections which I liked the most, what moved me, what I didn’t like etc.
Someone has rightly said "Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."

Wicked, the musical

I love musicals and everything about them - the songs, the costumes and the dancing. And after watching Wicked, I love them even more. Wicked was absolutely adorable.

It is the untold story of the unlikely friendship between the future witches of Oz - Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. It’s like a prequel to the 'Wizard of Oz’.

It starts with a tin dragon made at the top front of the stage roaring, followed by some colourful paper bunting ...since we had top seats ...only 6th from the stage ...lots of it fell on us…initial shock then glee!

In the opening scene the citizens of Oz celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda looks absolutely ravishing in a silvery white gown with tiara, wand and the works, as she descends in her bubble to confirm the circumstances of the Witch's melting with a wonderful rendition of 'No One Mourns the Wicked'.
In this song itself, someone asks her about her friendship with Elphaba and the scene moves into a flashback – how Elphaba’s mom has an affair with a man who offers her a drink from a green bottle. And a hilarious scene as she pops a Green Baby!!!

Elphaba has a very unhappy childhood, as she faces ridicule and discrimination because of her skin colour. Her father also seems to blame her for fact that her younger sister Nessarose is born a cripple.
One feels really bad for Elphaba as father gifts Ness a pair of beautiful silver shoes, while reminding her that she is being sent to Shiz university only so that she can take care of her wheelchair born sister.

As Glinda and other students sing 'Dear Old Shiz', they come across and shy away from Elphaba and one ends up sympathising with her. At this point I wondered, was the wicked witch really wicked at all and if the Good Witch was really good?

Madame Morrible, the sinister headmistress insists on taking care of Ness herself as she says it was a special request from their father, the governor. Despite Elphaba’s resistance she accidentally makes her roommates with the spoiled and popular Glinda.
In her anger Elphaba accidentally reveals an innate magical talent, which impresses Madame Morrible. She decides to tutor Elphaba personally and also tells Elphaba that this would be helpful to the Wizard. Here for the first time we see a happy Elphaba and her soaring rendition of 'The Wizard and I' deserves a standing ovation.

Glinda seems to be jealous at this point as she too wants be tutored by Morrible who just seems to ignore her. So Glinda immediate takes a dislike to Elphaba. Elphaba also dislikes Glinda, and seem to be quite unhappy that they have to share a room. At this point they sing 'What is This Feeling?’ which was quite humorous especially as they try to describe each other. Glinda calls Elphaba "unusually and exceedingly peculiar" while Elphaba just sums her new friend up as "a…eh…blonde!!!"

Certain circumstances and we see a friendship blossoming between the two. Glinda then decides to help her friend get a makeover to make her popular and the way she teaches her to ‘ TOSS TOSS’ her hair is toooo blondish and funny.

Elphaba seems to fall in love in Fiyero...but thinks it would be impossible for someone like Fiyero to love someone like her – and one can't stop the tears welling up in one’s eye as she sings 'I'm Not That Girl'.

Other songs that I loved were The Wizard’s 'Sentimental Man' and Elphaba’s ‘Defying Gravity’ – where she enchants a broomstick to fly and flies off, promising to fight the Wizard with all her power.

In Wizard of Oz there are some assumptions - what is the story of the Tin Man and why he doesn’t have a heart, why the lion is a scary poor, what’s the story behind the Scarecrow. 'Wicked' provides answers to these.

Wicked was pure fantasy entertainment…loveable to the core.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Its now become on of my favourite books...thanks Param for recommending this book and even sending me a soft copy. I now intend to buy this book for my collection…

It’s the most beautiful book I have read in a long, long time and touched me deeply…I could relate to the book as I often say...I don’t want to grow up.

The style of the book is wonderful...like a fable, very simple and at first glance looks like a storybook for children. Its less than 100 pages but it has so much depth in it. It is so philosophical but at the same time requires the innocence and faith of a child.

And the book has pictures!!! Interspersed with the text are more than forty childlike watercolour pen-and-ink pictures.

The book seems to be author's yearning for a freer and more sincere and introspective world.

It seems a bit autobiographical…the author begins with an anecdote from his childhood where he makes a drawing, which no adult is able to understand. In fact he is told by sensible (!!) adults to put down his paints and coloured pencils and concentrate on "matters of consequence" – thereby ending "what might have been a magnificent career as a painter."

The book then skips to several years later when the author has himself become a sensible adult(as he says) and as he describes his interactions with other adults I was thinking…so damn true…

One day he meets the Little Prince in the middle of the desert. The Little Prince lived happily alone on his small planet until the wind planted for him a new seed, from which sprang the loveliest flower he had ever seen. He lavished his love and attention upon the flower, which in turn tormented him with her vanity and her pride (so much like the control that adults typically want to exercise over people they love), ultimately driving him to abandon his home and venture forth into the galaxy in search of the secret of what is really important in life. He visits several planets and their owners till he reaches Earth where he finally learns this secret from a fox - the secret of unconditional love, which makes all things unique, and how the pain of saying goodbye is worth it if it changes how we look at the world.
This book is a MUST READ….
I finish with a beautiful quote from this book
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Les Miserables, the musical

Based on the Victor Hugos novel, it has a very moving storyline... a love story set in the plot of the French Revolution with just the right combination of humour, pathos, love and loyalty.
The main storyline revolves around the conflict between two men - Jean Valjean, at heart, a good man, but a small crime and he is labelled a criminal for life, and Javert, a police officer who has unbending principles of justice and is hell bent on capturing his convict no 24601.

Their lives and those befriended and loved by Jean Valjean become inextricably entwined - the wretched Fantine, whose illegitimate daughter, Cosette, is cared for by the thieving, lying Thenardiers whose own daughter, Eponine, is destined to fall in love with idealistic student, Marius, who, in turn, is captivated by Cosette.

All this has been fantastically moulded together with breathtaking songs and a very imaginative and clever revolving stage... the barricade filling the stage, finally turning a full 360 degrees to reveal the terrible and shocking aftermath of the confrontation was amazing.
At this point, when the fighting has just stopped and all the men lie dead on the barricades there is a long silence – very effective and literally sends chills up your spine.
The Thenardiers were marvellously humorous and at the same time were genuinely dislikeable ...they played their roles so well.

This is the ONLY musical I have seen in which there is no simple dialogue...everything has to be sung!!!

The play begins with a work song – 'Look down' followed by 'On Parole', both of which highlight the plight of the people called the les Miserables in France at that time.
The actor playing Jean Valjean had the most amazing voice...so apt for the role. His delivery was excellent leaving one totally impressed. His rendition of 'Come to me' at the time of Fantine's death and 'Bring Him Home' were really beautiful...

Generally the singing was breathtaking …whether it was the patriotic fervour of 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' Or Fantine’s 'I Dreamed A Dream' or the Little Cosette’s 'Castle on a Cloud' or the humorous 'Master of the House' by Thenardier and Madame Thenardier...

The Lion King

Finally...after several attempts managed to get tickets to see The Lion King last weekend. The couple of times I tried earlier, it was always sold out. Which is not in the least bit surprising...considering the show is brilliant...it has a magical escapism about it...

The show begins with a procession of animals that make their way down the aisle to powerfully rhythmic African-style singing. It's a wonderful spectacle with a giant elephant, baby elephant, giraffes, zebras, antelopes and many more animals brought to life by some stunning costumes, masks, puppetry and special effects.
I found myself smiling with glee just like the kids sitting next to me...

It was all so imaginative...especially they way they tried to depict a herd of antelopes and flocks of birds. For antelopes several actors had a headgear in the form of the antelope plus they had wooden antelopes in their hands and so each person depicted 3 antelopes...when 3 such actors galloped across the stage the effect was magnificent...
The life-size giraffes - stilted cast members - were quite convincing too. Infact the puppetry around all the animals was amazing...The hyenas actually came across as meanies...

The stage was quite simple ...but came alive with the special affects ...the sun, trees, plants made on curtains which fell down at appropriate times...
The way the mountain was done was brilliant too...steps that would roll and come up on the stage when needed and the floor would open and it would rotate and go under the stage when not needed...quite good technically.
At one point when Rafiki gives Simba the courage to go back to the pride lands, in the backdrop of "He Lives in You" Mufasa's face appears behind a waterfall...abso stunning...

Simba's high energy "I Just can’t wait to be King" and Mufasa's "They Live In You" were both brilliant. 'Circle Of Life' was good too though "Hakuna Matata" & "Can you feel the love tonight" I felt could have been better...

The farting warthog Pumbaa and the rubbery meerkat Timon are puppetry at its best...also the bird Zazu character was also brilliant...they way the actor moved the bird's body and the mimicry was hilarious...

The masks were incredible...more so because they were capable of movement...so as the actors would stretch, the masks would move and it would look just like the head of a lion when a real lion stretches...

Like it says on the posters..."This is a dazzling show with the heart of a lion."