Category: Narratives Noted(when Cinema ,Books ,Theatre all they recapitalise your intellect)

The lanes arrangement of Doverlane Music Conference : Every lane speaks a different language. 

The Second lane filled up with the legacy. The old , the finest listener of classical for last few decades , even half century , some witnessing the legends since the first time he or she came to this event of high indulgence of classical music , some  just still live to tell those best stories of the yesteryears while many of their co visitors expired, they all came to be witness the rendezvous of music 2020. The octogenarian came with his grandson, the old mother who last year severely clogged her heart never wanted to miss this chance which might be her last one to witness the classical extravaganza,so came accompanied by her only son. The blind daughter came holding the caring hands of his father as every year.And all three friends also came this year’s show which are their 22^nd since their first coming and 10^th since their retirement. The young lady who came with the best attire and keep glowing the surrounding came in gorgeous red silk as every year. The man with shoulder bag and thick eyewear just wanted to listen every single bite of the instrument and vocal right from the beginning, so he took his sit in the first row well in advance. 

The first row is with the very Important persons so called VIPs  and reluctant viewers like any other show  where the occupants keep on exhibiting by their very attention disorder problem which simply and stupidly exposes that how accidentally they come in wrong place altogether just to borrow some identity from everything with some class (of which Dover lane is definitely one) attachment more to exhibit and less to enjoy the finest music ever. They are the noise maker by everything doing in the wrong time, while clapping, walking in  and out  of the front rows to much distraction and disgust of everybody ,to the serious audience and to the sincere performer  

The third row just filled up with those very youth who are trying to love the classical most time but find its hard enough to get engage with its grammar. Still they never give up and try their best to understand the rag , tal, lay as dedicated apprentice and enjoy instant enlightenment once touched by the spirituality ,however momentarily it may be. They are the future bearer of the legacy of audiences who are confident to pick up few lessons every year to train their ear with the fine skill to understand different Indian classical music  with its inherent philosophy and physical being (the structure , the status, style of rendering ) 

Fourth and fifth row normally filled up with the aficionados of classical music ,very sharp and very alert , but too obsessed with grammar to let its feel  or pleasure to overwhelm their amygdala full of fastidious , fussy and finicky in nature. They are another group of people who lends the class to this programme(instead of borrowing it like first row’s VIPs, the pseudo fan of classical music). If Doverlane music conference since its inception six decades ago could bear the burnt of so called onslaught of instant gratification by light music or contemporary music  and still commands one of the best congregation of maestros in every classical music form whether instrumental or vocal it was because of these very informed audience amongst whom there are enough experts and skilled singers apart from critiques who are extreme puritan by education and highest cheerleader for the best in this exclusive genre of Indian music. Once entered the hall they just took the position as very professional but purest listener , they simply command the whole show passively but passionately. They are people whom the performers just felt awed with their depth of music sense or taste of elitist musician.  

The next few rows just never allow the fineness of music get overtaken by the focus on grammar or puritanism. Instead of having every bit of knowledge about what’s being played on the podium , they simply stay away from interfering ( with any extra cheering  for good performance and equal jeering for bad one)  or even interjecting while the artist performs . In deep emersion in themselves they just developed their very best acumen to listen and learn again learn and listen the best music in classical. Sometimes just get too immersed to clap or cheer the performer, they look like very highly knowledgeable artist themselves(and so many of them actually are ) who took the music to their heart to play  to themselves but never to the hall to perform for others. They are the music listeners for who Dover Lane just can forgo numbers, sponsors , financiers . They are the gems of audience whom the organisers  just cannot afford to loose at any cost. The cards, and passes are being just tendered to them as an honour , the same honour what the artist feel while coming to perform on the stage called Doverlane Music Conference. 

Rest of the rows of DoverLane are completely heterogeneous and hardly can be  identified them with very straight trait as we always observe for the above front rows. There are  literally n number of people in audience , some are just the first timer who came to see taste the magic of classical music after listening so many times from the neighbour’s daughter (who incidentally a classical apprentice) how mesmerizing the rag Malkosh when played by Sujat Khan in Sitar or  being sang by Aswini Vide in vocal at the dead of the night. Some just came after reading so many reviews every year in the Bengali Desh Patrika how a  rag called Multan if you listen in the mid night will sound like an artisan just finish his art work in the Jamdani saree by weaving a story from the Mahabharata all over the body. Many came who believe listening classical music will fine tune your creativity ,trigger so many art of improvisation, the art or skill  they can lend  it to their other field of work whether its teaching or consulting , running administration or executing big project. Afterall mastering in classical music whether playing Sitar , sarod or rendering bhajan , Thumri all are about how you are  mending your speed and  scale ;swag and submission  while getting into your rendition of any raga  by strategizing , restratagizing  with continuous improvisation where keeping the destination sacrosanct and sacred which is presenting extremely pure , pristine yet fine music. And for me the whole academic as well as organisational management is just a state of such continuous improvisation, innovation and if needed invention of your way of making everything possible in world of crisis, chaos and clumsiness whether it is about resource mobilization or stakeholder motivation. Infact there cannot be found any closer example to describe how an organisation should be run than to observe how a concert being played by different players in complete synchronisation where the individual plays his individual talent being part of a single entity . Where being from difference or diversity in style keeps adding the fineness as well as fullness of the musical journey merged into a single entity they took together .  

And we in the rows behind are just that .To sit and see the whole programme from behind is just as enjoying a bioscope or movie in your study room. In your full comfort sometime too laid down in almost empty cushions in the back benches of the concert , the challenge was always there to get you awake whole night . But thanks the continuous ,I repeat continuous improvisation of the singer , the maestros of music just can make dead man alive . You simply cannot afford to even close your otherwise tired eyes by its natural time cycle of night. Every moment is precious as every twist and turn you are being walked through in the journey which brings up new rendition, so new resonance. It is all about how we can just take everything in our own stride. Sometimes assertive, sometimes submissive, sometimes dozing it sometime dominating it, life is what you believe to be or belies to be. It is never synchronous and so not expected to be also. The challenge is in its asynchronous functioning and so taking those challenge fully frontal. When a percussionist challenges the raga singer , when a flute’s soft melody just trump over baritone beat of pakhawaj , when two violin gets crush amongst each other , when a vocal simply creates a new rendition of old raga , innovation , creativity , imagination all just go full throttle. Spirituality, divineness suddenly descends on the earth. You will find your lost path , he will find out that life is much more voluminous than he would have thought , she will touch the cord of eternality. Its deep immersion inside the world of heavenliness ,truthfulness, self consciousness . It is about to searching you inside yourself, extracting the life out of living .

Here is the movie which spoke of the past but stumbles with present and completely silent on future. Here is the movie just not enough comfortable to deal with the change. Transition just could not be captured in its frame, script simply failed depict the moving over from one era to another era. And the director is at a loss. , at its wit’s end. The result a complete black out, a repetitive takes on each and every scene. A normal chasing scene never gets completed. The friend never find her old buddy, the comeback woman never cleared her dialogues to her native guide. And while kissing was not convincing, the intimate scene simply did not go right. It was too simple, too straight in the age of chaos, crisis and change. And lastly being frustrated the director gave up and told the actor and actress to get out of the frame , run out of scene and move out of the movie. It was the unmaking of a movie to capture the transition. It was the mirror of the past which shatters the present reality and shadowed the future completely. The memoir of the age bygone just overwhelms the recent time such a way that present simply cannot be framed anyway. The true story of the past which existed so pervasively, just did not allow the present to crystallize , stripping of the least cognizance the new age deserves. It was the shadow that kept looming larger and larger that the reality which never got or gained its due shape or size. It was the movie of failure of the people of Cuba to understand the transition from communism to capitalism; it is the post Castro aspiration and ambition of the people there in Havana and so Cuba which simply kept elusive even in celluloid. It is the unmaking of a cultural shift , a real life dilemma being captured with same confusion in the reel also. It is the anger, anxiety and hopelessness well tied and untied and then simply abandoned by the director in the movie Timeless Havana, a movie which captures a director’s dilemma rather than his cut or astuteness. The movie is more about Director Jeissy Trompiz , his helplessness , his submission to his inability to capture the time of turmoil from socialism ,  regulated , regimented society to a chaotic and confused country infested with initial euphoria and so embedded chaos of capitalism. The country which never spoke out its mind in open , the country which believes in shared purpose , shared wealth and shared progress suddenly got its kick of liberal , free flowing endowment not as entitlement fixed and formatted by the country but endowment and earning derived and decided by the individual.The movie tried to showcase this abortive attempts to make a movie on this transition with calculated obliteration of clarity with its two manifestation moving in parallel .One  is  about so many decades of conviction and so codification (hard) with socialism and communism and the other is about  the undercurrent of greed, garishness and gaudiness of capitalism. 

Every time I entered Korank Sun temple , which normally I keep in extended schedule instead of main in  detour Konark city , dance Festival or Sand Festival , the three things amuses rather than attracts me of which one is certainly the depiction of erotica in its very primitive style which just got its last flash of desire , lust  and perversion  in the ruins of temple  mostly in some hardcore posture than any artistic voyeurism. The second thing is of course the people’s enthusiasm to see all those sexual overture normally banned by family and  these days blocked also by moral police of Govt. The otherwise strict daddy with his under grown son , the usually conservative mother spending most of her life inside the four walls with her school going daughter  the nudes and their shringers or sexual postures are just the feast of the eyes for everyone of the family to visualize together. No embargo , no sanction , no censorship. But on  top of everything what enthralls me most is the way the guide exploits this stories of erotica mingled with the  history of Konark temple and its creator, how it  reigned and then got ruined. In a  bit crooked English spoken on rudimentary oriya accent , the history when got distorted and deformed and sometimes completely deviated from the context with their own cooked up version sounds so funny specially at the time the forced correlation of their own imagination in best percentage get blended with some truth with least percentage. Most of the time they keep streaming some  broken stories of erotica in their over simplified version while standing in front of painting to keep their audience hooked.  Very little coherence or consistence just exposed how less bothered they are about the treasure trove of legacies behind such sculptures  came seven hundred years ago. Instead of being the stories are their only assets for their livelihood , they never  explored it  further to get the truth, understand  the contexts  or realize the real stories behind it. Had they been passionate more which eventually surely  would have added to their professionalism also , they could have learnt the stories behind those different postures , shringers or erotica so close to incest like perversion which got exposed in their grand depiction. Alas they never have done it,  not yesterday , not today and surely even not even tomorrow(as long as the visitors to take very fast glimpse of depiction keeping this place as detour to Puri or other place not the destination).  Apart from inherited stories from nowhere they just keep improvising with their crude imagination sans any aesthetic or articulation . The stories behind the sculptures just gets buried more and more in darkness as the sun temple once got sunk inside the ruin. They are simply incapable , incompetent  as well as indifferent to  it mostly becz of their less literacy and least scholastic  aptitude  to realize how history carries the most precious knowledge to dissect it , to divulge it and then to decipher  the truth . Their incompetency is palatable as they are with least resources to invest into the legacy of  the epitome  of time reflected as sun rays over the angular positioning(konark the meaning kone-ark angular- sun rays) of the stone made wheels strategically  built. But the fact which was simply unacceptable the very selective avoidance of the same by the corporate like IOC which has taken so much drives to preserve the legacy , allegories and anecdotes of making of this huge temple  in the name of Arka Khetra. The very recently established a hugely sprawling campus cum cafeteria  with apparently very high investment just stoked the  inquisitiveness much more than the fulfillment of an insightful explanation of the legacy of the Sun temple and its long journey of myth and truth.

The brand is simply visible with its  deep pocket splurging hugely while securing all those pieces of histories scattered across the preserve of GSI, page book of ASI  , mythology   or the local inheritance. The brand undoubtedly has done a splendid job while bridging up the gap between the visitors’ defined curiosity and local (guides’)distorted explanation. What it has done was splendid job which was long overdue (otherwise the history not being preserved could have lost inside the piling up of contorted stories), but what it could have done might have been much more exemplary and torch bearing in such restoring of our heritages by big corporates specially the names which are themselves bearing with some thrilling history of genesis. IOL  is certainly one of them with almost one lakh crore annual turn over with huge bottom line. They created an excellent state of the art restoration gallery , by recreating the history of Konark temple inside . They  brought to light the otherwise chested treasure of design of thinking by then sculpture, architect, artisans  who built up the huge wonder of  temple meticulous guided by Science ,strategically glittered by Sun God historically glued to a so many anecdotes and allegories. But what could have been a far more scholastic exploration showcased in a very simple and common man’s exhibition encompassing the whole microcosm of the temple stories, just ended up in a few excellent recreation of sculptures and morals in its very much restricted edition with consciously avoiding the complete range of erotica ,the prime pattern of art with hidden story lines on the temple wall. So once again we could not connect with these arts in its full depth and breadth as we have been deprived of its contextually  once again. An beautiful auditorium also had been made occasionally screening an animation to depict the story of building up of Konark Temple which again was directed with very cavalier approach to depict some stories rather than history. Some further elaboration , more illustration and  more detailing by capturing the time could have been presented with better script , proper score and music if been made under some top director  or contracted to well established production house specially where money had never been constraint neither the best intention to create the history of Arka Khetra  the zone of sun rays illuminated by Sun God may be the only God in Hindu mythology who has been visible to us in its complete physical form  right from creation of the earth.

The huge temple with its history , artifacts and artisans , its creation and the perspective of such creation which certainly can speak the era and the evolution of a certain art and aesthetic with the psyche of its artists , who sculpted them and the dynasty who supervised them , their social and political contention or compulsion still kept merged for us in either complete illusion and some contorted illustration of the local guides.

Call it  extreme excitement  or call it euphoriaor call it exhilaration , exultation  , ecstasy , any noun , adjective or adverb will simply feel inferior  to capture the  extravaganza called Durgapuja in Kolkata. Its huge , humungous and simply  maddening . In fact Bengali annual calendar although starts with summer ie Baisakh , virtually get divided with the time line pre Puja and post puja .Sometimes I am at my wits end to understand  where in the Bengali Durgapuja dwells in , in heart or  head ? or in both ? While risking the pandal hopping for consecutive two days , this question  now repeatedly arises  in me how Bengali specially the Kolkatan clan should be described as . Every pandal we moved appeared to outsmart the other with everything  a decoration or lighting stands for , the skill , the details, the creativity , the pomp , the  grandeur , the resplendence  everything . If some pandal tried to go to the extreme of abstracts like capturing the time or retrieving the history , some simply worked  some wonders , unimaginable artifacts  of dokra, sola or cane .  The concept , the planning and the execution have appeared to cross all bars of excellence. While in Naktala it was all about some ultra modern experiment with theme to recreate the time dimension in space  which just got enough  to confuse rather than to conform to any brief history of time , the narrative in Bengali voice being recited in the pandal was quite captivating .And yes when the theme is ultramodern and tries move beyond the time it will certainly attract one kind of viewers or reviewers(you may call them journo)  who loves to think themselves very global who appear to  be obsessed more with science  rather than art. Unfortunately the whole theme-puja concept is of more about arts and art where the recent revival of dokra or lost art of potchitra are being articulated with the precision which  is unthinkable  sometimes beyond the human imagination. So while we started with confusion at Naktala Udayan ‘s theme of  capturing the time we ended huge contentment with Mudiyali showcasing the magnificent skill of dokra  outside  pandal inside pandal and all over the decoration .In fact the elaboration  and exhibition of different motif and mural were enough to mesmerize , captivate and enthrall anybody and everybody. In the mean time we saw some of the other themes also  specially reflecting the present where human being just put inside the reverse evolution  and getting back to their sapiens stage , thanks the intolerance , violence , wilderness , ruthlessness and a complete phase of inconsistency , incongruence and incoherence . Whether the inflection point is the extreme atrocity on woman , exploitation of weak and underprivileged , trampling over the  basic sense of living being where being human is an extinct feature we are surely in reverse track to get back where we started and yes Badamtala captured the theme  so ruthlessly , it will strike  on the sense of viewers instantly . It was so raw yet so real. A cage , , a roaring lion  with its all jingoism and wilderness and not inside but outside the cage , an woman at her most extreme  assault and the clock has been reversed we are simply scaling back to  cross back all those eras of caveman ,apes, superapes. Suruchi Sangha always tries to give the earthy touch , the rural fervor on what it does . In fact the village , its art  of living and it’s a cohabitation with everything natural and from the nature is not only so soothing to the urban anxious and agonized eyes but also showing the exit route of so much self destructive , self engulfing hype and halla development. This year this club showcased the magnum opus of terracotta art. The excitement was genuine as the structure was huge elaborating terracotta art of elephant and horse and so others in its unique way as the century old legacy -art is  being nurtured in some hinterlands in Bankura. It is simply enthralling to imagine how any artist could have imagined the whole creation in such a large level . But more than that the better question which always knocks me is that where does these all wonders go after the puja is over ?

Jodhpur Park has always been the arch rival Suruchi. And to see the skill and creativity of both somehow gives you the taste of Derby in your town. Unfortunately , we missed the  Puja Pandal Derby of South Kolkata this time as my platoon already got tired of so many grandeurs in such a little time , may be a couple of hours. While everybody of us admitted this show off of the extreme of skill which certainly took more than half dozen months to get it in shape and size of this level  deserves at least a few hours of composure and keenness of observation to enjoy and explore. Hopping and huffing with counts (how many pandal we finished) has never been a right way for coming close to feel the flavor of them. Anyway we needed some break of such grand exhibition certainly stimulating our grey cells and provoking so many thoughts at a time with such rapid rounds , which needed to be contemplated and we entered a sun shine lit morning pond side garden called Rabindra Sarobar.  The time was never so apt  to take an immediate plunge inside the greenery soaked in morning mist as well as experience still fresh with unbelievable human art. While the morning mist which still veiled the whole park  with its gradual allowance of golden rays to shower its different moist corners making itself a top mystery to wonder how it can do this inside the heart of a city much infamous for its level of pollution , equal mysterious was the human capability to think how anybody individually of collectively could work to such a precision and profusion. In any benchmark both goes beyond six sigma level , to its highest of its excellence and to the lowest(tends to nil) of its error factor.

Movies seen in the Kolkata Film Fest “Pupa” and “The Letter to the President” one from Bengal another from Afganisthan

The first film “Pupa” speaks of life is not just simplex solution but dual one with so many constraints and variables to count. Yes, there are people who just love to keep the equation of life in single degree derivation but they get simply outnumbered by the majority who are always overwhelmed with complexity to the polynomial degree. The former type will tell you priority is important not the integrity or irreproachability or unnecessary emotion, exuberance as they will discount your energy talent, devour your time and toil you put forth to grow you over the years. They will tell your life is a function of space and time which just gets redefined with every moment of existence. So rather than to bear the baggage of the past you hold the moment and exploit the present. They will tell you it is not the disservice to your dear and near one by splitting your care and concern to your duty to the broader life or country at large when they (your relation or responsibility) reaches a saturation point. They will say if the time get stuck and choked with emotion by carrying forward the old legacy of the life which otherwise craves for unrelenting creation of new avenues and contouring for new direction, it will not only fail you but also the society, country or the world which always looking forward to your exclusive contribution. So the decision must be rude but real and reaffirming the victory of life on the whole not individual emotion or relationship.
The story revolves with a man in death bed , in comatose for long pulling clinically but stopped factually. The science , care and affluence could support it but putting planning , proposition of the near and dear ones all I jeopardy. The man in the bed was basically sucking the resources , the valuable energy time and toil while accentuating the dilemmas of all around him to decide on the next course of action. Whether he should be left to die or kept in life support system to create an illusion of life , duty , responsibility and all those ethical questions.
The picture ended with the dying of the man submitted to destiny(and here death )with injection administered by another in control of his own destiny , the younger brother erudite , rationale and no nonsense who took the extreme step to put the whole chaos to an end. The all the lives of others which got in a vertigo because of man in death bed with life support system for months just could be back to normal. The pupa got torn apart with the birth of the adulthood , the maturity from the cocoon of the immature , childish emotion although birth pang is just laden with the ethics , rationale and relationship.

The other film “A letter to the President”which tells how a war ravaged nation might have establish its own rules but could not eliminate its deeply rooted discrimination, divisive and derogatory approach to its woman. Its’ institutions have been sold out , its war lords , politician and govt functionary nexus eat out all spaces for maneuvering of any liberal minded woman and she be any super cop or high flier(literally in the sky as air force officer) the story lines of forced submission of woman in Far east countries like Afghanistan hardly change. So in the film “the letter to the president” when that woman got to the helm of the crime branch or gets the status of super cop the only destiny awaits her is the huge entrapment in the corrupt system , estrangement from the highly biased family and lastly elimination from the world of male chauvinism , machismo and money power of the patriarchal society. The lady here just got stuck up inside the labyrinth of politics, judiciary ,govt and money lord , warlord nexus which ended with her execution . It is so irony that after so many blood bath and war path , the country like Afghanistan never listened the basic mantra of upheaval in the society or the world and i.e. to respect and revere the woman , its power of affection , love and assertion they keep changing with the need of ours . Here the lady victimized and crestfallen from crime branch head must end up in prison and punishment to the extreme measure whether there excuse can be created or not. No matter the storyline framed an excuse in its spiral of lies, biased social animosity against the woman in general , liberal thinking progressive minded lady in particular , in reality the conclusion would have been the same. This is the edition 2017 Afghanistan, or other middle east countries where the woman are yet to be allowed to walk with the same height against the man. The machismo , male chauvinism all are so vulnerable in those places that law and legal system along with age old outdated rules and rituals are simply over protective for those biasness. The film meets its natural expectation , a president reads the letter of the bold lady framed with so many counts to face the punishment of execution. The man behind the mesh simply a fan or follower of the lady with elegance and enlightened mind. Enamored by the charisma of the super lady cop the man never crossed the line but who cares the line in the male world of these rogue warlords’ fiefdoms? Here the only rule prevails what these regional satraps decides not what constitution or laws defines. So the lady while saving one cupid from honor killing just ended being the target by these parallel or quasi power of regional heads framed for more severe cases of murdering her husband who while in scuffle with wife in inebriated condition just got killed by accident. So while the rogues on ruining the top cop lady are her father in-law and one addicted and abusive husband and the casualty is the justice system which simply extends its corrupt leverage to book and banish her from the world by sentencing her to death. The storyline is as expected the only thing not is that the same lines are getting more relevant in these countries. A recent report in New york Times revealed that the woman cops who have been trained along side their counterparts of USA the country are committed and deeply invested in bring the change by these trained woman power , are being just targeted for their open and free attitude , while occasionally predicted by the male colleagues as casting couch. The ladies in force now want asylum to USA which are again opposed by the same force multiplying their harassment or humiliation. It is simply unacceptable with so much support from two of the largest democracies of this planet one USA and other India how a country like Afghanistan could not evolve from its outright discriminatory, divisive attitude towards woman where the institutions, judiciary all just look the other way whenever such injustice occurs. A letter to President  is the  the story line of such irony of  these women in some end of the same world we cohabit  with all odds against them where sometimes real life  simply overwhelms the reel life .