sivamani

Went for a performance by Sivamani. He made it interactive by playing on a suitcase and a water camper. Pulsating beats, which resonated with heartbeats.

Metros in metros

Just took the metro. Crowded even in the middle of the day, the Calcutta metro needs a makeover. I realised it was unsafe after I got on. Survived the brief ride without incident. Ladies only compartments like in the Delhi metro would help. The windows were half down too.

Mirchians

Mirch was watchable. A hazard of short stories is that they are episodic, specially when they are one after the other. Identification with a character for a sustained period of time becomes difficult. The stories from Panchatantra and Decameron were folk tale like in nature. Would be tough to incorporate the superstitious attitudes the twists in them hinged on, in modern stories. Unless, of course, magic realism was used. The third story's denouement seemed a little weak logically. I liked the last story's comic elements which Boman Irani personified. Women viewers would naturally like the agency taken by the protagonists in all the stories. They all revolved around verbal dexterity rather than brute strength, thereby confirming another stereotype. Still, even considered as tales by themselves, they were fun. That's what going to the movies is about at the end of the day.

Gair Zaroori Log was a gair zaroori play.
Yaar Bana Buddy was painful. The actors went on ad nauseam about a Rs. 1 crore ghada. The title tune was tacky TV serialish. Very against the tone of other plays in Nandikar's annual festival lineup.

never knew Ecuador was so rich in birds

I want to go to Ecuador!

Main hoon don...

Blue Footed Booby, Ecuador

Attended a folk dance performance from Ecuador. Liked a mask with a long tongue hanging out. Also a snake dance where the men and women wore outfits which had strings of beads hanging from them. Another dance had men engaging in mock sword fights. Sparks flew from their blades. Several dances saw women swirl their long skirts. The last dance revolved around hopes for happiness of a child who had died. Even the various regions of Ecuador seemed different in their dance forms. Looking at these dances, trying to link them to the ones here so that they seemed less alien, I thought perhaps that is how foreigners try to make sense of our culture. The music too was very soothing and lilting.

Enjoyed a much needed break to Mumbai. All refreshed now. Highlights included the Anish kapoor show. I didn't realise many of his famous works which are housed in America would be exhibited here too. Mehboob Studios served as an ideal host for the works. The studio walls as reflected by the sculptures formed mesmerising patterns. These sculptures are new. They seem alive, fluid, changing with every person who looks at them. It's intiguing to wonder how these particular effects- of making the viewer's image upside down when she moves away from the sculpture and the oppposite when she moves towards the sculpture works. Being part of art, what more could the viewer ask for? Anish kapoor has cleverly leveraged this insight in his work.

Out of bounds

Watched the play Out of Bounds recently. Very episodic, with the protagonist delivering monologue after monologue as different characters, as if to say, "Hey, look at me! Look how I can juggle so many different characters!" Funny in parts.