‚only the fittest survive™ best-sellers filethe wayang kulit, the famous javanese shadow...

FICTION

w Angels and DemonsDan Brown

w The Da Vinci CodeDan Brown

w NamesakeJhumpa Lahiri

w The Last Juror John Grisham

w Eleven minutesPaulo Coelho

NON-FICTION

w M S : A Life in MusicT J S George

w The Age of ConsentGeorge Monbiot

w Being IndianPavan K Varma

w AmbedkarGail Omvedt

w Power of NowEckhart Tolle

REGIONAL

1 Excuse Me- Kannada2 Aayitha Ezuthu - Tamil3 Araya - Telugu

HINDI

1 Main Hoo Na2 Yuva3 Hum Tum

INDI POP/GHAZAL

1 No -1 Their Greatest Hits2 War of DJs - II3 Spicy Mix

INTERNATIONAL

1 Have I told you lately2 All Hits No words3 Blazing Drums

Courtesy: Premier, Music World

3Sunday Vijay Times, Bangalore, 30 May 2004Centrestage

�Wicked,� a big-budget, family pleasing spectaclethat tells the story of Oz from the witches� perspec-tive, led the field with 10 Tony Award nominationsrecently, including best musical and acting nomina-tions for its two leading witches, Idina Menzel andKristin Chenoweth.

In perhaps the largest mail drop in art history,Leonard A Lauder gave 20,000 postcards to theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2002. �Art of theJapanese Postcard� displays350 of them, dating from1900 to 1940. The curator ofthe exhibition, AnneNishimura Morse, notes thatthe first Japanese postcard,in 1873, came four yearsafter the first postcard ever (issued by the Austro-Hungarian postal service). It was part of the emperorMeiji�s attempt to modernize Japan.

The massed balloons of the SkyOrchestra took off at 6.30am inLondon recently, broadcasting apiece written by Dan Jones. Theflutes and oboes, bird song andwhale calls, were based on scien-tific research to promote deeperand sweeter dreams. The piecelaunched the three-week Fierceperformance festival, which hasgrown steadily over the last sevenyears.

Best-sellers

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RAHIMA MAJID

THAI Airlines recently organised a Thai Ramayana ata five star hotel in Bangalore. The performance pro-vided a good exposure to the rich art and also show-

cased the influence of Indian epics outside the subconti-nent.

Art in Southeast Asia such as countries like Thailand,Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia are of thereligious nature which is either Buddhist, Hindu or Islamicor indigenous with flavours that are borrowed from eitherof these religions.There had been a continuous migrationand settlement of Brahmins and Buddhist monks, alongwith Indian merchants to the Southeast Asian kingdoms ofJava, Cambodia and Indonesia bringing with them their

religions, cosmologies, concepts of socialand political structure, the Sanskrit

alphabet and the rich religious litera-ture of India. India continued to be asource of inspiration for SoutheastAsian cultures for years after the sixthcentury when the Southeast Asiankingdoms were first established. Bud-

dhist and Hindu devo-tees visited holy

sites in India, returning with first hand impressions ofIndian art and architecture, religious texts, and portableimages of Buddhist and Hindu deities.

If you look at the arts, especially the performing arts ofplaces like Thailand, there still are very obvious traits of anIndian influence. The khon is a form of dance drama thatoriginated in the 16th century in Thailand and uses as itssource the Thai version of Valmiki�s Ramayana, called theRamakien. The Ramakien is the same story as theRamayana and exists in Thai oral culture before KingRama the first wrote it down in book form. The chara-cters differ in name, and some differences exist as aresult of it being adapted to a different culture.Hanuman in their version is a lover of women un-like our celibate Hanuman. Ayodhya is Ayuttayaand the story is set in an actual place in Thailand.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata stillappear widely in popular folk drama, tales andart all over Southeast Asia. The content and

nature of these epics is universal and encompassing so asto allow the freedom for them to be understood and adaptedin all the myriad cultures of these countries. They�reillustrated in the relief sculptures of temples such as theAngkor Wat in Cambodia, the Rama temple in Malaysia,and mural painting in Vat Oup Moung, a Buddhistmonastery in Vientiane, Laos. The Cambodian version iscalled Ramkear in the Khmer language.

The Wayang Kulit, the famous Javanese shadow pup-petry also draws its inspiration from the Ramayana, the

Mahabharata and the Bharatavarsha (a tale depictingthe war of the Kauravas and the Pandavas).Wayang

Kulit siam performed in a region of Malaysia calledthe Kelantan draws from the Hikayat Seri Rama,

which is a Malay adaptation. The interesting thingabout this art is that most

of the puppeteers (calledKelantan dalangs) are

Muslims. Kelantan

is a strongly Islamic region, but it is also the main base forthe Malay shadow puppet theatre. Like other adaptedforms, the wayang throws in a handful of Javanese andMalay characters for good measure and then pit goodagainst evil in a classic plot. Warrior animals, giants,princes, and priests are all created in intricate and detailedleather puppetry and come together in rousing music anddrama.

Performances of the Ramayana, such as our localRamlilas are still popular in temples such as the Hindu Civatemple of Prambanan in Yogyakarta, Central Java. Thistemple was built in the ninth century and has an open am-phitheatre and arena theatre now to stage the Ramayanaepic. The Indonesians have an annual opera based on theRamayana that includes a cast of hundreds of players.

Performances by Thai exiles became extremely popularat the Burmese court where most traditional dramas wereserious Buddhist stories such as the Jataka Tales. Thereare streets, banks, and travel agencies, and other places ofbusiness, which carry the names of characters from theRamayana in Indonesia. These epics continue to appear inmediums such as film, comic books and television. Like allgreat stories they are not time-bound, and remain greatsources of entertainment and wisdom, brought to life bythe arts of these different cultures. n

Chopstick RamayanaIInn TThhaaiillaanndd HHaannuummaann,, uunnlliikkee oouurr cceelliibbaattee GGoodd,, iiss aa lloovveerr ooff wwoommeenn

v How do you foresee the future ofIndian classical music where thereis a trend of fusion and pop?

n To me, music is passion. It�s away of life and not a profession.There is no essential differencebetween classical and popularmusic. Music is music. But thosewho believe in using it for mak-ing money must not join thisfield. People must come to servethe cause of music by preserving,propagating and popularising it.As for the quantity, we have manyyoungsters learning classicalmusic and I feel it�s in safe handsfor another 500 years. However,quality is at a premium and thoseopting for this field must be pre-pared for a long journey througha dark tunnel. You enter this tun-nel in the hope of a sunray someday. Every individual can be aclassical musician, but not a suc-cessful performer.

v Do you think the gharana sys-tem is declining?

n The rituals of gharana sys-tem, its commitments and sin-cerity of disciples is defi-nitely declining. Today,there is a mad rushfor money andfame and onlythe fittest sur-vives. A key-board (of a syn-thesiser) is theshortcut to theworld of music.The decline ofgharana is part of

this general degradation.However, it will survive as it hasfor centuries and the musicalidentity of gharanas will remainforever.

v Do you expect any governmentsupport for creating a corpus fundfor artistes?

n Cohesiveness and unity are nomore a part of our character.That applies especially to theartiste community. The momentthe artistes get together, theybegin to think of ways to com-pete among themselves andemerge superior. No one wants towork as a group. As a result, it isdifficult that such a fund willever be set up by artistes them-selves. The government has setup organisations to help and pro-mote artistes and more than thisshould not be expected from it.Moreover, the government�s pri-ority is politics. It is not giving

much emphasis to art andculture. Last year, theFrench Government con-ferred me with the

�Commander of theorder of Arts and

Letters�. While I

received congratulatory mes-sages from the whole world, noteven the Indian CulturalSecretary bothered to wish me.With this apathy, it would beimpractical to think of govern-ment support for artistes.

v What are your plans for your sonAmaan and Ayaan?

n They have performed world-wide.They have recorded formany music companies likeVirgin Records, Sony Music,BMG Crescendo, Deuche villeRadio and others. They co-authored a book titled Abba-God�s Greatest Gift To Us. Theyare also giving music for BobbyBedi�s film American Daylight,which revolves around life in callcentres.

v What do you think should be doneto popularise sarod?

n All the sarod and sitar players inthe world today belong to theTansen tradition. Yet, the govern-ment has not set up either anyacademy nor any institutionafter the maestro. The MadhyaPradesh Government gives theTansen Samman award annually,but it�s not sufficient. I feel thereshould be annual Tansen festi-vals across Madhya Pradesh, anda national festival as well. I haveconverted my ancestral home inGwalior into a museum calledSarod Ghar. It is my humbleeffort at trying to preserve andpropagate sarod and the memory

of Tansen. n Trans World Features

�Only the fittest survive�AAmmjjaadd AAllii KKhhaann ssppeeaakkss ttoo RRaasshhmmii KKuusshhwwaahhaa aabboouutt IInnddiiaann ccllaassssiiccaall mmuussiicc ttooddaayy

IN 1946, Gandhi biographer Louis Fischerdescribed Ambedkar as the bitterest manin India. This was not due to any personal-

ity disorder in Ambedkar. His bitterness wasthe outcome of a life ofimmense struggle that had totackle constant oppositionfrom all directions.

Ambedkar was the most dis-tinct and significant of thegeneration of leaders that wonthe Independence. He was dis-tinct in factoring in the conce-rns of Dalits into the freedomstruggle. Dalit movementsused to be sporadic before him.Under him they became anational force. WithoutAmbedkar the meaning offreedom would have been loston millions of people.

His struggle, while signifi-cant, was a lonely effort. Therewas support from neither the Congress norany other political force such as the Left.Gandhi called Dalits Harijan and tried totackle untouchability within the confines ofthe varna system. Gandhi believed �untouch-ability was on its last legs�. Ambedkar calledthis Gandhi�s �Chanakya niti� to keep Dalits

within the Hindu fold and under the uppercaste sections. Gandhi�s social reformsfocused on improving �personal virtue�, whileAmbedkar�s priority was in securing civil

and political rights to Dalits.Ambedkar had no hope thatDalits could find their salvati-on within Hindusim. His lifelong quest for an alternativeegalitarian faith finallyended with conversion toBuddhism.

Ambedkar shared many aplatform with the Left.Though there was ideologicalaffinity between them, theirreluctance to recognise any-thing outside class as asource of exploitation turnedhim away. He drew hisauthority from the millionsof people who followed himwith devotion. And he man-

aged to make their welfare the cornerstone ofthe Constitution of free India.

If you are a new Ambedkar reader,Ambedkar - Towards an Enlightened India(Penguin India, Pages:162, Price: Rs 295) byGail Omvedt is an excellent book to start with.If you are a veteran, don�t waste your time. n

ABOOK that has all themakings of a Hollywoodpotboiler. A heartwrench-

ing tragedy, a gutsy photogra-pher, a cool-as-cucumber secretoperative. To make the plotinteresting-, the breaking of theArapohoe dam leads to the deathof several hundreds of people.Alex Graham, a photographeron the job chances on a couple ofmen at the scene and realises thetragedy was rigged. The covertoperative Judd Morgan isassigned to protect her. So we

have the bad guys and the goodguys and for good measure thegovernment is also thrown in tomake this even more interesting.

To get in the romance angleAlex Graham is taken to an iso-lated place by Morgan (who has apast to clear and has thereforetaken up the assignment). Sheplays hard to get but finally suc-

cumbs to his rugged charms.Iris Johansen weaves in a lot of

innovative chases. There are lotsof highs and lows in Dead Aim(Bantam Books, Pages: 341,Price: Rs 225) to keep the proto-ganist on literally on her toes.The end is predictable with thegood side winning the battle andeveryone going home happy.

All-in-all, a fair read costing,on a rainy day. Though readers ofDavid Morell and John Grishamwould be slightly disappointedwith the pace. n

�HOW I taught mygrandmother andother stories�

(Penguin, Pages: 199, Price: Rs150,) is a children�s book basedon real life experience of SudhaMurthy, a teacher, socialworker and best-selling writer.Dedicated to the �citizens oftomorrow�, these rich and valu-able experiences have beencompiled from various stages ofher life. It captures the dedica-tion of a 12 years old girl whotaught her grandmother toread, the carefreeness of the

only girl student in a computerengineering batch, the desire ofa woman who wanted to provethat women are equal to menwhen she worked for the pres-tigous Tata group, ups anddown she faced as the wife ofNarayan Murthy, to being thecurrent trustee of the InfosysFoundation.

The book is inspiring andstresses on the importance ofmorals and fulfilling ones duty.Every story has a moral lessonlike �Give back to the society�,�saving money for a rainy day�,

be optimistic in life, there�s noshort cut to hard work etc. Italso reveals the other face ofpersonalities like the humilityof president Abdul Kalam, sim-plicity of Appro JRD, founderof the Tata empire, and theburning desire of NarayanMurthy to make India an IThub.

The story �Gowramma�sDream� is poignant and verytouching. A must read for chil-dren who are slowly compro-mising values for materialisticgains. n

Thus spake Ambedkar Dud Aim

For the citizens of tomorrow

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