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Journalism of Courage
Hyped launches 8212; be it for books or art 8212; has become a way of life in this city. With theatrical voices and gourmet delights becoming everybody8217;s focus, both the work and its creator often end up taking a backseat. The situation sometimes leads to the drama of the absurd as it did a few evenings ago at the launch of Laxman Dubey8217;s book at The Nehru Centre.
In the distribution of bouquets to chief guests, senior poets and office bearers of various organisations, the achievements of the poor poet were all but drowned in this din. Even by late evening, not a single poem had been recited and some of us missed out on the ghazals sung by Ganshyam Vaswani and Vijay Singh Chauhan.
Childhood lost
Indian publishers have been ignoring children8217;s books for a long time now. And lack of sales, is the usual excuse reiterated. But then this disparaged lot seems to do quite well in other countries. Antoine Gallimard, director of Editions Gallimard the well-known French publishing House was in the city last week and stated in no uncertain terms: quot;If there are no young readers, how can there be old readers?quot; Touche. Wish this far-sighted approach would take root in the minds of Indian publishers too and eventually fill this vacuum.
Padmini Mirchandani, publishing director of India Book House, who was present at the meet, was open to collaborations. Gallimard felt that prices could be reduced if several Indian language publishers got together on a single project.
Also, quality would improve if adult authors wrote for children as well. Alas, if only he knew that children8217;s authors in India are sometimes offered less than a thousand rupees for a book! Which is what a decent meal would cost nowadays! The Tagore Programme8217;, envisaged as an exchange programme between French and Indian authors, may help these writers break into more lucrative European markets. Though that, in the end, can never become the raison d8217;etre for writing.
Vibrant revival
Yet another theatre festival took place in the city last week. This one was in the memory of Dr Shankar Seth and was held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. It concluded with Chanakya written by Mihir Bhuta and directed by Manoj Joshi.
The lights and sound did little to help the drama unfold and rise to its full stature; often, the loud music would drown the dialogue, and shadows cast on stage, especially in the first act, were rather distracting. Technical details aside, the story line was engrossing.
Historical plays are extremely difficult to stage, especially in the realistic mode 8212; set changes can be quite time-consuming. In almost stark darkness, with a narrator placing the events in context, props were expertly manouevred to create new scenes. The language is quite lyrical, and if Bambiya Hindi is your forte, before seeing the play, you better brush up on the life of Chanakya, the author of Artha Shastra, whose political wizardry and vision has yet to inspire our bumbling politicians.
Another festival is being planned by the Bhavan in February. Who says theatre is being throttled by television? Perhaps if more of us pay heed to Lord Curzon8217;s words, displayed at the exhibition on The Darbar8217;s of Imperial India8217;! He said: quot;If Indian art is to survive8230; it can only be if Indian chiefs and aristocracy, the people of culture and high degree, preserve it.quot; These words were spoken in 1903. Since then, surely the custodians of culture have changed hands: corporate houses and big money, have become the Maharajas of today.
Only then Indian art and culture will see a revival in schools as well, where it is all but forgotten as I realised recently when judging a competition: Batman definitely dominates Hanuman.
The last word
Asked Ms Vulture to Ms Culture:
Now who would want to bomb a director8217;s play,
especially one with nothing much to say 8212;
could it be one from the opposite camp
Or I one8217;s own playing tramp?
