DesiPundit

Samanth interviews Nina Paley on the origins of her Sita Sings the Blues project. Youu’re missing out if you haven’t yet checked out her animated retelling of the Ramayan!

In Thiruvananthapuram, I read my first Ramayana, the Amar Chitra Katha version. I was puzzled and somewhat appalled that Sita was considered a heroine. She seemed so submissive — a terrible role model. But I was intrigued and wanted to understand why Sita and Ram were so revered. So I started reading other versions. That is when I discovered (that) the Uttara Kandam (the last seven sections of the epic that detail the life of Ram and Sita after they return from exile) is simply left out of many editions, which was even more intriguing. It made me want to read more versions.

Ranjit visits the Ice Carving festival in Medina, Ohio. He has lots of photos, so do check out the impressive sculptures.

As the ultimate symbol of their opulence, the Marwaris commissioned artists to paint those buildings. Hundreds of these courtyard houses cropped up in the desert landscape, each of them covered inside out with colorful frescoes.

Vani brings us the delightfully painted frescoes of Shekhawati. I just hope she had more pictures.

Backpakker has a great account of his trip to Rome. [Hat tip: Nandan]

This is a city where the past is the present, where Gods still linger and monarchs are worshipped , where myths and legends merge to create history , where romance is about wars fought and won, where art is a way of life , where stones speak and the silence of the scultures speak of a glorious past, where winged creatures are not birds , but Gods , where the spirit of Renaissance still lives on the streets , celebrating the exuberance of life. Its the root of civilisation and ironically, you run away from civilisation the moment you set foot here , as you step into the bygone eras .

The Kala Ghoda Art Festival in Mumbai is right around the corner. A few bloggers got together two years back and set up a blog following the events. The Kala Ghoda Gazette is open for the 2008 festival again and asking for interested contributors.

Qualifications:
1. You’re in Bombay during the festival (2nd-10th February) and, barring acts of god, will attend for at least a few days.
2. You can write well. You will need to bring the festival alive to those who are reading the blog.
3. You have some experience with WordPress, or at least Blogger.

Fans of Sanjay Leela Bhansali often point to the gorgeous color palette of his movies. Vinod examines the visual language of  Saawariya.

In Saawariya, the colors black and white can be seen to denote simplicity of emotions. It is human nature to divide life into simple dichotomies. There is happiness and there is sadness. There is good and there is the evil. This is the way our hero, Raj, defines his world. We see Raj clad in black and white because his world is black and white. He believes that there are only two feelings in this world, happiness and sadness and he seeks to bring happiness to everyone he meets.

Aditya was at the opera this weekend.

When the show starts, there are 4 pieces of this giant chandelier in 4 corners of hall. As the singing starts, the 4 pieces start floating around the huge hall (attached by cables to the ceiling) and the assemble themselves, as if by magic, into a chandelier. It was quite spectacular, honestly.

As this was happening, everyone in the theater went like: “Oooooo….aaaahhhhhh….bravo…bravo…” (clap clap clap)

and I was like (to the wife): “Do you know how they do it? They have hydraulically controlled cantilevers on guided rails on the ceiling, and it the tension on the cables is adjusted (using 4-Dimensional positioning) to create the illusion of the chandelier swirling, and…”

RemainConnected encourages folks in Bangalore to check out FilmCamp.

FilmCamp is a platform to encourage and promote independent filmmakers. It’s a forum, a meeting place for people from different walks of filmmaking coming together to share and discover the fine fixingses in the treasury stock, i.e. in art of film-making. This event is the first of its kind and is happening at the PG Department of Communication, SBMJC Center for Management Studies, Bangalore. A place where independent Indie film makers get to showcase their works to a wider audience which includes film-makers, professionals and critics from the film industry. The best part would be to discuss, the +ves, the –ves, the lessons learnt, the encyclopedisms, the critical reviews, the point blank views, etc.

The Great Ganesha reviews Opus, an off-broadway play.

The story is about the fictitious Lazara string quartet. Why is that interesting? Well, that question is answered in the first few minutes of the play when we are told that being in a quartet is like a marriage, only without the fidelity. The dynamics, the politics and the interdependencies between the members and their sometimes clashing, sometimes attracting personalities are riveting for the entire intermission-free, ninety minutes of the play.

Shoefiend goes to see A Disappearing Number, the latest offering from London based theatre company Complicite.

It’s easy to see why Ramanujan’s life makes for such compelling storytelling. This is a mathematical genius who fails his exams and lost a college scholarship. Here is a man whose pursuit of numbers dictated that he embrace logic and yet chose the divine: claiming to take advice from the family deity Namagiri. It is a story of a humble Port Trust Authority clerk from Kumbakkonam who finds himself in upper crust predominantly white (and racist) Cambridge. It is about a devout Hindu Brahmin and an atheist Englishman setting aside their differences cultural and spiritual, for their common love of numbers.