Rendezvous with Arts & Theatre

Rendezvous with Arts & Theatre 

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” - Thomas Merton

The above statement could not be more apt and true at a time when there is so much of unrest and dissatisfaction in every sphere of one’s life across the world.  Having said this, I would like to take you through a journey I personally traveled in my life, which might enable you to get an insight on the fact that is stated so aptly above.

First and foremost, let me give you a background of who I am, what I do, and what I have come to discover at this moment in my life.  My rendezvous with the fine arts seems to have started literally in my mother’s womb, what with her being a PhD in Hindi literature with degrees in Tamil & English literature.  Even as a child, I was fascinated with the Urdu language which was the language of choice in all Hindi films and especially the lyrics in the songs of that era.  I remember sitting down to ask my mother the meaning of those words and I believe it was then that the shayra or poet in me was born and it seemed apt and justified that my name translated to poetry.  As years went by as a young girl, I was introduced to the wonderful world of dance and classical music through Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music.  Our family was extremely music and art oriented which always involved itself either by attending concerts or Yakshagana, a theatrical form of dance drama of Karnataka.  This gave birth to the connoisseur of performing arts and music in me.  As years went by my teenage years were extremely filled with my curious mind wanting to learn about various architectural wonders which drove me to visit places like Belur, Halebid, etc.  I took to drawing and painting, which allowed me a way of expression.  I always would doodle, draw, or paint and the satisfaction of seeing a finished piece of art gave me immense satisfaction and confidence even as a young girl.  My life took an even more beautiful direction when I got the chance to move to New York City, the Mecca of contemporary fine art.  I remember going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and staring in awe at the paintings of great artists and wondering what it was that drove them to draw such immensely beautiful pieces of work. During my stay in the city, I had the opportunity to collect a few paintings of Claude Monet, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt. Albeit duplicates, the satisfaction of owning them was unmatchable.  I collected porcelain plates that were limited editions by Bradford Mint and other artistic organizations that supported the works of artists. The shows on Broadway had me spellbound on a very high level.  The shows of Disney were fascinating.  Every play I saw, every show I attended, and every museum I visited seemed to enrich my life beyond words could ever describe.  During the same time, my interest in music peaked and drove me to learn Hindustani classical music allowing me to be in touch with the language of love and my heart, Urdu.  The ghazals I listened to and the shayari I wrote invoked appreciation among lovers of the language and this only heightened my motivation to learn and absorb as much as I could. I would not miss a single musical concert by great ghazal singers or singers from India. The Rubaiyat of Khalil Gibran, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the poetry of Mirza Ghalib Ahmed Faraz, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Momin Khan, and other such great poets took me deeper into the world of poetry, Urdu and English encouraging me to write and so these influenced my birth as a writer, a poet, and a connoisseur of arts.  This was a journey that has brought such satisfaction and happiness and a sense of calm to my otherwise turbulent life that it moved me to tears to be able to be acknowledged and be called a part of this fine world.  As my life moved along into my mid 30’s and I returned to India, I decided that someday I shall pen a novel and be published but make it very different than most fictional novels that I have read.  Deciding to keep in touch with the vast world of arts, music, and literature, I endeavored to find a way to be a part of it.

I moved back to Bangalore in the mid 1990’s where I began as a businesswoman growing in years to be a serial entrepreneur.  During this journey, I had the opportunity to move to Pune.  Pune is a city brimming with excitement in people involved deeply in literature, arts, music, and everything in between as I discovered.  In this small city, which was hardly a fraction of Bangalore, I found a place for myself where I went back to singing at a few places that had Karaoke.  Leaving Bangalore also gave birth to the start of my book, “Unfinished - A Woman’s Tryst with Destiny,” which started off on my bus ride to Pune.  I fell in love with writing all over again and found my interest in singing back again.  After a few years in Pune, I moved to Delhi, a city that further ignited my interest in the beautiful world of performing arts and the field of literature where my penchant and interest for shayari and the Urdu language bloomed again in the land of Mirza Ghalib whom I considered my second love.  This love of the language gave birth to me writing poetry in Urdu, a few samples of which are below:

(1)   Hazaaron cheethde ho gaye dil ka is kadar

Samet the reh gaye har tukdon ko raat bhar

Aaansoo bahaaye humne duniyaa se bachkar aksar

Phir subaah hui aur mile sabse yoonhi muskuraakar!

Aadat si ho gayi hai ab toh girne sambhalne ki

Kisi se ab na ranj hai, na gile hai, na shikwe hai

Guzarti hai zindagi yoon ab kisi ke mautaaj nahi

Sabhi hai mere saath.......paas koi nahi!!!!

(2) Yoon toh har din yaad aaye par aaj kuch zyaada aaye hai,

Maa! Teri shiddat o' muhabbat ki baatein aaj mujhe tadpaaye hai,

Guzre bade kam din godh mein tere itna hi ehsaas hai,

Phir bhi aaj woh haseen lamhe aaj bahut yaad aaye hai.

Khelte kudte guzaare bachpan iska koi gila nahi,

Jawaani nere na dekhe tumne yeh gila kabhi gaya nahi,

Log aaye aur chale gaye zindagi yoonhi katne lagi,

Jab bhi kuch haasil kiya yaad bahut tum aane lagi.

Qismat ne sataaya bahut phir bhi hum kabhi jhuke nahi,

Tera sikhaaya koi taaleem bhule hum hargiz nahi,

Shaayad tum kaheen maujood ho yeh ummeed hai jo jaata nahi,

Nikle aaj kuch haasil karne, Maa, duaayein ho teri bas kuch aur nahi.

(3) Ye talkhiyaan, ye nafratein, ye batwaare na jaane kab khatm hogi,

Ghutan si jo mehsoos hoti hai kab tham jaayegi.

Udhar bhi hai khoon ki laal rang aur idhar bhi,

Kat jaati hai nassein toh maut donon Jahaan bhi.

Aman aur insaaniyaat ki chalo ek kaum banaate hain,

Nafratein laashen bichaati Hain yahaan bhi aur wahaan bhi

Writing English poetry also became a part of my life and I penned a poetry for my mother 30 years after her demise and wrote such:

Thirty years to this day, you left your three children and passed away,

To a better place they said, for us it did not at the time seem that way,

All I feel is a gaping hole in our lives that seems to get larger by the day,

Today as we are older and mature, we should come to terms so people would say!!!

How do we come to terms with the fact that our mother is no more with us?

How does one let go of the one person that we have counted on for so long?

How can a child ever forget the feeling of a mother's love and warm embrace?

Maybe I am naive, maybe a little lost, or maybe it is okay and I am not all wrong!!

Tributes we may offer to you, mom with oceans formed from all our tears,

We will miss you forever with every success we attain and every hurdle we cross,

We miss you furthermore for your grandchildren will not know the person you were,

To rekindle within them your fighting spirit to overcome is what we promise to endeavor!!!

Your wisdom and fighting spirit confounded me for those were days when women were timid,

But you seemed to have overcome all those hurdles by achieving everything that you did,

You were a role model for me, which made me forget and cross all barriers that I could,

I stand tall as a very proud and empowered woman making my choices because you once did!!

Today, after 30 long years, know that your children are well-settled in their worlds,

Although there are times we falter in our lives, but we always emerge as true winners,

That is because of the strong values and principles deep-rooted instilled by you, Maa!

Know wherever you are in your world that we'll always miss you and call out to you, Maa!

The universe seemed to have my destiny all chalked out for me by the time I returned to Bangalore again after a brief stay in Delhi.  Having discovered my calling and rekindling my passion seemed to have reached the vastness of the universe, which seemed to conspire to make my dreams of being completely involved and immersed in performing arts and literature come true.  It led me to the multi-talented, multifaceted Zafer Mohiuddin, the Founder Director of Kathputliyaan Theatre Group enabling me to be actively involved in theatre and its activities by way of dealing with the event management of the entire group.  Along with this, I got launch my book in the city that I loved and my book, “Unfinished - A Woman’s Tryst with Destiny” got rave reviews from everyone who read it as it was a fiction written in an unconventional way, prose and poetry as part of a novel, a style which nobody had previously adapted as per the publisher.  Coming back to the theatre scene and my involvement in the area performing arts, I would like to iterate the importance of the need for a disruption or creative revolution of sorts that seems to be the need of the hour.  I came face to face with the challenges of theatre groups who struggle even today to bring audience to watch their shows. At the same time, the challenge of finding sponsors for the event was all the more difficult as most corporate fund education, children’s welfare, etc. but not the promotion of arts except for a chosen few who do only when the events are associated with celebrities or known entities. Even the shows conducted freely had not many takers; this was more so the case especially with shows that were not in English.  As the challenges of this wonderful legacy of our country started to surface, my determination to be proactive to create a revolution to bring about a positive disruption to change this scenario became all the more focused.  To this end, I continued with Kathputliyaan to promote their events in the process meeting more and more people involved in this cause.

Theatre, music, literature, and all art forms need patrons and avid lovers to keep it alive.  Nurturing these art forms is not only the need of our society but also a lifeline to keep our culture and tradition alive, which many a times are portrayed through these art forms.  Performing arts, I strongly believe should become a part of our education system as it provides students the opportunity to have a collaboration of expression by engaging their mind, body and emotions. Being part of a theatre or performance enables the exploration and presentation of many great ideas of the students.  This in turn also would enhance their performance in academics as they deal with their stress or dilemma that they may have during the course of their daily life through theatre.  Art is a form of expression that allows an individual to be themselves or who they want and many times helps find oneself in it.  Engaging in art programs help in improving a student’s memory and concentration skills, develop decision-making skills and critical thinking skills, enhances communication and listening skills along with encouraging focus and discipline.  One can find joy in self-expression which in turn helps build self-esteem.  Being part of performing arts can also act as a cathartic experience for those suffering by traumatic episodes or happenings in life.  Many a times theatre has helped address concerning social issues and helped in evoking the emotions of people to fight to bring out a change in legislation or in policies.  The arts in India are also examples of the secular fabric and cultural diversity of our country.  In preserving them, we preserve the richness and legacy of our nation.

In the words of Jerzy Kosinski, “The principle of true art is not to portray, but to evoke!”  Hence in order to evoke and inspire a country of people to preserve its legacy, we as human beings and citizens of a country that is so artistically rich must endeavor to encourage the existence, implementation, and promotion of arts in all spheres.  Only then, shall we have an avenue of escape for all forms of shortcomings that one may face in their lives, be in personal, professional, or academic and build our young population to become more confident individuals with great self-esteem.  Nothing can be as true as the statement of Pablo Picasso who went on to state, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life!” So, let us all commit ourselves to endeavor to preserve, support, and promote arts and literature of our vast secular country, India whose diversity has attracted many nations to imbibe and adapt our art forms into their own.  Bangalore, a city thriving with arts, music and literature beckons me to create a difference, a disruption, a revolution to support preservation and promotion of the arts and this is a city where my heart doth belong!

Poochte ho tum ke is shehar se mera itna lagaav kyun hai,

Ye khoobsoorat nazaara aur log hain jo kheench laati hai..

Manzar hai yeh jahaan phoolon mein farishte nazar aaye,

Shehar hai ye jahaan shayari, saaz, aur ehsaas mil jaaye...

Poochte ho tum ke is shehar se mera itna lagaav kyun hai,

Bastaa hai rooh mera yahaan jisme mera wajood basa hai!!