RAMAKRISHNA MATH, ULSOOR, BENGALURU

Sunday 26th July 2015
On our way back from IndiraNagar side on Old Madras Road, we saw the board of Ramakrishna Math and decided to visit, as we had not been there. I drove inside, as there was ample parking place and walked round the premises.

It's peaceful, quiet and serene atmosphere, with lot of flower plants grown, book store, prayer/meditation hall and few monks walking around. There were also statues of Swami Vivekanada and Ishwara in the gardens. The sad part is, the quiet peaceful atmosphere is often disturbed by the prayer calls on the loudspeakers from the mosque across the road.
Ramakrishna Math is branch of Ramakrishna Mission, Belur, Howrah, WestBengal, established by Swami Vevekananda in 1906.  It was declared independent centre in 1999.

This Ashrama is also a centre for those monks who are retired from active services. These inspiring monks, who have led a contemplative spiritual life of 30-50 years, are the source of invaluable experience and wisdom to the devotees. Spiritual seekers get benefited immensely by their guidance. Such meetings are arranged with prior appointments.
We sat in the meditation hall for some time, as there was a group singing bhajans with accompanying music.
It was a pleasant experience.
Website: http://www.ramakrishnamath.in/index.html
written on Wednesday, 29th July 2015, 5.30am

GIRISH KASARAVALLI FILM FESTIVAL

Sunday, 26th July 2015

Girish Kasaravalli Film Festival was organized at Bharatiya VidyaBhavana, NammaBengaluru from July 25th to 29th 2015. We attended on Sunday, 26th July and watched the movies screened on the day "GHATASHRADHDHA"

There was also photo exhibition of his films and sale of books.

Girish Kasaravalli  (born 3 December 1950) is an Indian film director, in the Kannada Cinema, and one of the pioneers of the Parallel Cinema, known internationally, he has won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film four times: for Ghatashraddha (1977), Tabarana Kathe (1986), Thaayi Saheba (1997) and Dweepa (2002).^[In 2011, he was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award by Government of India.

A gold medalist from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Kasaravalli started his career in films with Ghatashraddha(1977). Over the next 30 years he directed 11 films and a tele serial. The film he made to fulfill his diploma, Avashesh, was awarded the Best Student Film and the National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film for that year. He has received thirteen National Film Awards.

Ghatashraddha ( English: The Ritual) is a 1977 Indian Kannada language film directed by Girish Kasaravalli starring Meena Kuttappa, Narayana Bhat and Ajith Kumar in lead roles. It is based on a novel by eminent Kannada writer Dr U. R. Ananthamurthy. The film was Girish Kasaravalli's first feature film as a director, and marked not only the arrival of a promising new filmmaker but also that of Kannada cinema in the India's 'New Cinema' horizon.

A young Brahmin Vedic school student, who is from an aristocratic family, befriends his school master's daughter who is a pregnant widow. The boy tries but fails in concealing his friend's pregnancy. The widow has an abortion forced on her, has the eponymous ritual performed on her and is excommunicated. The student returns home as his school shuts down.

Written 28th July 2015

ASHTAVADHANA - GANESH BHAT

Saturday 25th July 2015,
GOKHALE INSTITUTE, BASAVANAGUDI, BENGALURU

We attended a program of ASHTAVADHANA by Sri Ganesh Bhat KoppalaTota, a young, 26 year old, at Gokhale Institute, BasavanaGudi, Bengaluru, on Saturday, 25th July 2015, It's amazing how young person is grilled by eight scholars in various fields and his ability to respond to multiple tasks simultaneously.

ASHTHAVADHANA

The true purpose of an Avadhana event thus is the showcasing, through entertainment, of superior mastery of cognitive capabilities - of observation, memory, multitasking, task switching, retrieval, reasoning and creativity in multiple modes of intelligence - literature, poetry, music, mathematical calculations, puzzle solving etc.
It requires immense memory power and tests a person's capability of performing multiple tasks simultaneously. All the tasks are memory intensive and demand an in-depth knowledge of literature, and prosody. The tasks vary from making up a poem spontaneously to keeping a count of a bell ringing at random. No external memory aids are allowed while performing these tasks except the person's mind. 
Avadhāni refers to the individual who performs the Avadhānaṃ;  Ashtavadana refers to eight people asking questions called Pṛcchaka (questioner). The first person to ask the question is called "Pradhāna Pṛcchaka" (s)he is the same as any other Pṛcchaka except that he asks the first question. The questions asked are primarily literary in nature. The Pṛcchakas can optionally place additional constraints. Though it is not stated explicitly, conformation to Chandas (poetic metre) is mandatory. Avadhāni should answer them in the form of a poem. The questions generally consist of a description given in prose and the avadhāni has to express it as a poem. The additional restrictions placed by the Pṛcchakas can be anything like asking the avadhāni not to use a given set of the alphabet in the entire poem or to construct only a particular type of poem etc.

with Shatavadhani R Ganesh

Of the Pṛcchakas, one person is in charge of "aprastuta-prasangam" (irrelevant incident). His responsibility is to distract the avadhani with questions and topics unrelated to the avadhanam and the avadhani has to reply to his questions and riddles. The Pṛcchaka who manages this should also be equally intelligent and witty to entertain the audience with his questions. An additional challenge for Avadhani here is not to get distracted by these digressions and give witty answers spontaneously even to some of the silly questions. Shatavadhani R Ganesh played the role of "APRASTHUTA".
The program was educative, entertaining and mind boggling. The performer has immense challenge to showcase his ability to respond.
written Sunday 27th July 2015

YAKSHAGAANA - DONDI BELAKU

Sunday, 19th July 2015
Samsa Open Air Auditorium, Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bengaluru

Yakshagana is a theatre art form with dance, music, costume, dialogues,stahe techniques with unique style and form It's popular entertainement for mass in rural parts of coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Malnad area. The dance drama is usually from dusk to dawn performed by a team of people, well versed in stories from Mahabharatha, Ramayana and Puranas. Those days it was played in the paddy field after the harvest, in DONDI BELAKU (Light from oil clothes)

We witnessed on such show on Sunday, 19th July 2015 at SAMSA open air auditorium, Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bengaluru. This was organized by Samanvida, Bengaluru and the artists were from Saligrama Yakshagana Mela.
It was two hour show and the story is ABHIMANYU, which was enacted by Chandrahasa Gouda with a tremondous energy and enthusiasm. The dance was superb.
But the present day scenerio, the presentation is not very effective as the characters are not visible clearly. However the show was very good.
Written Wednesday 22nd July 2015

VISIT TO FAMILY FRIEND

Sanday 19th July 2015
An occasion visit a family friend Ramesh-Prabha, in HappyValley LayOut, PoornaPrajna Nagara, UttaraHalli. NammaBengaluru As their close relations gathered and we also went to see them, It was a happy re-union.

CHILDREN

Ladies with Children

MenFolk

Ramachandra Udupa, Rajani, Ruchira and Raghavendra from Muscat, came on holidays, Satish Hande family from Mysuru, and Purushothama Udupa and family from Mandarthi, all were there.
It became three groups to pass some happy times, share and relax.
written Wednesday 22nd July 2015

TAALA MADDALE (ತಾಳ ಮದ್ದಳೆ)

July 19, 2015..... Bengaluru
KANNADA SAHITYA PARISHAT

I had an wonderful opportunity to witness a lively "TALA MADDALE" session of one and a half hours at Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Bengaluru. It was part of Birth Centenary Celebrations of Late KSN Adiga, former Chairman of Karnataka Bank.

Taala maddale is the ancient art form, popular in coastal Karnataka and Malnad area. It's derived from "Yakshagaana", a classical dance and musical form of art. It's typical stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata or puranas, presented without dance and costumes.

A typical TAALA MADDALE session consists of veteran artists, well versed in epics and puranas, sitting on the stage. The Bhagavataru, singer with TAALA (a pair of small hand cymbals) and a mridangist, with a MADDALE (a pecussion instrument - type of drum) sings stanzas from selected stories in a melodious fashion and artists play the roles of characters and enter into dialogues.

The story presented on the day was "Shara Sethu Bandha" (SriRamachandra Darshana), a tale from from "yuga sandhi", time when Tretha yuga changes to Dwapara Yuga. Arjuna from Pandavas goes on pilgrimage, meets Hanumantha (SriRama devotee) on the sands of Rameshwara.
They find out about each other, and Arjuna contests with why SriRama, being Godly, could not build the bridge across Bharatha and LankaDweepa, with his powers. Arjuna boasts saying, he could do it with arrows in the air, three times, which was broken by Hanumantha effortlessly by his legs all three times. Arjuna offended by the challenge, decides to kill himself, when SriKrishana/SriRamachandra appears in the form of a Brahmana, resolves the issue and both feel blessed by "SriRamachandra Darshana".

The artists did an excellent job, adding sattire, humour, insult and anger in their presentation. The story was presented by S S Pampaje, from Karnataka Samskritika Kala Pratishtana, who took the role of Arjuna. The character "Hanumantha" also did a wonderful job, as they are veterans.
written Wednesday 22nd July 2015

K S N ADIGA: TRIBUTE

Sabha Program, P Halambi, A G Kodgi and others

Birth Centenary Celebrations of Kakkunje Sooryanarayana Adiga, 74 years (1914 - 1989) took place on Sunday 19th July 2015 at Kannada Sahitya Parishat, ChamrajaPete, Bengaluru.
It was a whole day programe with opening ceremony, Vichara Sankeerna, Lunch, Taala Maddale, Sugama Sangeetha and BharataNatya and Valedictory function.

Vichara Sankeerna with A S N Hebbar

Taala maddale - Shara Setu Bandha

"KSN Adiga was a former chairman and Doyen of Karnataka Bank. The Bank, arguably, progressed to the maximum extent under his leadership. People say the bank has reached the present stature because of his hard work. Some people still refer the Bank as "Adigra Bank". He has also earned quite a reputation as a good humanitarian too. He is quite popular in Mangalore.

Sugama Sangeetha - N Srinivasa Udupa and Team

He was a good human being, very helping nature, caring and concerned. As he was a not a succesful politician, but engaged himself in social work.
Adiga, a lawyer by education and profession was the president of the erstwhile Mangalore Municipality and was responsible for creation of civic infrastructure, including drinking water from Netravathi, recalled the Bank’s former director A.G. Kodgi.
As a part of his birth centenary, we as a bank have organized various programs in his memory and as mark of respect and tribute , A new branch was opened in his hometown , in fact , in his ancestral home itself. 
written Tuesday, 21 July 2015

VAMSHA VRUKSHA - NOVEL 50 YEARS

10th July 2015

GOKHALE INSTITUTE, BASAVANAGUDI, BENGALURU

Lighting the Lamp

"Dr S L Bhyrappa Kadambari Priyara Koota" on FaceBook, having about 6500 members from all over the world, has organised Golden Jubilee Celebrations for the celebrated Kannada novel by S L Bhyarappa, 'VAMSHA VARKSHA". The event took place on Saturday, 11th July 2015 at Gokhale Institute, BasavanaGudi, NammaBengaluru at 10.00am to 2 pm.

Shatavadhani R Ganesh

P Sheshagri, Spoke about the film

Prof, Syed Shahabuddin, translated into Urdu

L V Sharada, acted as Katyayini in the film

There were about 200 people, some arrived earlier than 9.30am to catch the front seats. Dr S L Bhayarappa himself was present along with the critics, literary giants and fans of Bhyarappa.
Shashank Parashar, a young enthusiast, compered the program very well. The event started with the lighting of lamp, followed by Shatavadhani R Ganesh, highlighting the details and thoughts behind writing the novel written 50 years ago, still a contemporary. The book is about the conflict between the tradition and modernity, conflict between the individual and society, basis of the family origin and values.

Dr S L Bhyarappa speaking

There were about six speakers, P Sheshadri spoke about the VamshaVruksha film, ShridharMoorthy spoke about the VamshaVruksha Drama enacted, Syed Sahabuddin spoke about his difficulties and success of translating the book into Urdu language. Ranganath gave a jhalak of the dialogue by Srinivasa Shrotri in the novel, L V Sharada, who acted as Katyayini of the novel in the film, was

Fans and audience

Vote of thanks by Anuradha Udayashankar

present and was felicitated.
Dr S L Bhyrappa, after being honoured, answered some questions raised by fans about the book, and explained what prompted him to write the novel, the circumstances, research and mostly his creativity and the imagined characters.

At Gokhale Institute with Nagesh Nayak

It was a well arranged program for a selected auidence.
written Sunday, 12 July 2015

JAI HO RATNA - KANNADA DRAMA

The famous 'Ratnana Padagalu' by Late Sri G.P.Rajratnam , poet and litereary person of yester years offer an unique background to this play. The characters and situation flow from the poetry. Ratna, a lowly labourer finds true love in Nanji. Their pristine love blooms amidst dull dreary humdrum existence. Ratna, an optimist, finds magical romance even in his hand to mouth existence. Life is a 'song' for him to be enjoyed to the maximum.
Nanji is his counterfoil, lovingly managing the house with his meager income. Ratna, his friends and their daily escapades in the local bar lead to several delightful situations. Ratna seems to have a song for every occasion. His wit and humor get him out of all difficulties.
Late C R Simha diercted the play, written all the necessary dialogues,  costumes, lighting, stage  decor, props etc, before he died in Feb 2014. 

SCENES FROM THE PLAY

His son, Ritwik Sinha, took up work left behind by C R Simha, presented the play on Tuesday, 7th July 2015, at 7.00pm at ADA Kalamandira, NammaBengaluru.

Scenes from the play

The artists

The play has lot of songs sung by Late Raju Ananthaswamy, young singer and composer, who passed away at an early age. His recorded songs forms many scenes for dances and dialogues.
Ritiwik Simha, apparently put in lot of efforts to present songs and lyrics with lot of people, ladies and gents on stage, with typical village dialogues and humour. 

The play runs about 105 minutes, with an interval, which is not necessary, as the drama enthisiasts want continuous run. Since it was the first presentation, I am sure, there will be lot of improvement in the subsequent presentations.
written Wednesday, 8th July 2015