Articles by Deepa Mohan

Navaratri, or the Nine Nights, are celebrated by the Bengalis as Durga Puja, or ‘Pujo’, for short. Over a period of years, several community Pujas have sprung up, and a roundup of a few ‘pandals’ (shamianas) over the five days of the Pujo brought some interesting vignettes of Bengali culture in our city, between the 5th and 9th of October. Abstract at Ulsoor pandal (Pic: Deepa Mohan)Rites and ritualsDurga, in her aspect of Mahishasura Mardhini (slayer of the Buffalo-Demon) is fondly addressed as ‘Ma’, and the mother is invited with pomp and celebration as she is supposed to be coming…

Today, the 17th of October, Ranga Shankara organized a press conference to talk about the upcoming Theatre Festival, which will run from 31st October to 9th November 2008. There will be plays, documentaries, solo performances by veteran thespians, and two plays specially commissioned by Ranga Shankara, along with Vodafone. The presentation was as well executed as any theatre production, with veterans like Paramashivanna and Jayashree rendering beautiful songs.The Golden Era of Kannada theatre was aptly evoked:Both Arundhati Nag and Girish Karnad who are directors of the Sanket Trust, spoke to the reporters, and harked back to the age when Kannada…

I first noticed Dramanon when they put up a foyer performance at Ranga Shankara, and later watched two of their productions: ‘The Original Last Wish Baby’ and later, ‘Pizzazz’. I found Sharanya Ramprakash, the present "chief" of Dramanon, and her team of thespians to be a committed, sincere young theatre group, battling financial odds to stay in theatre. The group was established in Bangalore in 2007, with a group of youngsters who studied in Manipal. Dramanon has staged around 20 productions till date and has staged four shows of ‘The Original Last Wish Baby’, a political satire, at both Alliance…

As I walked to the market one evening, my attention was drawn by this van:It seemed to be a novel initiative to sell organic rice, and seemed to make a lot of other claims besides (free of dust!) I spoke to the driver, who said that his "owners" (he couldn't, or wouldn't, give me their names!) told him on the mobile phone where to deliver the rice, how much to sell, and so on.Perhaps readers would like to try this out? ⊕

Once upon a time, buses were...boring. Not boring only because one had to wait endlessly for them, but also because the buses were uniformly coloured and so dull. All that has changed now, and I would like to share with you some of the rainbow bursts that ply through the city’s roads, some sporting pictures of nubile maidens and some messages laden with deep significance. I decided to take a ride on a couple of these buses just to talk to the conductors and the drivers. In some instances, the driver had been assigned recently to the bus, and was…

I very often find that cables (probably TV cable, and perhaps optic fibre cable too) is taken across the tops of buildings, or even strung across roads, with no care or thought of safety or even aesthetics.To illustrate this, I took this snap of one area in Jayanagar, near the Post Office:Do the building owners not mind the huge safety hazard that this poses, and are they not bothered (at least) about how ugly that nest of wires looks?We are mealy-mouthed hypocrites who talk a lot about the beauty of Bangalore and then keep quiet while economic considerations take precedence…

Sometimes, the sheer beauty of the wares on sale at pavement stalls stops one in one's tracks...amongst the plastic and the tawdry stuff, sometimes one comes across some jewels.Those are woodcuts, meant to be used for either block-printing, or for making rangoli or mehendi...but except for the paisley patterns, each one is unique!Each was five rupees...a pittance for such artistic work! ⊕

rafiki is a theatre group from Bangalore. Established in 1998, it comprises a group of youngsters working in the fields of theatre, with particular focus on socio-economically backward street and working children in the age group of 7 to 14 years. Woyzeck is a German play written by Georg Buechner set in Prussia in the 1830s. I had watched one version of Woyzeck staged by Koothu-p-Pattarai of Chennai, at Ranga Shankara, sometime ago. When I realised that rafiki was staging it at Ranga Shankara, I was compelled to watch the new performance too. I was very glad I went. The…

In Jayanagar 9th block, in the market area, is one of many innumerable shops; this one sells various types of puffed rice and fried lentils....The proprietor (who did not want to give his name..."yaake?" he queried dismissively, when I asked!) says he has a very regular clientele. "Not everyone wants to buy everything in five minutes in those big shops," he shrugs. I noticed that he did exchange a few words with most of the people who came to shop.The rate list of the various kinds of puffed rice and lentils are clearly displayed, and has been updated thanks to…

Looking at the schedules of various theatre venues in Bangalore, and there don't seem to be too many venues where theatre is happening on a regular basis. Indeed, when I went to this link on ‘Bengaluru Theatre’, asking for theatre performance spaces, www.bengalurutheatre.com, I found the message, "This Category is currently empty"! Chandrashekhar Kambar's "Thukra's Dream" - A play at Ranga Shankara (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The most used space, of course, is Ranga Shankara, with its commitment to ‘a play a day’; a variety of theatre groups have been putting up shows this month. English, Kannada, Punjabi, and multilingual theatre is…