MONSOON FESTIVAl Kaushik Bhattacharjee came on stage with grand words of Emerging Artists introduction in the musical fraternity-he is a July 25 gandabandh disciple of the Agra gharana maestro Pandit K. G. Ginde and has received ta'lim from Pandit Arun The India International Centre organised a two-day Bhaduri and Pandit Sunil Bose as an ITC-SRA scholar. Monsoon Festival, featuring vocal and instrumental The choice of Raga Miyan ki Malhar, opening with the music on the first day and dance on the second. The music all-time classic bandish 'Karim Naam Tero.. .' in Vilambit concerts featured two emerging artists-Bipul Ektaal, set expectations soaring further. Gifted with a rich Ray (Santoor) and Kaushik Bhattacharjee (Khayat). grain of voice, the opening aochar was nicely crafted by A disciple of Pandit Bhajan Sopori who claims to belong Kaushik, but the to the Sufiyana gharana of Kashmir, Bipul opened his delineation of the recital with an appropriate choice-:-Raga Megh. While he bandish fell flat. Not developed the raga in a systematic manner, the use of one only was there no hand plucking the main string as chikari during the initial clarity of adherence to part of the alaap was disturbing as it didn't go well with any stylistic affiliation the nature of the instrument. The jod was well executed in particular, it seemed and brought out the key phrases of the raga, creating a as if the artist was beautiful ambience. Once again, the innovation of the much more concerned addition of a mandra string below the main string, carried with the addition of out by Pandit Bhajan Sopori, jarred the ambience as it effects to his voice sounded as if the instrument was aspiring to become the Rudra Veena. The choice of gat-s in Jhaptaal and Teentaal through the mixer deserve special mention because of the way in which they rather than focus on explored complementary aspects of the raga, and the doing justice to the accompaniment of Shailendra Mishra ornamented the grandeur of the raga presentation nicely. chosen by him. • IRFAN ZUBERI duet Krishna- Vandana, the conventional invocation of a A Fusion of Dance Sattriya performance byMallika and Bhabananda. July 26 After the duet, Mallika presented Gopi Naach, one of tire female dance numbers of Sattriya in raga Paraj set to Tata Ektali. Bhabanand performed [humura, the male dance Dance lovers were in for a treat at the Sattriya dance recital item in raga Eman Kailyan set to Chuta and Joti TaJa by Mallika Kandali and Bhabananda Barbayan from comprising Ramdani and Geetar Nach, highlighting Guwahati, and Bharatnatyam by Satyapriya Iyer and Nritta and Abhinaya both. Christopher Guruswami (who unfortunately could not The concluding duet Varsha- varnan depicting monsoon make it) from Chennai on the second day of the Monsoon was based on a composition of Srimanta Shankardeva set Festival. The evening opened with an enchanting Contd. page 2 , lecture diary to music and choreographed by Bhabananda in raga tormented by Cupid, pleads to her Lord not to be Sindhuura, Chutkala, though the Tandava and Lasya indifferent to her. Her flawlessAnga-Shuddhi and perfect contrast was conspicuously missing with ....-....•~---------... sense of rhythm were remarkable. the lyrical grace of this dance style equally visible in both the dancers. They This was followed by a Meera Bhajan were ably accompanied on Khol by describing the dark clouds, rainfall, Niranjan Bayan, Vocal by Rim Pathak, lightning and thunder, and of course the Flute by Vinoy Kumar, Sitar by Labanya Radha-Krishna sequence; most apt for Kumarand Taal by Gargi Goswami. the Monsoon Festival. The music for Satyapriya, the talented young this in Shuddha Sarang and Adi-talam Bharatnatyam dancer took the stage in was composed by Sudha Raghuraman the second half of the evening. Without who was also the vocal accompanist that Christopher, there was no duet in evening along with Flute by G. Bharatnatyam. It opened with the Raghuraman, Mridangam by Tanjore Kalyani Varnam composed by the Keshavan and Nattuvangam by Tanjore Quartet in Aditalam. Satyapriya, Sr is udas ini. Sa tya pr iya . herself with her impeccable training in choreographed this, and the concluding Kalakshetra, did full justice to both, the Tillana composed by Dr. Balmurali technical and Abhinaya aspect where the Krishna in Brindavan-Sarang, preceded lovelorn Nayika, by aJavali in Suruti. • MANJARI SINHA values. It was thus a reversal of the process. However, Rosalind Wilson he asserted that the real colonisation of India started in 1947 when it developed a dichotomy of two types Memorial lecture 2013 of dissent. LECTURE: The Untamed Language of Dissent While it was risky to search for root causes, it was Speaker: Professor Ashis Nandy important to look into its character, as all dissent was not Organised by the Rosalind Wilson Memorial Trust ideological. The tribal people had been pushed to the July 28 margins as they were not given the chance to dissent. It was evident from the fact that though the so-called Speaking on the untamed language of dissent, Professor Maoists knew little of Marxist philosophy, yet they were Ashis Nandy, the political psychologist who deals with committed to act. Similarly, the Ongis of Andaman and human subjectivity and the inner world of community Nicobar, having limited experience with other human and society, emphasised the hazards of plugging channels beings, did not want to communicate as they felt that of dissent that had driven people to the margins of their language was inaccessible. Avoiding interaction and desperation. He mentioned two categories of dissent. dialogue, they had survived, refusing to be converted to One, when the trajectory of dissent was predictable as the civilising process. being justifiable, sane and mature. But it was the other type termed as irrational, immature and childish which Nandy also referred to the creative side of dissent that was considered dangerous by the hegemonic state that did communicated the irrational, non-ideological, yet tacit not permit dissent and stifled it. sensitivity of unstated and understated worries which defied articulation because many movements were not Tracing the growth and pattern of colonisation in India, controlled centrally. Many people were fighting for issues he mentioned that the British had accepted the culture, that they could not articulate for want of proper language customary laws, religious traditions and social mores of and a framework. Yet, such movements would be able to the country till 1830, when the enlightenment discourse bend and not break the rules of systems. started the mission of civilising the host nation and initiated the process ofIndians internalising English • p. S. BAWA Referring to the importance of the maritime domain- 'also in flux'-he said the melting of the Arctic ice due to global warming was 'opening up new and much shorter sea-routes between Europe and Asia.' The economic profile of the Arctic littoral countries might increase; and so might their strategic importance, he said, adding that this could 'reverse the shift in the centre of gravity of global power to the Asia and Pacific region.' About the space domain, he said very few had been able to fully comprehend the reality that lay beyond the earth; yet, the possibilities in space were immense and the The occasion to remember veteran journalist and countries that mastered it for future growth would diplomat Prem Bhatia also saw the awards for excellence become significant players in any future world order. in political and environmental reporting being conferred In the' case of cyber space, even as he touched upon upon The Hindus Shalini Singh and The Telegraphs the menace it embodied, he pointed out that the Jaideep Hardikar, respectively. domain was unique in that it was both a platform Shyam Saran, who hailed Bhatia's contribution as India's and aresource. ' envoy to Kenya and Singapore, said 'we live in a world Saran recognised that the current state of India did not which is changing in front of our eyes and changing at an match the potential its capabilities in the three domains increasingly rapid pace'. He pointed out some of the provided, but he also said that the country had the characteristics of the emerging landscape, dominated by opportunity to fashion a model of development that three critical domains: a terrestrial one that is defined by would draw upon its democratic impulses and capabilities maritime space; an extra-terrestrial one that is space- in the new domains. related; and cyber space, in which both the terrestrial and extra-terrestrial domains extend. • REETFSH ANAND (SCs and STs), the differently abled and religious Pro-poor Growth minorities like the Muslims are left out of the growth. process. By raising probing questions like 'How inclusi~e DURGABAI DESHMUKH MEMORIAL LECTURE: has the growth been?' and 'Who was the most poor ih Growth and its Pro-poor Character in India during 2010?' Professor Thorat deftly extended the analysis tp 1993-94 to 2009-10 : Lessons for Making Growth more the various socio-economic groups and religious Socially Inclusive minorities. Speaker: Or. S.K. Thorat In his concise and comprehensive lecture, he first broug t Chair: Najeeb Jung out the salient features of growth in the last sixteen yearf, Collaboration: Council for Social Development, July 15 highlighting the main period of pro-poor growth, i.e., t e 11th plan period. He succinctly explained the ways' f The Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Lecture' for 2013 measuring pro-poor growth as given by economists li e was in consonance with its theme of highlighting current Klasen and Grinspun, and clearly brought out how t~e and relevant economic, political and social dimensions of inter-relationship between inclusive growth an~ development for discussion.