Nrityam Dance Academy - Bharatanatyam Workshop

Suchismita is one of my students from the first batch of students I taught the Arts Management course at the University of Hyderabad. She was always a keen student and benefited the most perhaps from the sessions we had.

She imbibed the marketing aspects of what we had discussed and combined it with her passion for dance and has progressed in leaps and bounds. Many times I feel she is doing a better job with the lessons we discussed than I myself am.

Guru Erika and pupil Suchismita

She uses the concept of a mentor really well - she is frequently in touch with me and update me about what's happening and listens to any suggestion I may have. Most others call me only when they have good news - I tell them the mentor should be called especially when things are bad and even otherwise - every now and then.

So the other day when she invited me to a function to mark the end of a Bharatanatyam workshop conducted by her guru Erika Ingrid Nani who had come to India in 1969 when she was 22, learned dance, and has been teaching in Assam since, I decided to go. Suchismita runs a dance academy 'Nrityam Academy' which is quite popular.

It was a lovely function with about 40 children  of 6-14 performing what they learned, Suchismita honouring her guru and then giving ghungroos to graduating students.

Guru Erika, Mr Nandi and me

I enjoyed the program a lot. I met Suchismita's husband Shuddha who is very supportive of her endeavours and guru Erica and her engineer-turned yoga guru husband Mr Nandi.

Wonderful evening. Thanks Suchismita

Wanted! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog - Jeremy Strong

Every once in a while, I rummage Anjali's collection and find stuff to read. I love the children's books - the fun, simplicity, innocence. So when I found this book by Jeremy Strong I picked it up for a quick read.

It's about a boy Trevor and his hundred-mile-an-hour dog Streaker. Trevor has a girlfriend Tina who is very cute and they are constantly battling to keep an over enthu Streaker out of trouble. On their side, they have their parents and on the other side the police and dog catchers. It's a fun ride.

Jeremy Strong is called the 'King of Comedy'. I sometimes wish I could write like this and not get too intense about life. A simple life of kids, dogs and adventures. I'd love that. Maybe I should give it a shot.

Thanks again Anjali. Your bookshelf keeps me sane.

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

Is there a god or not? Richard Dawkins says no - god is a delusion. He is a man of science, an atheist, and goes on to elucidate on the subject and makes a cogent case. He is also an ethologist and an evolutionary biologist apart from being an author and a Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. Dawkins most famous work is 'The Selfish Gene' which is about gene centred evolution.

'When one person suffers from a delusion it is insanity, but when many people suffer from it, it is called a religion', quotes Dawkins of Robert Pirsig. He says how atheists who don't believe in god can also be happy, balanced, moral and intellectually fulfilled. He debunks the god-hypothesis and says that natural selection and other such ideas are superior. If god is the great designer he asks who designed the designer.

Dawkins gives many examples of how the religious texts have many gaps and says children should not be labelled by parents on the basis of their religion. This would subject them to persistent false beliefs from a very young age. he says atheists should be proud. He is not very kind towards agnostics and feels they should make up their mind.

On morality, Dawkins says we don't need religion to be moral and good. We all have altruistic genes. He says religion divides, fans fanaticism, is anti-gay and has even been accused of abuse. Science, on the other hand, does not do that. Good enough argument to begin with.

Thought-provoking. If I was wan agnostic, I am now converted.

Thanks Anjali for lending me this book!

Anjali - Daksha's Excursion to Pench National Park, Madhya Pradesh

The first major school excursion for Anjali was this one - to Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh. As always Daksha School did a thorough check and proposed the idea. Wild Ventures, a firm that organises these tours was the chosen one. They came and gave an orientation to the parents. To Nagpur by train, to some camp nearby for ice breaking, games, adventure sports etc. Overnight stay at camp in tents. Morning trek, activities, quizzes, bonfire. Head to forest accommodation. Early morning safari, visit to a nearby village. Safari again the next day. Head to Nagpur and back. No gadgets. Call in a given time slot. Drop and pick up from school. Sounded cool.

At school - pick up!

The kids were pretty excited. Woollens, thermals (it was pretty cold out there), last-minute shopping and Anjali was all set.

Burmah Bridge at camp

We dropped her off at school at 730 pm where a whole bunch of nervous parents and children shuffled about.

Rock/wall climbing

After a while we realised we were not helping the kids or the teachers by hanging around and left.

For the first time, Anjali would be away for five days from us. New.

Yoga with Viola

Anyway, the teachers were considerate enough to send pics on the WhatsApp group - children standing and talking to one another, queued up at the station, on their berths etc.

Tigress

Nerves settled down - they didn't forget anyone behind!

Another one

On a trek

Bonfire

Next day onwards the pics came in a flood. The camp. Various activities at the camp. Food at the dining room. The time to call came and we found that there was no network. So WhatsApp calls etc.

Visit to local village

Presentation

The same routine continued for the rest of the days.

Trek

Anjali and co did not see any tigers thought one bunch did.

Time to go - with the Wild Ventures team

In the Gypsy 

Overall they seemed to have had a lot of fun! Good show Daksha, Good show Wild Ventures. 

Gudi Sambaralu - Seetha Rama Chandra Swamy Temple

Every year Parampara, promoted by Srinagi and Srimani, organise temple performances called Gudi Samabaralu. It's a wonderful concept and they rope in some fantastic performers and pick great venues. The Seetha Rama Chandra Swamy temple at Ammapally, Shamshabad is one such with a beautiful old temple and a grand venue outside for performances.

The Seetha Ram Chandra Swamy Temple, Shamshabad

Srimani sends an invite every year and I make plans to go and watch the performances - the venues are fascinating and viewing classical performances in such settings is a fine experience. This year I made up my mind to watch the performance at this venue - it's something I pass by every time I visit Choudary at his Shamshabad home - and so I set out with Shobhs, Ram and Ranjan.

The venue before the show

Lit up

Performance begins

While Shobhs and I went to the venue Ram and Ranjan occupied themselves with Choudary. The day's performances were by Pooja, Akanksha Reddy - disciples of Guru Deepika Reddy, ABHA by Punyah Dance Company and Bharatanatyam by Pashwanath Upadhye and Troupe.

A close up of the stage

Srimani was there - the gracious host - receiving everyone. The Governor of Telangana was expected so there was a lot of police.

The entire program - tomorrow's is a good one too!

We went into the temple because the program got slightly delayed. Then we saw a part of the program. It was beautiful. 

And a Thoughtful Gift - Thank You Radha!

Radhakrishna Vootla is a pal from my MBA days. These days he is a software engineer in the USA - he went there 25 years ago. Whenever he comes Radha gives out a shout and we try to meet and we end up having some interesting conversations. This time we met him and Venkataramana, another pal from the MBA days and his wife Gayatri at an impromptu coffee, beer, lunch, coffee, mirchi bajji meeting. It was great fun.

Venkataramana, me, Vishwaprasad,Vijay, Radha, Sanjay, Shobha and Gayathri

Radha messaged me saying that he had brought a pen as a gift for me. It was very thoughtful of him. We met again a day after and he gave me this lovely Cross pen.

Radha!

In return I gave him a copy of 'The Men Within'.

My new Cross pen!

Thanks so much Radha. I am always bowled over by these thoughtful gestures. Now to use your pen and write some good stuff. 

The Irishman - Movie

Long but gripping. Al Pacino, de Niro, Joe Pesci.