By Priya Das

“What is freedom? That I am finally freed of my intense love for you, or that I cannot hold my child even when my bosom yearns for him?” asks Madhavi, of her young and idealistic beau. Naatak’s 29th production, ‘Madhavi’ is as much a story of duty and debt as it is of the ‘business’ of love. It is a saga of two souls finding themselves in deal-striking circumstances that don’t always go their way. It is a riveting glimpse on what power struggles can be all about. Like the shocking few moments after you realize the water’s colder than you thought it would be before you jumped in, ‘Madhavi’ will stun first, and get you thinking and reacting furiously later.

That’s the thing with all aces: a script painted on the canvas of the Mahabharata, dialog by Bhisham Sahni (simplified by Naatak), deft directing, and acting. Each backs the other’s intrigue. The 45 minutes that I spent watching the rehearsal left me hanging on to every word that couldn’t be emoted fast enough by the characters.

In this play, Bhisham Sahni uses a little known story from the Mahabharata to comment on the subjugation and manipulation of women that has gone on through the ages. Galaav, arrogant disciple of sage Vishwamitra, insists on giving him gurudakshina, even though the sage wants nothing. Vishwamitra’s demands cannot be met by the impoverished Galaav who goes to King Yayati, who has a prodigious reputation for generosity. Yayati gives him his daughter Madhavi who is blessed with two boons: she can renew her virginity and youth whenever she wants and each son she bears will be a chakravarti. So Galav gives her away to one horse-owning king after another for just one year in return for a reward. She in turn gives them each a son.

Gaalav, Madhavi’s beau is fittingly played by Ratnesh Rai, down to the long hair and idealistic fire in his eye. In Rai’s view, “Gaalav is mahatvakangshi( supremely ambitious). He is proud and selfish, and thinks nothing of scheming to get his needs met.” A professional theater person from Jabalpur, Rai would like to be famous one day. He admits that he identifies with Gaalav’s ambition to an extent. “Gaalav is like a flowchart, he knows what combination of boxes to push to get the right result. Who wouldn’t want to be an emperor, especially if it is offered on a platter at no cost to him?”

And that is what Madhavi offers him. She willingly agrees to the liaisons so Gaalav can pay his guru-dakshina. A case of duty gone awry, or selfless commitment to a cause?

I asked Sareeka Malhotra-Pancholi who plays Madhavi, whether she could identify with her character at all – “I definitely wouldn’t go the length as Madhavi did for love. Apart from that, there are shades in Madhavi that any woman would recognize.” Malhotra-Pancholi is a veteran Naatak’er. She’s played the lead, and smaller roles in Naatak’s productions, such as Phool Kanwar in the recent Sultana Daku. She has also produced plays and participates in American theatricals, in addition to being a researcher in her non-stage life.

As the audience, you will wonder whether Madhavi is an innocent, a martyr or simply a fool. At times, the play feels like the Hitchcockian Rebecca, the lead is felt rather than actually there. The other characters take over the story and her life. Gaalav, Yayati-her father, the various Rajas salivating for her beauty, even Marich, a non-royalty; have an opinion on what is right for her.

This kind of script makes it ideal for actors to show off their talent. Asheesh Divetia plays 2 roles, one of which is Raja Haryasch, a good man whose head is turned when he hears about Madhavi’s irresistible appeal- that she can bear him a Chakravarti son.  Divetia opines, “Haryasch is a deal-maker. He is a chauvinist, and alleviates any sense of guilt by a perception of duty, that of being a provider to his praja.” Divetia is a force on stage, as he plays King, his piercing glance challenges your perception of what is real and what is staged.

Speaking of what feels real, ladies, you may want to hang on to your stoles a little tighter- brilliantly played by Harish Sundaram-Agastya, Raja Divodas’ lecherous eyes will penetrate the darkness that envelopes the audience. “So are you proficient in Kama? Do you know what makes a man happy?” the raja lasciviously asks of Madhavi. The stage is where Sundaram-Agastya was born to be, he is a character actor par excellence, and plays two other roles in Madhavi, roles that need to be watched rather than written about! He also wears many hats, he directed ‘Final Solutions’ most recently for Naatak.

So who handles all these various shades to every character, who keeps the passion on the straight and narrow? As director, Abhishek Das has his work cut out for him. What makes it easier in some sense, is that Madhavi is his pet project. “I lived with ‘Madhavi’ for a year before deciding to do it. I wanted to bring alive the beauty of language, create the golden-era, 70s feel.”

Das started as a creative personality even in his student days at IIT Kharagpur. Interestingly, when he auditioned with Naatak after he got to the Bay Area he got turned down a few times for looking too young. He did drama classes and participated in Stanford theater productions. Next, he directed a quasi musical for Project Pulse, followed it up by making a movie, ‘8000 miles away’, which was screened in August 2008. Madhavi is his directorial debut with Naatak. The complex weave between the characters is what caught his imagination. And also what Madhavi’s motivations could be- they seem out of place in our times.

So, “Madhavi ka kya hoga?” Will Gaalav and Madhavi find their way to each other amidst the ambition and deal ridden path? Will Madhavi reclaim herself through her catharsis? Find out for yourself! The play promises masala and suspense, an evening well spent.

Pictures of rehearsal shot by Nikhil.

Madhavi
A play by Bhishma Sahni
Adapted by Naatak.

SHOW TIMES: 13th February, Friday 8 pm, 14th February, Saturday 6 pm, 15th February, Sunday 3 pm.

Where: Cubberley Theater, 4000 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94303. More info at www.naatak.com

Tickets: Online tickets can be purchased here.

By Rajul Awasthi

I attended the Inauguration Concert at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday. To be honest, I went to see, for free, the great names of music that I so love and admire – live! There were Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, U2, Shakira, Usher, Beyonce (who I didn’t actually see), and many others, as also actors like Samuel Jackson and Queen Latifah. It was a great opportunity. And it was truly wonderful to hear them sing and perform.

But I have come away with an experience very unlike – and much more profound – than witnessing a rock band perform. This was truly the spirit of America that I got to feel and see. There was such a mass of people, at least a couple of hundred thousand, people who had traveled many miles to be there, to celebrate and participate in a celebration that was theirs. Each one there, I could see, owned the moment. This was their country, their celebration, their victory, and Barack Obama, their leader, their hero. It was amazing to see, whenever the Jumbotron showed a close up of Obama – singing with the music or just nodding his head to the beat – the crowd cheered lustily. And the cheers were much louder than those even for their greatly loved and admired stars that performed on the stage.

Democracy is alive and well in America. There were whites and blacks and Latinos and Asians, and all united in their ownership of the great moment. Truly, they feel the ownership because they have helped create it – they have voted. And they know each vote counted, and they know that that was their vote that got Obama to the White House.

There was much talk of history during the concert – the music was interspersed with short speeches from celebrities (Tiger Woods was one such speaker). There were the usual references to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy and Roosevelt and, of course, George Washington. But, today when I heard the speakers quote Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King I felt a jab in my heart, I felt a swelling in my throat, I felt a shiver down my spine. The words acquired a meaning for me today. These men were great, their ideas were great, and this country and its people that recognized their greatness and gave them such a hallowed place in its history are, therefore, great.

Sure, the world is going through real tough times: there are conflicts in every hotspot from the Middle East to India-Pakistan, the world economy is going through the worst downturn in decades, terrorism is rampant, religion is being abused; as Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar – “Oh judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts and men have lost their reason”. Yet, seeing the spirit of freedom and celebration and democracy and victory that I got to see today, I have hope. The world shall yet be a better place. America has shown how and where it can begin.

Rajul Awasthi is an IAS officer who is in the US on a one year deputation with the World Bank.

Pic courtesy the Presidential Inauguration Committee under Creative Commons License.

By Geeta Padmanabhan

“Frisbee should be in the Olympics,” said the guy, between swigs of Red Bull and shouts of “Come on DOD, come on LTF, SDS, CU, MU…” Which team was he rooting for? “All,” he said in ad copy lingo, “I’m for the disc game, are you?”

It’s amazing how Frisbee has caught on in Chennai. Seven teams (one of them Sri Lankan) with players from scattered geographies (Indians, Americans, Canadians, Spaniards, Brits, Germans and Australians) chased the disc under floodlights at the International Beach Ultimate Frisbee tournament at the Besant Nagar beach. “Beach Ultimate tournaments happen in only two other places – Bali and Thailand. Ours will be an annual event like those,” said Manu Karan, project head.

Informality must be Frisbee’s greatest charm. The Mumbai Storm Chasers(MSC) became a combo of disc buddies only in September 2008. “We play for 45 minutes each week-end,” said a Hrithik Roshan look-alike. “For losing weight, you can’t beat it.” This young team took a train at Dadar on 26/11 just after they heard of the CST attack. “We had to show we wouldn’t be defeated by violence,” said team captain Sunal.

The friendship here is unbelievable, said the MSC. “Balaji from a rival team gave us tips on using the wrist for better throws.” Pritham flew down from the US to join Learning to Fly(LTF), another team. “Word usually spreads though e-mail, facebook and blogs,” said Pattu Subramaniam, BMW specialist. “They would’ve played in the rain.”

It’s fine recreation, said Venky of Disc O’ Diwane, a group of tall (ave. 5’10) rock climbers in Bangalore who throw around the Leo disc after climbing sessions. They Googled for info, found LTF, formed the all-Bangalore cell. “At the Kodai tournament in July we were babes in the game, now we are in the semis.” The game is dynamic, but “we are adventure sport faddists.”

Pure enthusiasm drives the Sri Lankan Serendiscity, who practice at Colombo’s Victoria Park on Sunday afternoons. The group is truly diverse – young, old, men, women, novices and veterans. The playing crowd is transient, as expats are on short term contracts, making it a different game every week-end. Possible only in this disc game.

“We have been frissing around since November 2006,” said Chenoa, one of the three women in the eight-member squad. Said team-mate Jesse, “Colombo is choked up  with international NGOs.  It has an equal number of Sri Lankans and expats. Frisbee affords us a great op to know people.” Work in Sri Lanka is intense; they don’t have an easy time. “Back there everyone talks about Chennai,” said Chenoa. “We’re glad to be away from the sound of guns. Fun to be here.”

For Delhi’s Stray Dogs in Sweaters, the appeal is undoubtedly gender equality. “It’s a beautiful game, men and women can play together without making contact,” said Troy Duffield, a globe-trotting teacher, here with colleagues from the Embassy School. SDS is an all-expat team except for Mahesh. He picked it up easily, he said. “You could join at any level. Frisbee eliminates the gender imbalance in sports like basket/volleyball.”

“In spite of gender or athletic ability you can be competitive,” added Troy. “There is beauty in the co-ordination not found in games like soccer and football. There’s so much you can do with a Frisbee – hammer throw, scoober, fore and back hand, pizza pie. When a ball has a dream, it dreams of being a Frisbee.” It’s convenient as well. Troy packs this light equipment and flings it anywhere he finds an open space and a group of kids. “I’ve done it in Peru,” he said.

Frisbee is a generous, non-referee game. The penalty is to go back and start. Its greatest draw is the friendly culture it creates and supports. Chennai Ultimate is grooming a team at the Olcott Memorial School. You’ll find teams in Gandhi Ashram on the Sabarmati, and KFI, Adyar, said Srivatsan Murali.

Bryan Plymale, teacher and coach at Kodaikanal International School says: “The flying disc symbolises the spacecraft we travelled in to reach planet earth, represents Vishnu’s disc destroying ignorance and darkness. Ultimate is a sport that combines the best of sports like hand ball, water polo, futbol (soccer), basketball, lacrosse, kabaddi, rugy, Ultimate is a metaphor for community cooperation, excellence, integrity, honour, joy and play. In the end it’s just a silly game played by brainiacs with a plastic pie plate!”

If you’re a Silicon Valley parent, chances are your child or a child you know is learning the piano. Evenings are spent listening to broken versions of Row, row, row your boat or, if it’s been a few years, Fur Elise and the Star Wars Theme. Suddenly you’re wondering if the only musical connection you’re going to have with your children is Bollywood.

Not to worry; mother–daughter team of Nikita and Natasha Parikh have figured out a unique way for your child to straddle two musical cultures. They have collaborated on a book of Hindi songs for the piano called Gana Bajana, childhood rhymes that should easily sweep you right back into nostalgic memories of your childhood.

The idea came about because Natasha, now 16, started learning Indian classical music when she was around 6 years old and later developed an interest in Western classical( she sings in the choir at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont.) Having the opportunity to experience both strands of music, she looked for similarities and fusion possibilities. Nikita, her mom, had also enrolled in the Music for Minors program, which brings music to public schools. “I was trained on Indian classical music,” says Nikita, “and never learnt to read sheet music.” She had run several music classes for the India Community center in Milpitas but the skills were all imparted by memory. “I started researching for ways to bridge the gap between Indian and Western music,” she says.

In her music classes at ICC, Nikita used bags of puppets, different instruments and Natasha accompanied her sometimes on the piano. When parents came to her asking for the notation to the songs so they could help their kids with the lessons at home, Nikita and Natasha decided to work on a book of popular Indian children’s songs with notations for the piano. They worked for 2 years, finding artists who would understand their concept and a format that would be accessible to both parents and kids.

The result is ‘Gana Bajana’ a book of songs like Jala Ki Pari and Chanda Mama, popular tunes you might remember from your younger days.

Or not. One problem Gana Bajana’s earlier readers faced was that they were not very familiar with all the songs. And as any parent who has helped out his/her child with piano lessons knows, it helps to know the tune. Nikita and Natasha have figured that problem out now by providing mp3 versions of the song on their website so you and your child can familiarize yourself with the song.  I tried out Jala Ki Pari with my kids and they were quite intrigued and interested that you could play a Hindi tune on the piano. The songs are simple and easy to follow though they follow a G-Major key and the Hindustani notations are provided on the facing page using ‘Sa, re, ga, ma pa,’. The songs are all written in English.

Sudipa, whose daughter Madhulika learns music from Nikita, had this to say: “Madhulika loves the book and in her free time she picks the songs out on her keyboard. She is familiar with the songs already.  I also think the book is very good. The cover reminds me of my childhood books.”

Says Nikita, “Indian music is open to interpretation and cannot be learnt without a guru. Through our book and future projects, we want to try to bring the essence of Indian classical music in a simple and easy way to second and third generation Indian Americans.”  Check out the songs and buy the book here. It makes for a great introduction to Indian music for young piano enthusiasts.

For readers with print disabilities, books are available through the National Library Service and Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic. While providing an excellent source for audio books, these services fall short when it comes to manipulation of the books, such as search and skip functions. Bookshare, an online digital library, aims to fill that gap with books scanned and available in digital text formats, which allow for a broad range of functionality.
Started in 2000, Bookshare took the help of volunteers, some of who were visually impaired, to scan books into a digital format which can be read in different ways by people with special needs. The books can be read aloud, print-enlarged or a combination of both for the dyslexic. Though Bookshare operates like a library, books can also be downloaded to the computer or mp3 players for indefinite personal use.

The library provides people with print disabilities in the United States legal access to over 43,000 books and 150 periodicals that can be converted to Braille, large print or synthetic speech.

“We restrict downloads to 100 books a month,” says Viji Dilip, the international program manager for Bookshare. An annual subscription fee is needed for access to the library. Because of copyright issues, proof of disability is crucial. (The Chafee Amendment to the Copyright law allows reproduction and distribution of books specifically in formats for the print-disabled.) “We do not allow anyone who is not print-disabled to become members.” Because the audio is digitally created in the Daisy format( a digitally synthesized voice system), she thinks it is unlikely the service will be misused.
The library built up its collection initially with the help of volunteers who would scan the books to be proofread by other volunteers. Recently it received a grant from the Department of Education which makes it easier for the library to subcontract the work as paid employment. Here too, the organization has chosen to benefit the disabled. “We are very proud of the fact that we employ 15-20 physically disabled people in Chennai to scan and proofread the books that will be read by visually impaired people in the United States,” says Viji. Outsourcing at work!

Another outreach has been to make Bookshare available in India and other English speaking countries as well. “We have tied up with a few NGOs in India to help with confirming proof of disability and customer support,” adds Viji. The annual subscription fee is much lower in India, just $10 as compared to the first year fees of $75 in the US.

Bookshare is the largest online digital library in the world focusing on the visually impaired. Thanks to the grant from the Department of Education, they are also in the process of making textbooks and literature available to kids in grades K-12. “What we would like is to make this service as widely known as possible so more people can make use of this service.” According to teachers, the textbooks offered by Bookshare.org help students with print disabilities keep up with their classmates. High-quality digital books in accessible formats also encourage students to study independently and develop their tastes in recreational reading outside the classroom.

If you have a friend or a family member who could use this service, refer them to Bookshare with its library of over 43,000 books. You or they can also volunteer to be a part of the proof reading team.