Actor Stephen Amell of the television series Arrow takes a step back and fields some questions on Season 6.
It was Oliver Queen’s life that went kaboom as the season six of Arrow concluded. So what’s in store for its viewers this season? We learn it from Oliver himself.
In the season six finale, Oliver Queen went to jail after declaring he was Green Arrow. Where do we find the character as the season seven begins? Does he have any allies in jail?
Oliver is in prison with a bunch of people that he put in prison. It’s not good. It’s really bad.
And no, he doesn’t. He’s on his own. Oliver is trying to keep his head down and to manage his time. He’s taking it day by day, step by step. He hasn’t had any contact with Felicity (Smoak, played by Emily Bett Rickards). He’s just trying to press on.
On an emotional and mental level, how does Oliver cope with prison?
He copes really badly. In the premiere episode of season seven, there’s nothing about him that’s heroic. It’s pretty much the opposite. Prison life is really tough. As an actor, I’m really enjoying myself. I’m having a really good time playing Oliver, but it’s been tough for the character.
How does he cope with being separated from his family and his team?
Badly. That’s my whole answer. He deals with everything badly.
How would you describe a day in the life of Oliver Queen in prison? Is he constantly watching his back?
That pretty much sums up his life behind the bars. He’s in prison with a bunch of people that he put in prison, so he’s always got to watch his back. In some ways the situation is great because we got some great people to come back to the show that we haven’t seen in a while.
To give an example?
I’m afraid that’s a secret for now. I can’t reveal any names currently. Absolutely not. But I was really thankful that some of the people have come back. There are some people that we hadn’t seen in a reasonable amount of time, but that’s all I can say. It’s really cool to see them back in the show.
Did you watch any prison movies to inspire your portrayal of Oliver Queen behind bars?
Not really. In the first episode (of season seven), I took a lot of inspiration from our director, James Bamford. I don’t know how much of it will end up in the episode but we did a lot of stuff where I stared down the barrel of the camera. There’s a lot of material from Oliver’s perspective. We really try to show that perspective in this season.
Will fans see a new side to the character in prison? How long will the character stay in prison with all the craziness happening outside?
You know what? The thing that I like about Oliver right now is the fact that he’s not heroic. In season seven, it’s the complete opposite of that. In the past, he has always been the one to take charge and solve problems. He would save people. But that’s not what he’s doing in the premiere. And he has a life sentence.
Will he stick to that?
Well, Oliver can break out of prison at any point of time. However, the terms of the deal he made means that he will stay inside. I talked about this a lot with Beth Schwartz because I kept saying, ‘We know that Oliver can break out of prison at any point, right?’ No, he’s behind the bars. He is inside. And Oliver has effectively no contact with the outside world. His prison time is literally just the prison time.
Looking back at season six, what was your standout moment from last season?
I really liked the finale. I liked Oliver’s moments with everyone in that episode. My scene with Emily (Bett Rickards), where I’m telling her what I’m going to do. That was a highlight for me. And my last scene with Paul (Blackthorne, who played Quentin Lance) was another. I feel sad just thinking about it. That was intense, too.
The CW announced the crossover between the Arrowverse and Batwoman at their upfronts event in May. How long has the crossover been in works?
They told me about it two days before the upfronts, but it was very exciting. To be honest, I was thankful that they had me back for the upfronts. They don’t always bring back shows that are running because they often want to talk about their new shows. To be there and to make that announcement was really cool. I think it showed a lot of faith in me and I appreciate it.
How does it feel to have an iconic character like Batwoman join the Arrowverse?
It’s absolutely awesome. I don’t think this character has ever been done in a live-action project, right? That’s fantastic. I hope it’s great. I’m really glad that they’re doing a show with the character. I hope it works out. David Rappaport nailed the casting with Grant (Gustin, in The Flash) and Melissa (Benoist, in Supergirl). Me? Maybe. But I’m sure he has nailed the casting with Batwoman, too. It’s going to be fantastic.
When Oliver finally gets out of the prison, what are your thoughts on him meeting Batwoman?
Wait… Oliver is getting out of the prison? Maybe. I don’t know anything about that. Hopefully he’ll be out of prison to interact with Batwoman. That’s a spoiler, right? Well, I’m very excited. I’m also very excited that they are considering doing a series with the character. I think that’s amazing.
What can you tease about Oliver’s interaction with Batwoman in the crossover?
Oliver’s interaction with Batwoman in the crossover is not the interaction that I’m most interested in. For that too, he has to get out of prison first.
Apart from the appearance of Batwoman, what else can you tease about the season’s crossover?
What can I say? I feel like there’s a character in the crossover that nobody actually knows about yet, which is also very exciting. Do watch this space.
Writer: Team Viva
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Sarabjit Singh, an architectural designer by profession, shares some simple tips to give your house a makeover this Diwali.
With the festive season around the corner, decorate your home elegantly with the right accessories, colours, and much more.
Festive colours: Use traditionally vibrant or bold colours to add in a festive effect to your home. Ochre, lime green and crimson red are the ideal colours to enhance and jazz up any space.
Décor items to own: Today, with the array of décor items on offer, households feel spoilt for choice and find them to be an imperative part of a festive house makeover. For me, a large cluster of hanging lanterns in a nice metal finish with cutwork motifs is a must-have décor item this festive season.
Re-arrange your furniture: Festivals mean an inflow of guests, which often leads to space issues. Move your furniture around, let the sofa be closer to the wall and table in the centre. This will bring in a change and make your space look bigger. You can also use ethnic inspired cushions, throws, screens in wood or metal and hanging lanterns to make your space look more festive without altering your furniture. Use lots of cushions and sofas dressed in a mix match of colours. You could opt for an ottoman instead of a centre table to give a spacious vibe to your space.
Re-do your walls: Use a mirror mosaic with a mix of mirrors of different sizes collected from various places over time and fixed in unique patterns so that the reflection in the mirrors makes the space look bigger and lighter. Further, a marigold or lotus motif in brass repeated on any wall in a random pattern would surely help add a festive pop to your space.
I would also recommend using brass screens and decorative hanging lights with auspicious brass motifs to complete your Diwali look.
Mix and match modern and traditional elements: Use a mix of traditional and modern elements such as mason jar candle stands with candles of different colours, paper lanterns and wine glass candle holders to create a unique, festive look.
Writer: Team Viva
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Neelesh Misra’s Storywallah is all about the fast-disappearing world of old-fashioned love.
Love blossoms at the unlikeliest of places, with the unlikeliest of people, in the strangest circumstances and in most spontaneous and natural ways. An elderly couple grappling with the loneliness caused due to the death of their respective spouses, living with grown-up children, decide to cut across boundaries of religion and social stereotypes to find love and companionship at their advanced age, sans its typically youthful haste or rashness of actions. A middle-aged man living in the cocoon of a passionate love that was nurtured over letters with a pen pal but inexplicably snapped short at a young age, finally opens up to his wife to find complete acceptance and embraces love. A young woman comes to terms with her dead mother’s extramarital relationship and unexpectedly finds solace and resolution in life. Many such well-chosen, heart-warming stories exploring the myriad facets of love are on offer in the collection, Storywallah.
Storywallah is a bouquet of twenty stories written by nine writers from Neelesh Misra’s famed Mandali founded by Misra in 2011, comprising of handpicked and closely mentored upcoming writers. It is this Mandali which churned out the vast repertoire of lyricist, radio storyteller, journalist and writer Neelesh Misra’s extremely popular shows like Yaadon ka Idiot Box, The Neelesh Misra Show, Qisson ka Kona, Time Machine and Kahaani Express to name a few. The nine writers whose works find place in Storywallah are Anulata Raj Nair (four stories), Kanchan Pant, Jamshed Qamar Siddiqui and Manjit Thakur (three stories each), Umesh Pant and Chhavi Nigam (two stories each), and Shabnam Gupta, Ankita Chauhan and Snehvir Gosain with one story each. It must be mentioned that all these writers belong to different age groups, backgrounds and professions.
The stories in the collection probe several themes including love and belonging, companionship and longing, memory and nostalgia, parenthood, community, and death. In the opening story “Wildflower” by Kanchan Pant, Nemat is shocked by her discovery of her dead mother’s extra marital affair, and to put it simply, finds it hard to breathe. She finds her mother’s request to “Please try and understand my relationship with Anirudh” completely baffling and she ends up climbing several “mountains of rage and disgust, of hatred and helplessness”. As she meets and observes Anirudh, the ice begins to melt and for the first time, she reads her mother’s letter “not as her daughter, but as a woman”, and unravels the deeper connection of mind that had sustained her mother. While there is no action per se in the story, the gentle emotional movements bind the several threads of this poignant story.
In Umesh Pant’s “Nails”, Simmi calls off her engagement from what looked like a picture-perfect relationship with Sumit for a seemingly frivolous reason: He chides her to prim her nails. The writer cleverly employs the eminently feminine stereotype of long nails to a surprising effect: Sumit’s strong reaction to her long nails gets Simmi thinking hard about the “correlation between long nails and goodness”, about whether the steering of her relationship was in her own hands, and where was the independent, chirpy and sprightly young Simmi of yesteryear. Jamshed Qamar Siddiqui’s protagonist, a divorced, single mother in “A Divorced Girl”, defies the stereotype of “Divorced women (don’t) say no” to come out of a suffocating alliance to reaffirm her independence and her right to live her own life on her own terms; she realises, “In one second, it felt as if all of society had compressed itself…in Gaurav’s image…. Like society, Gaurav too felt that he was doing me a favour by marrying me, and that in my gratitude I would do whatever he asked of me”.
Manjit Thakur’s “Satrangi” the reader finds the beautiful bride Satrangi’s dreams of a romantic wedding night shattered to pieces, the contrast between her and her husband Chandramohan is skilfully brought out: “There was no comparison. Chandramohan had small eyes, hers were big and kohl-lined. His nose was bulbous, hers was sharp… Chandramohan was uneducated and Satrangi had topped the whole district…She wrote poetry and stories, and everyone had known that she would make something of her life”. The poignancy of the story is enhanced with the discovery of an intense but mellow love blossoming with the ghost of the mansion, young Robert Clive. Satrangi’s growing affection towards Robert is naturally marked by a growing alienation with the world around her. The story depicts contrasting notions of life and death with respect to love.
Of her four stories included in this collection, it is “Amaya” where Anulata Raj Nair’s craft finds a complete expression. Amaya, a young widow of a martyred soldier, decides to live with her in-laws for the rest of her life. Her life is punctuated by loving memories of her husband’s love for her and the brief but happy time they had spent together: “When she was in his arms she felt no pain could touch her. Life was so carefree when he was with her”. She discovers that she is pregnant with a part of Prashant growing within her, and she weaves new dreams for the new life, “She sang sweet lullabies as she prepared for the beautiful days ahead”. But her desire to continue living her life the way he liked her to be is brutally dashed by her conservative in-laws: When she decides to wear a bright orange saree that Prashant had liked, she is reminded of her widowhood, “It was Prashant’s favourite, right? Well he is not sitting here now to appreciate you in it”. When her daughter is subjected to similar shackles of tradition, Amaya’s weakness gives way to a newfound strength and she decides to take her daughter away, “If I keep killing my dreams and wishes, who will keep (my daughter)’s alive? Prashant would never have wanted me to be sad”. The narrative flows beautifully through the different stages of Amaya’s life and moves the reader into a recognition of a young woman’s desires.
All in all, this book does a fascinating job at capturing the distinct flavour of life making its way through small-towns and big cities.
The reviewer teaches English Literature at a Delhi University college.
Writer: Kalyanee Rajan
Source: The Pioneer
The Sindhi folktale of Sassi and Punnu, about a girl from the 12th century has undergone many changes, especially socio political changes in Pakistan
Some five years ago, a middle-aged Sindhi man, Dadu Baksh, who was employed by me as a driver, returned from his village in central Sindh, looking disturbed. I asked him what was bothering him. He told me that one of his teenaged nephews had struck friendship with some boys of a local madressah in his village. This friendship had become bothersome to the boy’s parents because their son had suddenly begun to question and even criticise the way they were practising Islam.
He said that the son had dropped out from the Government school he was studying in and was ‘ordering’ his parents to stop going to the shrines of Sufi saints. He even wanted his mother to stop going to the sugarcane and cotton fields with his father, where both worked as peasants. The father used to own a small plot of land but he had to sell it when the mother fell ill and needed expensive medical attention at a hospital in Karachi. The parents were looking forward to their son getting an education so that he could get employment in Karachi.
As I empathetically listened to Dadu lamenting about what was happening back home, I thought I heard the word Sassi. I stopped him and asked what Sassi was. ‘Saaien, Sassi-Punnu, the story,’ he replied. ‘Yes, I know,’ I said, ‘what about it?’ He said that during one of his tirades against the way his parents had been practising their faith, the son had begun to curse Sassi, calling her a ‘woman of bad character who did not deserve a shrine!’ I didn’t even know she had a shrine.
Sassi-Punnu is a famous Sindhi folktale about a 12th century girl, Sassi, who was born to aristocratic Hindu parents in the Sindh town of Bhambore. An astrologer tells them that she would be a curse for them. Perturbed, the parents put her in a wooden box and then place the box in the River Indus. She is found by a poor man who raises her as his own daughter. She grows up to become a beautiful woman.
Punnu, the son of a rich Baloch tribal chief, falls in love with Sassi and marries her. Punnu does not go back home to Balochistan. His father is incensed and sends his other sons to bring Punnu back. After getting him drunk on wine, they kidnap him and bring him back to their father. When Sassi wakes up, she finds her husband missing. She sets out to look for him, but gets lost in the desert. Thirsty and exhausted, she comes across a shepherd and asks for help. The shepherd, instead, makes advances at her. Shocked, Sassi prays to God to save her from humiliation. Immediately, she is sucked in by the sand. Feeling guilty, the shepherd places pebbles and stones over the area where she had ‘drowned’ in the sand. Punnu while on his way back to Bhambore learns what had happened. He collapses on the same ground that had swallowed Sassi and is swallowed as well.
This area was believed to be 45 miles from Karachi. Here is where Sassi’s (and Punnu’s) shrine is located. In her book, The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual, Shemeem Abbas wrote that this folklore was first popularised by the famous 18th century Sufi saint, Shah Abdul Latif. He lived in Sindh and largely wrote in Sindhi. He frequently referred to the Sassi-Punnu folklore in his evocative poems.
In the 1940s and 1950s, when Sindhi scholar GM Syed was formulating Sindhi nationalism, he often returned to the writings of Latif to shape the idea of Sindh being a ‘land of Sufis’ and religious tolerance. In his 1952 book, The Message of Latif, Syed wrote that by regularly weaving the Sassi-Punnu story in his poetry, Latif was using Sassi’s sacrificial act to exhibit the historic spirituality, bravery and selflessness of the Sindhi people.
In 1966, Syed formed the Bazm-i-Sufia-i-Sindh, a literary organisation which boasted a number of Sindhi scholars and poets. By then Syed had consolidated his idea of Sindhi nationalism, and Sassi had become a symbol of tolerance, selflessness and spiritual romance Sindh was made of. In December 1971 when another Sindhi, ZA Bhutto, became the head of Government and state, he almost immediately nationalised this idea. But being a robust Pakistani nationalist, Bhutto eschewed the Sindhi nationalist aspect of Syed’s narrative.
Bhutto was much sophisticated and Westernised than Syed. But a part of him was romantically attached to his upbringing as the son of a Sindhi chieftain in Larkana. He was, however, vehemently opposed to Sindhi nationalism and saw it as being treacherous. Dutch academic, Oskar Verkaaik, in his book, Migrants and Militants, wrote that the Bhutto regime greatly renovated Latif’s shrine in Bhitshah and built guesthouses for tourists around the tomb. In 1974, Bhutto launched an annual Bhitshah Festival where he announced, “Shah Latif was not only Sindh’s saint, but all of Pakistan’s.” During the same period, the Sassi-Punnu story was regularly dramatised on state-owned TV and radio. The Bhutto regime also helped finance a film based on the folklore. Under Bhutto, Sassi became a Pakistani.
Even though there were at least two major uprisings in Sindh against the reactionary Gen Zia dictatorship (1977-88), even he decided to retain the nationalised idea of Latif and Sassi-Punnu when in 1986 he green-lit the proposal of introducing a Shah Latif Chair at Karachi University. During the start of the 1996 Cricket World Cup final in Lahore, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto appreciated a tableau based on the Sassi-Punnu folklore — even though the religious parties thought it was ‘obscene.’ Last year at the Karachi Literature Festival, I was approached by a group of young Sindhi men and women who had come all the way from various parts of Sindh to watch a session I was a part of.
During our talk we discussed the rise of religious militancy in ‘the land of Sufis.’ They told me about one Mian Mitthu, a controversial cleric who was once a member of PPP but was eased out when it was found that he had been forcibly converting young Hindu Sindhi women. This led to me telling them the tale of Dadu Baksh’s nephew, and how he had cursed Sassi. They were all genuinely disturbed, until one young lad said: “Paracha Saaien, these days, Sassi is not roaming the desert looking for Pannu. She is now walking the hot sands looking for Mian Mitthu.”
Writer: Nadeem Paracha
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Previously announced performers include Cardi B, Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood and more.
Dua Lipa, Ciara, and Missy Elliott have been added to the American Music Awards lineup, Dick Clark Productions and ABC announced today.
Lipa will perform two songs from her self-titled 2017 debut album, including the hit Electricity, while Elliott will be a featured guest on two Ciara songs, Level Up, released earlier this year and Dose, from her forthcoming album.
There will also be a tribute to Aretha Franklin, who passed away in July.
‘My next film will be called Kaagaz now. I believe Pankaj Tripathi’s USP is his impeccable ability to get into the skin of all the characters he plays on screen and do complete justice to every role. From playing a comic character to a brutal villain, his versatility amazes me.
— Satish Kaushik
“I think inculcating traditions in my daughter is natural to me, it is not conditional. That is how I am raised. So what we end up doing as parents, knowingly or unknowingly, we pass on to our children as traditions because that is the natural flow of life,” Aishwarya Rai said. “One of the common things that both of our (Abhishek and my) family shares is, we enjoy being Indian. We genuinely enjoy all our festivities.”
Writer: Team Viva
Courtesy: The Pioneer
“Mr. Alok Nath. You know this to be true. As do few others”, says Sandhya Mridul.
After Tara producer’s rape allegation and Hum Saath Saath Hain crew member’s sexual harassment accusation, Bollywood actress Sandhya Mridul has accused Alok Nath of sexual harassment.
“Dear women. I’m requesting you all .. please do not make false allegations and derail what is an extremely crucial movement. Please. Just the truth. No personal agenda. No lies that disempower the truthful. Thank you. Much love,” she wrote on Twitter.
Mridul joined scriptwriter Vinta Nanda, who had revealed how Nath had raped her two decades ago. She said that Nath had harassed her while they were working in Kodaikanal on a teleplay in the 1990s.
A fresh face to join the list of those accused is Rohit Roy. A woman on Twitter said that Roy sent her suggestive messages when she was 16. “He’s harassed me on several occasions since, trying to get me to kiss him. Including when his wife (was) in the next room,” she wrote.
Singer Sona Mahapatra accused singer Kailash Kher of sexual harassment as well in a Twitter post. She said, “I met Kailash for coffee in Prithvi Café to discuss a forthcoming concert where both our bands were playing & after the usual, a hand on my thigh with lines like, ‘you are so beautiful, feel so good that a musician got you (Ram), not an actor. I left not soon after.” She is among five women who have accused him of touching them inappropriately or making lewd comments.
Meanwhile, singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, who was accused by a flight attendant, hit back saying he doesn’t know the people who charged him. In fact, he embodied the medieval marauder syndrome by saying, “All these (women) are retired and aged people. Those who have never seen success in their lives and are supposed to be husband-beaters, men beaters, and most frustrated persons are making up such stories.”
Meanwhile, the negative sentiment against filmmaker Vikas Bahl heated up with actor Imran Khan opening up about how three actresses had confided in him about the director. “I have heard his stories from three other actresses. Ranging from inappropriate touching to straight up saying that if you were cast in the film, what will I get in return,” he said. Imran said that he was earlier advised against speaking about sexual harassment in the industry.
Another woman accused actor Rajat Kapoor today for inappropriate behavior. Journalist Sandhya Menon shared the incident that the woman, who remains anonymous, faced. Kapoor called her a ‘little bitch’ and insisted that he be called ‘master’. The industry has also taken action against him by dropping his film from Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) film festival. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap dropped out as a board member from the film festival for remaining silent against complaints about Bahl. He is also facing a lawsuit from Bahl for defamation.
Actress Amyra Dastur said she has been a victim of “harassment” at the hands of “men and women” but doesn’t have the guts to name and shame them.
The 25-year-old, however, added that while she has not faced casting couch in the south or Bollywood, she faced her share of harassment in both industries. “I don’t have the guts to name them because they are powerful people,” she said.
Writer: Team Viva
Courtesy: The Pioneer
A look at the North-east through the lens of Shyamal Datta.
Whenever possible, Sebastian Salgado the colossus for travel photography, lives for a while with the people he photographs. “I tell a little bit of my life to them, and they tell a little of theirs to me. The picture itself is just the tip of the iceberg,” says he. Here in India there is one photographer who lives by that credo, and it is Shyamal Datta.
Once in a blue moon you espie an exhibition that stops you in your tracks and wakes you up. An exhibition that takes you away from the maddening crowd and forces you to meditate on a lifestyle, a race that calls out for scrutiny through images that make you ask questions and draw more than a thousand sighs and tug at your heartstrings.
Photographer Datta insists that he is not a modernist, knows nothing about technicalities in taking photographs, but his sojourn of the North East at the Indian International Centre in Delhi unconsciously synthesises complex visual and articulate traditions in stupendous images that open the way to modernism.
Landscapes
Limpid landscapes speak to us about India’s most bountiful and beautiful scenic settings — the mountains at Arunachal and Sikkim are as engaging as the clouds that gather on the horizon. Capturing the surreal quality of the seraphic lacing of light seems to come naturally to Shyamal.
“I get up early just before dawn to catch the light,” says Shyamal who has traversed these rugged mountains and brooks for 10 years. “Yes, at that moment in time the light has a power that one cannot imagine. Sometimes it has a haunting quality, but the clarity of the conscious moment that is untouched. It is a combination of what is real ,what is strange, as well profound because the camera acts as a signifier of freezing the frame on many instances of rare existence, so we look at lifestyles of vanishing tribes and it becomes an avenue of documentation.”
Full of Sienna tones in a blush orange is the sunset with a Naga maiden standing on a ledge and looking at a valley beyond. “This image is a recreation of a popular folk tale of Mizoram,” says Shyamal. It is the story of Lianchhiari, a princess, and Chawngfianga, a commoner, from Dungtlang village.The tale ends in a tragedy in the very spot where the Mizo girl stands in the image. The image has been shot at the Dungtlang village, Champhai district, Mizoram.
Images of truth
When you look at the interior images of the houses and the rustic rhythms of the tribal folk you are drawn in their maw. The images are imbued with a profound sense of foreboding; timelessness and are grainy which are sometimes inscrutable as they represent the tangled and twisted histories of hardship set against a monotone sky. This is the subject of tribes who are still primordial and primeval in the harder instincts of livelihood. The Angami Naga elder from Kohima in Nagaland, in all his finery looks like a weathered sage as he sits in his home. “He had a regal carriage about him and the way he sat and looked at me, I grabbed that ray of sunlight as it crept into his home. He is one of the last remaining Angami Naga tribal elders and he proudly displays his dress and ornaments,” adds Shyamal.
The murmuring brooks and the vegetation, bamboo and straw baskets stand like sentinels in the fading twilight, whether they clean the rice or light the hearth, here are images of old, with voices sad and prophetic, content to live in their essence of simplicity and humility.
Rugged Portraits
Weathered silhouettes come to the fore when you look at the single portraits of the tribes. Their solitary feeling reflects both their locations and their timeworn essence beneath the glow of their own livelihoods. Women and men become iconic in portraits that emphasise the passage of time and evoke the age of these elders.
When asked to describe his journey from dawn to dusk walking in the pathways of these unique tribes and recording their vanishing ways, Shyamal states, “When you photograph races like these, you’re faced with the power of humanity, you’re faced with something very mysterious and very mystical, whether it’s looking at the dawn or watching a hearth being lit in a bamboo and straw home, or sometimes watching a sunset. There’s something very powerful about man and nature that’s endlessly mysterious and a reminder of our mortality, of more existential things.”
Visual analogues in wildlife
Perhaps because it is so attuned to the contours of the here and now, his work remains refreshingly unconcerned with making claims for its own art historical importance. The artist’s attention to process and materials, along with his poetic commitment to the diminutive and the subtle, make questions of cultural positioning feel almost beside the point. The passage of time is tangible when you look at the egrets as well as the mother and baby rhinos at Kaziranga. Wildlife as a subject seems a natural selection of sorts for Shyamal. The resultant works — small and subtle — feel almost incidental, byproducts of zoological investigations in being and doing to capture masterpieces. The natural forests and habitat lend them a fragile beauty, similar to the beauty of a sunflower seed head in the moment before a gust of wind or a child’s breath disperses its seeds.
This sense of fragility achieves ravishing articulation — the egrets with their plumes are simply gorgeous to experience: mesmeric, meditative and enveloping. Its elongated feathers notes make apparent that time’s passage is not just the subject matter of much of Shyamal’s visual work but also its material substance in naturality.
Ultimately these North Eastern photographs are quiet portraits of venerable beings. By seeking them out and preserving them in photographs, they become reminders of the vastly different chronologies of life taking place all around us, and how it’s all part of the ecology/human habitation of our planet.
A decade of documentation
Shyamal Datta has won awards and has been featured often in the best magazines in the world, the latest feature in the New York Times Literary Review is just one among many feathers.The money that he gets from the many magazines he gives back to the communities, its his act of karma.
He sums up his journey over a decade in the documentation of the lives of the people in the North East, “Over the last 10 years, one of the most significant impact that my work and the concomitant travels along with it, has been the realisation that the camera and its paraphernalia can be as good as it can be. But the entire gamut of creativity from a holistic perspective emerges out from darkness when the artist bonds with the subject — soul to soul. From a stage of photographing “pretty pictures” to portraits, I gradually began to understand the tribal community of my region, their lifestyle, their stories, history and traditions and so forth. I reached a phase when my camera began to take backstage and my empathy with these brave and beautiful people took centre-stage. How little we understood them or misunderstood them and how condescending we were to them. Their grace and dignity overwhelmed me. Their beauty mesmerised me and their kindness often brought tears to me. It was then that digital optics came back to centre-stage.”
Photo: Shyamal Datta
Writer: Uma Nair
Source: The Pioneer
Artist Vibha Arya Chaurasia explores the mystic and magnificent culture of Varanasi through a series of paintings.
Visualise a landscape of Varanasi, what do you see? The colour orange; the golden stairs near the Ganges ghats, boats in the eternal holy river, women sitting on their winding jharokas, men smoking pipes on the street side, old mendicants (Sadhus) telling their beads sitting under the giant Banyan trees with their long unkempt tresses, sacred fire flames and temples, idols of Gods and innumerous spiritual hymns and so on… The list might never fall short even after a thousand descriptions of mystical city.
“I have such fond memories of the city that even if I shut my eyes right now, I can visualise every bit of it,” says Vibha Arya Chaurasia who brings together an exhibition of her paintings on the holy Varanasi city.
Eclecticism is the virtue of artists who are not limited by staunch ideological dogmas. They can choose to look beyond their imagination and cull the visuals that they see around, above and below and infuse them into their creative works. Vibha likes realism in her paintings and is always on the lookout for something new in her art. She says, “An artist is always looking for new and unseen ideas to create his/her paintings. These ideas are not confined to one door, rather a number of doors.”
Maybe someone who hasn’t been around for long cannot be mentioned alongside the bigger artists, but Vibha believes that her passion of painting will ensure that this will happen soon. She says, “It is a never-ending process. An artist is always evolving. I am an amateur and currently new in this profession but I do not paint for a living. I just follow my passion. After painting, I feel that I have done something creative and constructive in my life. There are certain things that make you happy and contented in your life, for me it’s painting. Hence, I do not restrict myself but choose from the vast repertoire of images and visuals, landscapes and scenic beauty. They all inspire me.”
As her colourful canvases leads the viewers to the realm of thinking, her art oscillates between the ideal and the apparent, imparting the glimpse of both, sending the viewer to the realm of aesthetic appreciation.
In some of her paintings, Vibha takes the position of a detached and objective observer and an impartial chronicler of events.
While painting the picturesque ghats, she uses sanguine colours to explain the power and immensity of the sunrise and sunset without the use of any words. She makes sure to give her portraits an ethereal look as she paints the sadhus and their up-close frontal portrayal with their long ‘jataye’ or hair locks. The works admire an ideal human body positioned against the backdrop of a hazy night, expressing her desire for the ideal and her yearning to reach out to the soul mate and at the same time they typify the person of artist’s own gender in various locales involved in the acts of worship. However, women are not displayed as simple worshippers but pure subjects who are on their way to their soul’s fulfillment.
While it wasn’t particularly the artist’s fascination for the city, she says that she adores “the food and the vibe” of the place. However, “a bit more focus needs to be given to the cleanliness of its surroundings. It needs to be more organised. As far as its culture is concerned, it’s important to preserve it. It would be good for the future generations if they could also learn about the city’s spiritual beliefs and follow them as well. But to maintain that, they need to keep track of the cleanliness.” She adds, “People are always tempted to go to big cities to have a comfortable life. They do not want to go to small towns anymore. But such cities also need to be explored.”
Presented by Gallery Sree Arts and curated by Jitendra Padam Jain, the exhibition titled ‘Varanasi through my eyes,’ is artist Vibha’s depiction of the city. Whenever Vibha paints a scene in Banaras, she opts for a certain colour to dominate the pictorial format to let the mood of intensity be conveyed and established without any doubt. She explains that it wasn’t her fascination with the city which made her chose it to be her primary subject, but, “It was just accidental. My family’s roots lie in the city. I had also gone to Varanasi for a wedding of my relative. It was just then when it came to me that a portrayal of this city could also be done. I hadn’t specifically travelled to the place for my paintings. I just found it really beautiful. Following that, Padam sir told me to form a series on it as well. I never chose it per se.”
In the paintings, a viewer can witness the unending passion of the artist for Banaras which has attracted pilgrims, and seekers of salvation but has been captivating the imagination of creative people irrespective of their genre of discipline or creative pursuits. Vibha has looked at Banaras with a kind of certainty and resolution. But she has not presented Banaras the way a shopper/consumer would. The dweller in the paintings in fact is an invisible pair of eyes that always stand outside the frame. She does not see the city from human eyes but lets them take the form of a godly eye, of Kashi Viswanatha, the manifestation of Lord Shiva in Banaras and becomes a detached witness and also rejoices in the sights and sounds created in order to worship the overlord of the city.
Call it Varanasi, Banaras or Kashi or by several other innumerous names, the city’s mystic charm and an enduring appeal would bring to you something what any other city in India wouldn’t.
(The show is on display till October 10 at Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française.)
Writer: Chahak Mittal
Source: The Pioneer
The real love is where you love without expectations, and purely unconditional – and that’s how it should be.
When we are in love, the world and our lives become beautified. Everything takes on a vividness and richness unseen before. One’s world undergoes a transformative beauty in the presence of the beloved. As an Urdu poet of the past century, Sant Darshan Singh, says:
The autumn-stricken paths suddenly bloomed and blossomed,
In whatever direction the Beloved turns, there is only spring.
What is it like for the soul to be lost in love with its beloved Lord? It is more beautiful than being with your beloved in gardens landscaped with dancing fountains surrounded by a myriad of fragrant flowers. It is lovelier than sitting together on a hillside and watching the brilliant colours of a setting sun. It is more peaceful than sitting by a gently flowing stream in a cool forest. It is more uplifting than the haunting violin and the angelic harps. It is like being permeated from head to toe with divine love.
Along with the intoxication and madness of this love comes another aspect: This love is unconditional. It knows no discrimination, no prejudice, and no separatism. Our soul is loved unconditionally by the Lord. We, in turn, can reflect that love and radiate unconditional love to those we meet.
There are few examples of unconditional love in our everyday relationships. In examples of the greatest love relationships in the world, there always seem to be some conditions placed on them. In the parent’s love for a child, there are expectations. The parent may want the child to behave a certain way. When the child grows up and the parent grows old, there may be an expectation that the child will take care of the parent. Thus, this love is not entirely unconditional. In the love between spouses, there is always an expectation that the lover will make him/ her happy. We want the lover to provide us with the fulfilment we seek. If the lover’s behaviour does not meet our expectations we may argue and fight, and in some cases even break up.
The soul loves unconditionally, because God loves unconditionally. The soul and God are one and the same. If we tap into our soul and look at the world through its eyes, we can not only love unconditionally, but also feel God’s unconditional love for us. The Sun does not discriminate as to which flowers it will shine upon. It sheds its light on all equally. Thus, roses and violets, tulips and weeds all receive the same light. Same is the case with God’s love. It shines on all of us, whether we are man or woman, Hindu or Muslim, Christian or Jew, Sikh or Sufi, Parsi or Jain. It shines on us no matter what colour our hair, skin, or eyes are. When we experience our soul and begin to identify with it, we too can grow in our love of all people.
One of the most powerful illustrations of unconditional love is found in the teachings of Jesus Christ. The foundation of Christianity is based on the concept of love and forgiveness. As Christ said:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thin enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that have you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matt. 5:43, 44).
The world is in need of unconditional love. Just as we wish to be loved unconditionally, so too can we love those around us unconditionally.
True love means loving everyone. Saints and mystics point out that if we truly love God, we will love all of God’s children. As Christ said, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen”(1 John 4.7-20).
When we tap into our empowered soul, we can become blind to outer differences of religion, culture, colour, and nationality. All can be seen as one family of God, and we can learn to channel the love of our empowered soul to all we meet.
Seeing Love Everywhere
The soul recognises its own nature of love in every living creature and in all life itself. As Sant Darshan Singh wrote:
He is hidden in every instrument, in every song and melody.
All creation reflects His glory.
There exists not a sparkling wave nor a fiery star that does not owe its radiance to His Light.
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi has said:
The current of love from the one God is flowing through the entire universe. What do you think when you look at the face of a person? Look at him carefully. He is not a person, but a current of the essence of God which permeates him.
And Lord Krishna said:
He who is able to see My form in everything, who realises that there is no difference between different beings is, in fact, the true seer. Such a person I can never forget.
Seek the Love within
How can we find the intoxicating love of our empowered soul? It is not in the stars, or on the mountaintops, or deep under the sea. It is within us. Kabir Sahib said:
Within his navel the musk is hid, the bewildered deer hunts for it in the forest.
So also dwells the Beloved within the heart, yet the world knows it not and seeks Him outside itself.
We look for fulfilment in the ‘outer loves’ of this world which may give us transient joy. But we can have permanent joy. We can experience the love of our empowered soul. We can enjoy a richness to our relationships.
The writer is a spiritual leader.
Writer: Sant Rajinder Singh
Source: The Pioneer
While diamonds are timeless, there is a rising trend for colourful alternatives – and rarity is increasing the price tag. Coloured stones such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds and amethysts are becoming increasingly popular in demand.
Every season brings forth new trends. While diamonds, coloured stones and pearls, have been around, the way that they are used is what finds favour with the new-age bride. New colours and designs, inspired from the present time highlights the fusion of modernity and tradition that every Indian lives through.
Diamonds are forever
Trend changes but diamond jewellery never fails to catch the attention of people of all age groups. Since time immemorial, these carbon formations have been considered a girl’s best friend and who are we to dispute? The best way to wear diamonds is in the form of a necklace as these can be teamed with whatever you wear, whether it’s low-cut blouses or more formal dresses. Detachable sets are gaining in popularity because of their utility as one can simply detach each piece and wear it as minimal everyday jewellery or occasional wear, says Chitwn D Malhotra, lead designer and founder, Dillano Luxurious Jewels Pvt Ltd.
Layering with simple thin diamond chokers is a great way to elevate any outfit. A glitzy choker necklace drenched in diamond is an elegant way to play with this trend. They always highlight everything woman charm with simplicity. For daily wear, lightweight studded diamonds in rose gold are popular among young, urban and working women, says Prakshi Sharma, creative head and designer of Prakshi Fine Jewellery.
Pearls
These are timeless and never go out of style. Currently, pearl chokers are in trend, in which multiple long strands are used. Not just the white, it is the colorful ones that are in vogue.
Designs
Whether in diamonds or pearls, chokers have made a comeback. Studded with ethereal south sea pearls, rubies or emeralds, these are a great choice to complement any ensemble — be it contemporary, modern or traditional wedding wear. Multi-layered necklaces, long chandelier jhumkas, nathanis and matha pattis are also the hot trends.
Both modern as well as traditional designs work in the market. The amalgamation of the two results in the the creation of some truly exquisite jewels, according to Rohan Sharma, director of RK Jewellers.
Quirky ear cuffs, that were a rage last year has carried over to this season as well. Nature inspired quirky jewelry will rule the market this year, says Malhotra.
While the bride might go the whole hog, the guests prefer to keep it minimal. So big chandelier earrings are not worn with heavy neck jewellery and vice versa. Small ear studs infused with coloured stones can up the style quotient of any outfit.
Rose gold
Rose gold has made fashionable comeback in a big way and can be seen in rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Coloured gemstones
Gemstones like rubies, emeralds and blue sapphires along with topaz are ruling the fashion runways as they have a classic, elegant and luxurious look while working well with every outfit.
Modern take
Designs that are a work of art are something that most of the customers go in for.
Sterling silver embedded with Swarovski Zirconia in cuts of pear, marquise, oval, radiant, cushion and princess are a popular choice with the new age brides as is fusing tradition with modernity in jewellery design, says Darshan Dave, founder of Diosa Jewels.
Writer: Team Viva
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Artist Manir Mrittik showcases his photographic works The Realm of Ambivalence, which is a delicate blend realism and surrealism.
Artworks can create a certain connection with distant lands and times. Hundred years from now, someone will look at a piece of art from this era, and will be amazed at how someone’s work from 2018 could express what they are feeling in 2118. It’s certainly transcendent how artwork can unify time and space. Manir Mrittik’s photography tries to reflect on that by unifying locations from the present day with images of the past. He brings an aesthetically moving mix of realism and surrealism in his works titled
In The Realm of Ambivalence. Manir says that he’s interested in exploring beauty in human life. He believes that digital cameras usually capture only the visible light for regular photography, but he wishes to do something more like capture ultraviolet, infrared or full spectrum light.
There is no real line that separates us from nature. We were born from it. He adds, “Strangely, everyone neglects that link. The lines and contour of human body tell a story of their own. Sometimes, they are like the pieces of an organic puzzle that fits together perfectly and then there are times they carry only half a meaning individually, but the full significance comes into view when they join their reflections. My show is an attempt to bring back focus to those lines. So, the idea is to work on the relationship between the body and soul, physical and spiritual thought processes within me.”
The artist who hails from Bangladesh, is quite interested in the aura of Western art and classical paintings. His relationship with art began at a very young age. Then, portraits were the most common practices and that’s where he came across the idea of how an artist captures so much more of the character in the portrait than just the face.
Manir says, “This consciousness is what gave rise to the belief that an artwork must not be limited by the dimensions in which it has been created, it is independent of the medium. I decided to pursue painting right after completing Intermediate degree. It was years later, after my post-graduation that I was introduced to photography as an art practice. It wasn’t long after that, computers and digital media paved way for my ideas to take wings.”
He believes that time spent running after pleasure and instant gratification have numbed the soul of every individual. “We have traded simplicity for complexity, clean air for smog and machines for spirit. We have corrupted the soil we tread, the air we breathe and the water we drink. The consequences are here now, cutting holes into the environment that surrounds us. We need to re-establish the link with nature,” says Manir.
Art has always been a form of expression of the unseen and the unheard. “It’s a medium of translating the multi-dimensional language of life into a two-dimensional plane by intertwining my thoughts and reality,” he adds.
The artist believes that one cannot simply classify their art as personal or public. He speaks on behalf of every artist when he says that an artist’s work is a reflection of their soul and identity .
The exhibition is on view till October 20.
Writer: Ayushi Sharma
Courtesy: The Pioneer
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