Arts

A one of its kind handmade pavilion, believed to be Australia’s largest bamboo structure designed by an Indian architect using all organic materials from India, opened in Melbourne in Queen Victoria Gardens. The third annual summer pavilion, designed by Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, officially opened. Claimed as Australia’s largest bamboo structure, MPavilion 2016 has been included as a part of the programme for the ongoing Indian fest ‘Confluence: Festival of India’ that is running across major Australian cities. MPavilion 2016, a handmade architectural piece, uses seven km of bamboo, 50 tonnes of stone and 26 km of rope ...

Unity in diversity – this is clearly what the Sivananda Peace Pillars stand for. Virtually the heritage of South Africa, these monuments are not only a source of inspiration, but a reminder that that peace and love must transcend human limitations that shrink our society today, declares Ishwar Ramlutchman Unity in diversity – this is clearly what the Sivananda Peace Pillars stand for. Containing the inscriptions from the world’s major religions, it signifies the universality of all world religions when it comes to promoting peace and harmony. The Sivananda Peace Pillar will not only be a source of inspiration, but ...

An engineering degree from a premier Indian technical institute, working with a globally renowned technology multi-national, living the American dream…life was all hunky and dory for Ihitashri Mishra Borundiya and her husband Amit. Yet, there was some inexplicable pull from her roots that led to the conviction that her dreams were meant to be realized back home. It was during her maternity break that she pondered over the plight of Madhubani paintings, an ancient Indian ethnic art, which is as much part of her own family’s heritage as of the nation at large. Ihitashri decided to focus her attention on ...

Tagore’s visit to Spain never materialized. In a letter to his translator Zenobia Camprubi, Tagore wrote that ‘the idea of Spain has such a deep attraction in my mind’ that he wanted to ‘come into an intimate touch with the heart of Spain’. For a long period of time in the 20th century, Spain had a torrid fling with the Indian bard but now it is getting effaced out of public memory. “Tagore en Espana” (Tagore in Spain) was held across three Spanish cities of Barcelona, Salamanca and Valladolid in a two-day event filled with discussions, paper presentations, poetry readings, ...

A land with many reasons to celebrate, a land with unparalleled spirit, always on the run; this land of Western India is named Gujarat. Very traditional in its roots yet one of the most forward societies of the country, Gujarat has left many a things behind. But down the memory lane, we realize that old arts and traditions are still running in its veins. ...

Believed to be lost until August 2010, Dr Samuel Berhet stumbled on some Tagore’s photographs stashed away in the Alain Danielou and Raymond Burnier Photo Collection at Zagarolo in Italy. All the photographs were taken between 1932 and 1940, the period when Alain Danielou and his companion Raymond Burnier travelled between Europe and the subcontinent and resided in Shantiniketan. After the rigamarole of restoration, all the 99 restored photos of Tagore and Shantiniketan have been put up in exhibition curated by Dr Samuel Berthet himself. The restoration work has been largely done by Nazir Uddin Mahmud Liton, photographer from Bangladesh. ...

‘I am a poet of the world, I try to capture its melody, wherever it rises’, was Tagore’s aspiration. Tagore’s relevance today lies in his universal outreach. His views retain its pragmatic fervour in present world. He melded ideas, traditions, practices and cultures of places panning the globe and this resulted in the Tagorean exuberance for the posterity to reckon as contemporary ever after. Dr Samuel Berthet, a histrorian of contemporary history feels the creation of Shantiniketan and Sriniketan has a long way to go. ‘The poet gave altogether another dimension to this attempt for a social paradigm over four ...

Ratnadeep Banerji rolls out some nuggets of the exotic nature of silk chainstich and silk patolas that let up a world market for textile industry in Gujarat since the thirteenth century. Even now, 18 types of hand embroidery exist in the Kutch region. ...

She doesn’t need ears to enjoy a song. Nor a speech to hum a song. Prerana Sahane just needed a passion to dance to the rhythm of music. Prerana conquered her deafness and muteness to write her own destiny. Prerana, who suffered from hearing and speech impairment since she was 6 months old has been excelling in Bharatnatyam since the last 16 years. Despite the fact that she can’t listen to the music, Prerana feels the beats and dances. Prerana did her first dance performance in 2007 in Pune after which she has not looked back. “We feel fortunate that ...

McLeod Ganj, as it is commonly known, is a small town tucked away in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh. It is a haven to get away from life with its small streets, cozy restaurants and quaint lodges. This town is also known as a Little Tibet since it is home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile.  ...