Days with My father

A wonderful new gallery from my favourite Time magazine. Photographer Phillip Toledano kept a photo-record of his father over a period of three years from 2006 to 2009. Do check Days with my Father

Toledano received tremendous response to his photographs, which capture the last years of his father's life very warmly. You can see some more pictures from the collection on a nicely designed Website of the same name. Many of those who viewed the website voted for a particular picture which was chosen as the cover of the book that was brought out by Chronicle Books this year.

If you view this please leave a comment about what you felt about the pictures.

Akaler Shandhaney @ 9th Asian Film Festival

In the pix: Smita Patil and Dhritiman Chatterjee in Akaler Shandhaney

Courtesy: www.mrinalsen.org

Akaler Shandhaney (In Search of a Famine)

1980/Bengali/Colour

Cast: Smita Patil, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Gita Sen, Rajen Tarafdar, Sreela Muzumder, Dipankar De



Directed by Mrinal Sen



Synopsis

7 September, 1980. A film crew comes to a village to make a film about a famine, which killed five million Bengalees in 1943. It was a man made famine, a side- product of the war, and the film crew will create the tragedy of those millions who died of starvation. The film documents the convivial life among the film crew and the hazards, problems and tension of film making on location. The actors live a double life, and the villagers, both simple and not-so-simple folk watch their work with wonder and suspicion. But as the film progresses, the recreated past begins to confront the present. The uneasy coexistence of 1943 and 1980 reveals bizarre connection, involving a village woman whose visions add a further dimension of time—that of future. A disturbing situation, indeed, for the “famine-seekers”

Awards: National awards for Best Film, Best Editing, and Best Direction and Best Screenplay for Mrinal Sen. Also won Silver Bear at Berlin International Film Festival


(9th Third Eye Asian Film Festival opens on Oct 29. 2010 in Mumbai. Over the next seven days, the festival will screen 80 contemporary Asian films and 50 short films at YB Chavan Centre in South Mumbai, Plaza Cinema in Central Mumbai, and Fun Republic in Western suburbs. For more information on the festival, you could log in to http://www.affmumbai.com/ The film schedules will be uploaded on the website before the festival opens.

To watch the festival, you have to register as a festival delegate at the delegate counters opened at the three venues from Oct 15 between 1 and 7 pm. A registration fee of Rs 400 will enable you to access any film at any of the three venues. Students and film society activists can avail the delegate card at a concessional rate of Rs 200 by showing an ID proof. Registration is a simple process, and no photographs are required for acquiring the delegate card.

Please do not forget to pick up a copy of the festival catalogue, your definitive guide to the festival fare along with your card. It is edited by well-known film critic Maithili Rao)

Blade of Grass

A close friend of mine was clearing her mailbox, and found this mail from me sent three years ago. She forwarded it back to me. What goes around comes around. Read on:

Said a blade of grass to an autumn leaf, "You make such a noise falling! You scatter all my winter dreams."



Said the leaf indignant, "Low-born and low-dwelling! Songless, peevish thing! You live not in the upper air and you cannot tell the sound of singing."



Then the autumn leaf lay down upon the earth and slept. And when spring came she waked again -- and she was a blade of grass.



And when it was autumn and her winter sleep was upon her, and above her through all the air the leaves were falling, she muttered to herself, "O these autumn leaves! They make such a noise! They scatter all my winter dreams."



- from K Gibran (Blade of Grass)

The Thought-fox

Homage to Ted Hughes by Reginald Gray.
Held by Bankfield Museum, Yorkshire


This is a Ted Hughes poem about the poet's creative process of how a poem appears on a blank page. I think we had this in Class IX textbooks in school. Does anyone remember?

The Thought-fox

I imagine this midnight moment's forest:
Something else is alive
Beside the clock's loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.

Through the window I see no star:
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness:

Cold, delicately as the dark snow
A fox's nose touches twing, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now

Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come

Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business

Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.

NYPD detective's photographic record

Photo copyright: Greg Semendinger/NYPD/ABC/AP



Every visit to the Time magazine's photo section always reveals something interesting to see.



Months before he retired, photography enthusiast and New York Police Department detective Greg Semendinger shot dramatic images of 9/11 while the two towers were going down from a helicopter. He was airborne minutes after the towers were hit and shot this great photographic record. Check this Time Magazine gallery to see 9/11 from the sky.



He shot 240 images which were part of a photographic project undertaken by the US-government run National Institute of Standards and Technology, which probed the physical destruction of the World Trade Centre towers. The NIST had collected over 2700 pictures from amateurs and professionals as part of its project. They remained out of the public domain till ABC News got to know about the photographic project, and used the Freedom of Information Act to get them released in Feb 2010.



Also check Semendinger interview recalling the moments when he shot these pictures.



While Semendinger was shooting from the sky, two photo journalists James Nachtwey and Steve McCurry were shooting the collapse of the towers from the ground. You could see Nachtwey's images on his website. He actually went inside the towers before they collapsed. They were first published by Time magazine.




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Music over Matter

Posting after a long, long time. I had a hairline fracture on the left elbow and was down for a fortnight.
Posting an interesting story I wrote in The Telegraph for those who may not have read it. The context of the story is the 50-year-old border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka over marathi-speaking villages and towns. The dispute is currently before the Supreme Court, and a war of words was on between politicians of both states. On this background, Bhimsen Joshi was chosen for the first Gangubai Hangal Memorial Award by Hangal's family.
I also need to thank my editors R Rajagopal and Arijit Dasgupta who have polished, edited and rewritten my verbose report. A reporter's byeline appears on a news story, but there are a number of people who fine-tune the copy before it goes to the page. This one appeared in the coveted, sacred space -- Page One Lead.
Read on...

Memory of music wafts past strife

Mumbai, July 18: Music has bridged a chasm that language created and nurtured.

Amid the inflamed passions over a 50-year-old Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute, the Hubli-based family of legendary singer Gangubai Hangal has decided to confer the first lifetime achievement award in her memory to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, who lives in Pune.

Joshi, 88, and Gangubai, who passed away a year ago aged 96, had, of course, learnt music together under Sawai Gandharva’s tutelage and “were like brother and sister”, their family members said. Still, to many, the award may take on a symbolic significance at a time politicians are stoking emotions over Maharashtra being denied the Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka.

Joshi represents, as Gangubai did, the Kirana gharana of the Belgaum-Dharwad-Hubli region, parts of which fall within the disputed area. The vocalist is now the sole living torchbearer of the musical legacy of the region that also produced Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, Pandit Kumar Gandharva and Basavraj Rajguru.

The Pune-based Joshi was born in a Brahmin family in Dharwad, but Maharashtra has long claimed him as its own.

He speaks both Kannada and Marathi at home and accepted awards from both state governments — the Maharashtra Bhushan in 2002 and the Karnataka Ratna in 2005 — before the Bharat Ratna in 2009 stamped his status as a treasure belonging to the nation.

Gangubai’s grandson Manoj Hangal, reminded that the honour to Joshi comes amid an inter-state political controversy, said: “We wanted to show that music is above these political considerations.”

He added: “When we asked her about the border dispute, Gangubai would say there are no boundaries of nationality, caste, colour or language for a musician. She herself always considered Mumbai her maher (mother’s home).”

Joshi’s son Shrinivas Joshi said: “Panditji is very happy and honoured to receive this award. Gangubai always treated him as her younger brother, and they shared a wonderful bond.”

Language, the fulcrum of the border dispute, had never been a barrier for Joshi or Gangubai. Joshi is as well known for his Kannada renditions of Purandara Dasa’s kirtanas in the album Dasavani as for his Marathi abhangs.

“We speak Kannada as well as Marathi,” Manoj Hangal said. “Gangubai not only spoke fluent Marathi, she would visit the Mumbai All India Radio office once every month since 1936. Some members of my family have married Maharashtrians and live in Maharashtra.”

To many, the Gangubai Hangal Music Foundation’s move to honour Joshi — and the maestro’s acceptance — has set an example at a time artistes have often failed to rise above ethnic strife.

Tamil and Kannada film stars had demonstrated in support of their states during the Hogenakkal water dispute in March 2008, some even supporting the boycott of films and TV channels from the rival state. Rajanikanth was accused of making “anti-Kannadiga” comments after criticising Karnataka politicians.

The foundation’s — and Joshi’s — decision also shows courage because celebrities can face a backlash if they are perceived as ignoring emotional issues, or as tilting towards one of the sides, even if unwittingly. A week ago, Hollywood star Jennifer Lopez had to call off her birthday show in Cyprus’s breakaway Turkish north following a campaign by incensed Greek Cypriots.

Manoj Hangal had announced the award in the run-up to the first death anniversary of Gangubai on July 21. The first Padmabhushan Gangubai Hangal Memorial National Award for Lifetime Achievement, consisting of Rs 50,000 in cash, a citation and a certificate, will be presented to the ailing vocalist in October.

Joshi would visit the Hangal home every time he passed through Hubli during his whirlwind concert tours, son Shrinivas said.

“When they studied under Sawai Gandharva in Dharwad, Gangubai had to travel from Hubli. Panditji would take a lantern and drop her at the railway station at night. Panditji’s first public performance was organised by Gangubai’s husband in Hubli in 1941,” Shrinivas said.

If Joshi took Dharwad’s legacy to Pune, Marathi culture too exerted its influence on Hubli-Dharwad, political commentator Arvind Kulkarni said. “Dharwad has a huge Marathi library, and leading Marathi writer G.A. Kulkarni lived in Dharwad,” he said.

A poem on global warming

Posting after a considerable break. I had posted two poems from Srishti Shenoy, the daughter of my Sharjah-based Praveen and Vidya Shenoy. This time Srishti's best friend Joanne has penned a poem on global warming.

Joanne is the daughter of their family friends, Joseph and Deepthi, and studies in DPS at Jebel Ali in Grade V. Vidya describes her as an "extremely creative girl who loves to read, is very very independent, and thinks ahead of time."



Copyright: http://nadhealady.wordpress.com

Warming

When we are alone in a cold place,
with no one to face,
We go home and light the pyre
and sit by the fire.
At first everything was okay,
At last no chill, no cold day!
But suddenly the world began to melt,
And then I knew how the creatures felt.
Soon there'd be no fantasy to enjoy, no one to know,
No place to hide, no place to go.
After the world had melted,
I found myself belted,
Out in the space, with lots of place,
An alien was playing ball with a silly face.
I said as my voice echoed in the universe's black sheet,
"Wow, what a feat!"
The alien said,
"Thank you, my name is Ted."
I asked him why did the earth melt,
as well as how the alien felt.
The alien who had many places to go,
Told me all the reasons I should know.
And finally said,"Now scram of my place,
Before you pollute as well the outer space".


Do tell me how you like Joanne's effort.

Life's iconic images

I was glancing through the astonishing archive of Life Magazine. Except National Geographic, perhaps no other magazine in the world has such a phenomenal collection of iconic pictures. During its peak, some of the world’s best photographers worked for it. Henri Cartier Bresson, Margaret Bourke White, Alfred Eisenstaedt to name just three. I once remember picking up an issue of Life with Jackie Kennedy's pictures from a road-side bookseller at Fort at some Rs 50. It was an absolute steal.

But, I was a bit stunned to look at Life magazine site. They have put everything on sale, which is good in a way for the readers, but it seems reduced to an online shop. I wish Life had continued being that classy magazine and carried on the good work though its inevitable. Photography itself has undergone such a change both technologically and stylistically.

I was looking at Alfred Eisenstaedt’s iconic picture Kissing the War Goodbye showing a US soldier kissing his partner passionately at Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II in 1945. What a picture!

Surfing on Life website is a great journey. One just comes across iconic images after images. Life takes you inside the homes of some of the biggest Hollywood icons. Another evergreen gallery is Classic Hollywood romances. Paul Newman’s first marriage was brief in characteristic Hollywood style, but the second with Joanne Woodward turned out be a Hollywood rarity for its longevity. These pictures tell the sweet story

Through Raghu Rai's eyes

Picture Copyright: Magnum Photos

India’s finest photojournalist Raghu Rai’s new book on classical musicians promises to be interesting. Titled India’s Great Masters: A photographic journey into the heart of Classical Music (Collins, Rs 3,500), the book takes you up close and personal to some of the legends of classical music. Pandit Ravi Shankar, Annapurna Devi, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar, Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Mallikarjun Mansur, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Bismillah Khan and others.

Years ago, my friend Neeraj Priyadarshi, presently the Photo-editor of The Indian Express, had done a joint exhibition with Raghu Rai on flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. All the images were black and white and both had captured Panditji in different moods. Rai had clicked some pictures that were stunning for its candidness. The camera is lurking close to the subject, but the moments captured look so amazingly natural as if the camera is not present at all.

The book promises to have more of these. Many of these pictures appeared in India Today magazine in 1980s when Rai worked as Director of Photography for 10 years. Mallikarjun Mansur on his deathbed having a puff of a cigarette. Bhimsen Joshi in an introspective mood in his Merc. Kumar Gandharva chatting on his bed in Devas. Catch a glimpse of some of these pictures in this review in The Telegraph. Tehelka's April 10 issue on Vidarbha suicides also has pictures of Rai's book.

Impressed by his work at a show in Paris in 1971, Raghu Rai was invited to join the Magnum Collective by the legend himself - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Kolhapur Kushti akharas

Miami-based Ami Vitale zipped through Maharashtra last month, and photographed the kushti or wrestling schools in Kolhapur. The traditional sport has been photographed before, but Ami has done the photo-story because red-clay wrestling is in its last lap.

"...The Indian Fighters Federation in the capital of New Delhi stunned thousands of fighters when it announced prohibition of fighting on red soil and ordered fight clubs to buy mattresses for their arenas. Ending the traditional red clay wrestling was an idea sprouted from the aspiration to achieve more Olympic medals since the last and only medal India brought home in wrestling was a bronze in 1952," she wrote in her 84-picture photo essay