Responses
Sudeep Sen
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth5694A6A40a1c11E78AviO1CF2D4D
editor, Atlas | Editorial Director, Aark Arts
www.atlasaarkarts.net | www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/index.asp?id=91
A response by Priti Desai, MumbaiDravya Kaya: I found drew different reactions from people. My sister found it monotonous, N found it too cerebral, S was very impressed, M found it captivating both dance as well music- wise nut she found the newspaper `valkal` jarring, could he not have used jute or alike?, and for me I thought it was totally enchanting and thought provoking.. The music-sans mridangam or violin - was divine, just the human voice at such slow tempo touching the nuance of sur to the fullest and the bols when sung had such musical resonance that the fast tempo mridangam somehow cannot give to our ears, and the emotional appeal of naad was fully explored. Dance was divine, as at such slow tempo it seemed like a sadhana of the body and each movement of be it eyes, face, fingers, feet was so distinctly delineated that the grammar of bharatnatyam was laid threadbare for the rasika. BRAVO, Navtej and his team- co-dancer Sudeep Kumar, and a very special THANKS to G Elangovan. It was to me a poem in slow motion, I could feel and the hear the music of Naadbrahma and see the versatility of dance that the human body can portray. One searches for answers thru our own past and interpreting the reality now, for it did lead me to a lot of inner questioning- stones can build temples, churches and masjids, and a special stone diamond is now so flaunted as status symbol... From spiritual to material???Wish we had a discussion afterwards for many queries that arose to my friends may have been resolved.Have I gone ga ga ? Yes and no. The finale of vanarsena`s setu of stones gave them the divinity which geological time has given. The finale with one praying—namaskar—and the other between the stones bending and touching the earth reminded me of a namaaz where the Islamic faith too expresses the divinity of earth and life springing from it. To me Babri took away our Sindhu originating culture by making it a scene of violence and intolerance.
Priti Desai (NCPA member, Mumbai)
