Beware of traffic in left lane...
Please click here to view the photo journal from Pune.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
News from New Delhi
We have been treated to an amazing array of lectures given by professors, performing artists, religious leaders, heads of NGOs, and a CNBC news correspondent. We met members of the Fulbright Commission in India and the Center for Cultural Resources and Training, as well as the cultural attache to the U.S. Embassy in India.
Our visits to museums, world heritage sites and various monuments in New Delhi were inspiring. One of the highlights of the program, however, was a visit to a madrasa for girls. The school provides services for 800 students, 300 of whom are on scholarship, and features a curriculum that includes English, Hindi, math, science, social studies and Islamic studies. Upon successful completion of the madrasa’s program, students are eligible for enrollment in Jambia University. The aim of the school is to teach tolerance, brotherhood, secularism, love, and peace. (Pictured above is a student who sang for us.)
India is a study in contrasts. We have been reminded often that “for every truth about India, the opposite is also true”. Ideas are swirling...I look forward to sorting them into some type of coherent order by the end of the trip.
Tomorrow, we head for Pune. Namaste!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Kathak Dance
Fine arts are not just entertainment, they are elevating (religious) experiences. They are one of the highest forms of yoga and a form of worship. Each of the gods has an artistic attribute. Lord Shiva is lord of dance. Krishna plays the flute and Sarasati plays the sitar.
At the time of India’s independence, four classical dance forms were found in India. Today, eight types of classical dance (i.e. in addition to folk dances and modern dances) are practiced. Unlike Western ballet which features many dancers taking on the roles of the characters in a story, Indian classical dance features one dancer who uses codified choreography and expressions to represent many characters.
The first codification of classical Indian dance, music and theater may be found in the Natya Shastra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natya_Shastra). Kathak Dance, or story-telling dance, is Ms.Narayan’s specialty and is performed with a focus on complicated footwork that is enhanced with bells worn on the ankles. The pirouettes in the dance symbolize the Indian beliefs regarding the cycles of life.
Women dancers used their art form as an act of religious veneration and were “married” to the lord of the temple, much in the same way as Catholic nuns are “married” to Christ. Male dancers enjoyed a status similar to that of a Brahmin priest.
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