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 Renuka and the King of Siam - Shanta Serbjeet Singh, New Delhi e-mail: shanta.serbjeetsingh@gmail.com July 15, 2009 This week, after four years at The Hindustan Times, writing on faith and religion and sundry other topics, Renuka Narayanan doffs her main hat, from that of "She Baba" as she called her popular blog to working in the Sarkari domain as its new "She Babu." She joins one of the cultural centres being opened across the world by the intrepid babus of MEA to promote India's image abroad. She will head the one in Bangkok, a city to which she has never been before. But I wager that the moment she places one foot in Bangkok's Swarnabhumi airport and lays her eyes on that marvellous tableau of Amrit Manthan that the Thais have created, complete with life-size devas and asuras, resplendent in iridescent costumes, studded with gold inlay and coloured glass, she will find herself at home in a world she has always inhabited, of myth and fable and Bharat's connectivity with lands across the oceans. Renuka Narayanan is proof that God has indeed got a weird sense of humour. Why else would someone so unsuitable be India's first - and so far, only - Religion Editor? As she herself puts it, she doesn't have a man's beard to confer instant gravitas on her utterances, she is not bedaubed with red powders and she doesn't look good in orange! At her best, Renuka managed to create spas for the mind and that is saying something. One is sure she will continue to do that from the beautiful, gentle land of Siam, ergo Thailand. THE SECRET IS OUT... When the second coming of the UPA happened and a bevy of ministers got sworn in, some old, some vaguely familiar and some never seen before in the most prestigious club of India, the Lok Sabha, we were left a bit confused when no helmsman/woman was announced for culture. Worry knit our common brow. News filtered in that "for now" the culture ministry was with the Prime Minister and his Minister of State, Prithviraj Chavan, will look after it (along with science and technology, earth needs, public grievances, personal and parliamentary affairs). Phew! Either this meant that ‘culture' was, as always, no one's baby. Or, could it possibly mean that the Prime Minister himself would keep it under his charge? Finally, the secret is out. At the just concluded Sangeet Natak Akademi investiture ceremony for the prestigious Ratna Sadsyas (fellows) and the SNA awards, we were told by Mr. Chavan himself that the Prime Minister was looking after this ministry and would have loved to have attended the function had it not been for the prior commitment to be the Chief Guest for France's Bastille Day celebrations! The Secretary, the erudite Bengali babu, Jawahar Sircar, too will not move to Information & Broadcasting and continue with culture. Big plans are in the offing for the future and you need to watch this space to find out details! REST IN PEACE: REQUIEM FOR PINA BAUSCH "I am more interested in what moves people, than how they move." Pina Bausch, avant-garde German choreographer took this lesson in the core truth of abhinaya from Indian thought. Pina, whose death this week, a bare five days after she was diagnosed of cancer, was mourned by creative people and heads of state across the world. From the time she came into contact with our very own Chandralekha, in the early 80s, she was deeply influenced by Indian thought. She said, "I am very intrigued by the concept of ‘movement,' in the sense that I believe Indian dance scholars believe that physical movement was used as a communication system before language developed." Her last contact with India was just last year when she invited young Odissi dancer Arushi Mudgal, daughter of maestro Madhup Mudgal, to present a solo piece in her gala 20th year celebrations in Wuppertal. Until now, Wuppertal, a German mining town has been known only for being the town of Frederick Engels. Now, I suspect, it is better known as the home of Pina Bausch's dance company. In 2006, she visited two places, Calcutta and Kerala, under the aegis of Goethe Institute. This resulted in her "India piece" called ‘Bamboo Blues,' a full-length production staged right after its Indian debut in the Brooklyn Museum of Art to rave reviews. Bausch's influence extends beyond the world of dance. Her ardent fans include theater directors Robert Wilson and Peter Brook. Filmmaker Federico Fellini had her play a blind duchess in "And the Ship Sails On," and Pedro Almodovar included sections from two of her dances in "Talk to Her." As for dance, I personally have never seen anything as "moving" and evocative of India, designed by a foreigner as ‘Bamboo Blues,' complete with exquisite dancers, clad in mundus, holding ‘teerashilas' and creating friezes drawn from Khajuraho and Konarak.  Shanta Serbjeet Singh, for twenty-five years, columnist, critic and media analyst for The Hindustan Times, The Economic Times and The Times of India, is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and Delhi Govt.'s Sahitya Kala Parishad for her contribution to the field of culture. She just finished her term as Vice Chairman of the SNA, is the founder-secretary of the World Culture Forum and continues as Chair of the UNESCO created NGO APPAN (The Asia-Pacific Performing Arts Network), a position to which she was appointed in 2001. Singh has authored several well-known publications such as 'Indian Dance: The Ultimate Metaphor' (published by Ravi Kumar (Paris), 'The 50th Milestone: A Feminine Critique' (Sterling Publishers, to mark India's fiftieth anniversary of Independence), 'Nanak, The Guru' (Oxford University Press) and 'America and You' (22 editions). |
