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 e-mail: khokar1960@gmail.com Pulse of Bangalore; Surats of Delhi and mahurat in Surat!October 14, 2026 Surat is the diamond capital of India; from all over the world, famous companies send their stones to be cut, polished, shone here. Textiles too, this city boasts of as Amit Patel, sari specialist tells me, "Making a sari has 36 processes". Thirty six! From preparing the field to plough to grow cotton to cultivate, cut, collect, clean, cater, categorise to mills for treatment, transport, traction in market by design, depth and diamonds even (yes, a sari can cost up to ten lakhs!) the whole gamut is like guru gyan.  Amit Patel at work Amit Patel is one of the many who are the surat (face) of Surat. The city claims to be the cleanest city of India! I thought it was Trichy in Tamilnadu, when I used to go there 20 years ago to orient staff and students at the Kalai Kaveri College. The railway platform was so clean that one could eat DIRECTLY off the floor. Surat suffered a massive plague in 1994 that stunned the city. Fearing the deadly pneumonic form, roughly one-fourth of Surat’s population - about 500,000 to 700,000 people - fled the city, spreading fear across India. Till the district admin shaped up under commissioner Rao and till today people remember that phase. His daughters are doing yeoman work in media and art, with Dimple Bhram Bhatt taking the lead. Her daughter Misha with a sweet smile is a budding naturopath and modern dancer. They have a fine studio, Shiva something to host chamber arts. AC to boot in a city where summer temps hover above 45C, humidity being high due to the huge river Tapi flowing like a serpentine curve. That's why Surat has many bridges connecting the city.  Speaking of dance, there's a new gem on the Surat scene named Rohan Bhutaiya. An Ajitabh Bachchan look-alike with same benign face and limpid eyes, he trained under Kakoli Chatterjee (a bong in Surat is as much a rarity as a Kingfisher bird in a desert), a direct disciple of Kathak king of Baroda, guru Harish Gangani, illustrious and honest son of doyen guru Sundarlal Gangani. Jagdish is the other son. Rohan is also a Kathak costume designer of acumen, for he understands the flow and fabric, fall and hall. His costumes are much in demand, especially with NRIs, as they can talk to someone who understands both the dance and the dancer and will deliver professionally.  Rohan Bhutaiya Rohan and Mannan, whose other name ought to be Hasmukh (forever smiling), are a twosome on stage and were chosen last December nationally, to showcase their art in prestigious Neemrana Tijara platform. Both are making their presence felt. And show good foundation, that's coming of age. Mannan feels torn between Birju Maharaj traditional Kathak and that of Kumudini Lakhia take on it by sanitising it. Both are two sides of a coin; I assuage his confusion. Birju Maharaj was very MODERN in his mind and approach. Kumiben just cut off the court mannerisms, sanitised the costume to suit Amdavadi sensibilities and understood group choreography, having worked with Ram Gopal, the great, in London in the 1970s. Gandhi and Shah are the two most happening names in Gujarat (and both danced too but Rakhi Shah and Vaishali Gandhi - not THE SHAH AND THE GANDHI - on the occasion hosted by patron Ramdev and Kajol Kandoriya at their Om villa, full of plants and fruits). The evening was a beautiful setting in the garden with a compact gazebo stage where Vandita Shastri played with tayari on sitar with able musicians like Vashisth Shastri on the tabla; Naitik Pandya on exceptional vocals, what tonal quality; Vishal Kulkarni on flute and guru Kakoli Chatterjee reciting the padhant. The chief patron Mekenbhai Baraiya was from Upleta, near Porbandar and how timely that Gandhi Jayanti was just a day before. And being there on Gandhi Jayanti was good because the city was totally quiet! Coming from a city of traffic snarls - Bangalore - it was a relief to see no traffic, as it was a government holiday and being a Friday this year, most had combined and left the city for a short break. Holidaying is a huge industry in Gujarat. They love to travel, have a nice time and always be in a good mood. The common response to "How are you?" is often "mast chhe" or "majja ma", which shows their state of being. A positive attitude makes Gujus ostensibly the happiest people of India, without drinking! Punjabis often are happy too but with liquid additives! Udta Punjab one has heard of. Having been born in Baroda, the sanskar nagari of Gujarat of a Punjabi Sikh father, I'm generally in a happy state with just Ganga jal. Tamil mother made a big difference by giving discipline and decorum. I'm glad my heart is Punjabi and head is Tamil and by disposition I'm a Gujju - Majja ma and mast chhe.  Lalit Arpan Festival From Surat to many surats (faces) of capital of India at senior Kathakaar Shovana Narayan's annual festival called Lalit Arpan done in memory of Lalit Suri, hotelier and art patron. Shovana Narayan is the most sabhya Kathak dancer of Delhi, educated, cultured and amiable. She felicitated senior teachers and gurus of Delhi who have been teaching for 25 years or more as in case of veterans like gurus Manjushree Chatterjee, Aloka Panikar, Sonal Mansingh. The stage felt small to contain so many egos / talents of Delhi. Dressed to the hilt, some looking like mannequins, hair dyed jet black (doesn't go with sagging skins!), most air kissed each other and pretended to be so happy to see each other which is also Delhi at its fake best. Ego being larger than talents, most walked straight to the front row, in Swaraj-is-my-birthright gait. Veteran Manjushree Chatterjee stood out as the most elegant, punctual and gracious. Jai Kishan Maharaj with able son Tribhuvan looked genuinely happy. Ambika Panikar received the honour on behalf of her mother, guru Aloka Panikar and Bharati Sivaji looked benign and cultured as always. Prathibha Prahlad looked smashing in her black sari with an antique choker. The solo production on Yudhishtar Draupadi dilemma originally by Gulzar, translated into English by artocrat Pavan Varma, was read by Sunit Tandon and Shovana Narayan danced with aplomb, with a full music ensemble, that remained imbalanced and loud. Sadhana Shrivastava tried valiantly to elicit claps from an uninvolved audience and had to cajole the audience often to clap when the felicitation of teachers of dance was being done. It also showed the true standing of most of these dancers of Delhi that audiences don't care or clap. In Bangalore or Chennai, Pune or Bhubaneswar audience claps heartily. They even give standing ovation. Here, most stood up and slunk away in the dark. The evening was a mixed bag of bored society types, babudom, bouncers showing once again how Delhi denizens are spoilt silly.  Pulse was a dynamic offering from Pune artistes in Indore, Bangalore then Hyderabad like tabla by first rate Ashay Kulkarni; divine sitar by Ayan Sengupta; commendable pakhawaj by Krushna Salunke; fine vocals by Suranjan Khandalka and soulful flute by Dhaval Joshi. And excellent lights by Omkar Hazare. This is a good model to make Kathak accessible to young ones as each instrument got special place and podium and then the main dancer Mukti Shri took to centre stage. Excellent tayari from guru Shama Bhate makes this benign dancer shine on stage with her daughter Anvi Shri. The best part was that people paid their way, so they put a value on the show. Excellent lighting and sound balance was courtesy Shrinivas Mukku, a London based pharma entrepreneur. That all of real connoisseurs of Bangalore turned up including the former Additional Chief Secretary Chiranjiv Singh and Kathak seniors like Nandini Mehta, designer dancer Madhu Nataraj, Ramya Nagaraj among others showed engagement with dance.  Critic, connoisseur, historian, author, artivist, archivist, administrator and more - editor, columnist and mentor Ashish Khokar remains true to his muse. Post your comments Please provide your name along with your post. All appropriate comments posted with name in the blog will also be featured in the site. |
