Toronto

School of art and design Toronto

Visiting Toronto after 25 years and staying in the same house I did then! Rosemary Jeans Antze, a former National Ballet of Canada dancer and her Anthropology professor husband Paul Antze are so alive with inspiring conversation. Their first daughter Emily was 6 months old then. She is now 25 and has turned an intellectual too. She has a younger sister who is into studying animal behaviour. Rosemary took me on a drive round the streets of Toronto and to the art gallery of Ontorio. Fantastic architecture of wood standing next to another very interesting architecture of the school of art and design which is a rectangular building standing on stilts. There is an exhibition of wood and the trees within the wood in the art gallery that is really amazing. Rosemary also took me to the alumni get together for the 50th anniversery of National ballet school of Canada. Got to watch classes, see rehearsals etc. Heavenly gift for some one passionate about dance.

Thomas Alva Edison

Went with my brother Ravi to Thomas Alva Edison's laboratories today in New Jersey. Amazing. So interesting! The inventor of electric bulb, gramophone, cement, motion picture and several others. Overwhelming. He had the first motion picture shooting studio built on circular moving platform to have the whole building move to get sun shine inside. In North America the sun rises at different points at different months of the year. The machine shop, the elevator he used, the first song recording etc etc are all there just as he had left them. He even put a tiny gramophone inside a doll to make it talk. Just great feeling visiting it and listening to his voice, seeing the first motion pictures ever made.

Earlier it was a visit to Rubin museum of Himalayan art in New York. The exhibition on cosmology is mind blowing. Feel good walk around Union Square meeting Abby Robinson after six years, walking around with her and trying to spot the iron man sculptures on top of buildings who look like they are just about to jump off. Nice break from my lecture routine.
Lovely trip to Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. an intimate experience of the arts. C
see my pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/vrdevika

New England

What a beautiful place this is! The drive from Amherst to Mt.Holyoke is so very beautiful. the drive back is so nice with the sun shining on the trees which are getting green and all the colour and amazing stars. I cant help but be awestruck. My mind keeps going over the Natya dance presentation at Peabody and Essex museum. the way the space was used and the charm of choreography. As I always say, it is the audience that determines the way of the dance. and the place and surroundings. beautiful. Natyashastra itself says one must dance according to kaala (time) and desha (place). That is what most dancers do. In my opinion there is only good dance and bad dance. Good dance is what touches the heart irrespective of technique and mode etc. The academics can shout from roof tops about what dance should be. But dance is what it is.

Us 2010 II

Sun is shining bright. They said it would not. But it is still cold outside. It is so cosy to be sitting inside. At Amherst feel like I am home in Konda and Aparna Reddy's home. Konda is a friend from world education and as strict as one can be with himself. He is working for world ed and doing his PhD in Amherst College. Betsy and Peter Nelson drove me here from their town Harvard. A lovely home with absolutely beautiful things. Both in their seventies, they have not slowed down at all. They are my friends from IPN and we have met around the world. Betsy is one of the kindest persons I have met and Peter is a charmer. They drove me to Salem for the "Sensational India.." fest going on at Peabody Essex Museum with Natya theatre of Chicago dancing. The day turned out to be quite beautiful in contrast to the rainy and cold previous day. kathryn Myers drove to Wellesley from Connecticut for the seminar on Gond art of India and the exhibition. What a nice suprise to meet Stephen Huyler. I told him that a friend gave me his "Daughters of India" book and said one of women featured could be me and that I was greatly pleased that the friend had referred to Suniti Narayanan. He too loved Suniti. I told him how we bonded before her death. I took a picture with him. His presentation of Sonabai was amazing. Met a charming couple from Connecticut Kumars of INTACH CT. A nice Indian lunch and a viewing of the Gond art exhibition but the hall was too cold and made me sleepy though I was so very much interested in the papers being presented. Betsy and Peter came to Wellesley college to pick me up. Peter informs me that Hillary Clinton went to Wellesley. Charming town. Dinner at an Indian restaurant with their son Charles, his wife Stacy and their children. Stacy is very fond of Indian food and comes there often and knows all recipes there. She also has a very dear friend in the school where she teachers who is Indian and teaches her Indian cooking. we then went to Harvard town to the Nelson home and next day to Peabody and Essex museum etc. Dropped the camera and feeling very sorry about it. Betsy has given me her camera for the rest of the trip but see some pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/vrdevika

US 2010

Wheeew! the first phase of my 65 days tour of US is just finished. I feel I have been away from home for months but it has been only 27 days. Mexico was great! Antonio Prieto really worked hard to make everything happen. What a fantastic coincidence that he, introduced to me by Sangeeta, happens to be in the same university as my nephew Dinesh Rao and his wife Diana Perez! amazing. Antonio organised a talk on Gandhi for students of MA trans discipline and a talk on performing and education and then asked me to talk to his class on drama. wonderful experience. Then there was the big surprise that the biggest chain of book stores in Mexico is called Gandhi and the smaller store in Xalapa is called Gandhi's spinning wheel! I went to the bookstore and gave a demo of the spinning wheel that I have brought from India.
Then the pyramids Diana's mother drive Dinu and me to the pyramids near Mexico city. Awesome! check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan
Then to Atlanta to meet Hema Ramanathan dear dear friend from PSS School, Madras with whom I share a rare affection and friendship and sisterhood. lovely. she takes me to Martin Luther King memorial site and we have a great bonding time.
From there to Greenville in North Carolina to speak in ECU. I had met Alice Arnold just once in Taiwan in the World Creativity summit. Alice worked really hard to put this visit together. A reception and talk on Gandhi at her local Unitarian church for the community, a reception and talk at the International House of ECU, a talk at the women's studies group and two classes of intro to Asia and Hinduism. Prof Derek Meher and Prof. John Tucker were amazing! they let me take their class and answer questions. Imagine meeting an undergraduate class reading the text of Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad and rigveda! amazing!
then on to Yogaville a magical world created in Buckingham county of Virginia by Swami Sachitadanda. It is located on top of a hill near James river and there is spectacular sunrise and sunset. The lotus silent prayer hall is for silent meditation and is dedicated to all religions. the experience is out of the world. just too beautiful. The samadhi of the swami has a life like statue and it looks like he really is living. A huge Nataraja is set on the high point on the hill and he turns twice a day. the Nataraja, the samadhi and the lotus prayer all aligned in one line from the top of the hill to the lake below. beautiful.
Padmarani Rasiah whom I knew 30 years ago rehearsing at the Dhananjayans grew up in the Ashram. She is now married to a most wonderful Mexican man and remains an ardent devotee of the swamiji. They drove to me from Richmond airport to yogaville. a beautiful room awaited me and then to the prayer hall for the satsang with bhajans being sung in American accent. then a video of the swami talking on who are you? and then my talk on Gandhi. I was a little unnerved in the beginning but later on gained confidence. Showed Gandhi films and my spinning wheel and was able to refer to Swami's talk in my talk. Great response from all the kind people there.
Next day rev. Saraswathi drove me around to give me a tour of the 1000 acre ashram. Great feeling. Was asked to do the arathi in the morning puja and show it to people. lunch and then quick change to sari and two hour drive to richmond. we went straight to the Hindu centre where students of padma and their parents were waiting. my talk was on Nataraja and the constellation Orion and the traditional performing arts. A demo of the spinning wheel. great response again. potluck dinner.
next day Srija came and drove me to her daughter's school. She told me stories about the ancestry of her people in Kerala and in short pump school, I showed the khadi film and a demo of spinning wheel. They gave me a gift coupon for Barnes and Noble store and a water bottle. went to the shop opposite and did a little shopping. Aparna then took me to her son's Montessori school where I did a little story telling and showed the spinning wheel. really sweet. she then took her son and me to an Imax theatre at the science museum to see the film on Arabia. the only people in the theatre were the three of us! great!
Next morning to the airport to go to Wooster. Lovely day as I am driven to Wooster city from the airport. relaxing in Shila Garg's house waiting for her to come home. She came and took me out to dinner at the Wooster inn with Shirley. lovely. next day to the college a mudra and dance of rituals class for the dance department and then a public lecture on Gandhi. Dinner with Rakhal Purkayastha who has come from Meghalaya on a Fulbright fellowship. great dosas made by shila. nice husband of hers kept urging us to eat more.
next day there was snow on the ground everywhere! a tour of the college, lunch with Jill and Rakhal, his class, meeting with Prof.Isvar Harris, a Gandhi scholar from India, then the lecture on diversity by the president of the college and my nephew Tejas coming from Ann arbour Michigan to take me home. A great three hour drive through corn fields etc. relaxing. then home.
total relaxing time with Tejas and his wife Sarah and children Sanjay and Uma. Visiting the farmer's market, lunch at India restaurant Shalimar and visiting their Bhargav and his wife Rasika who have brought a new baby home.
Back now in New jersey after an eventful flight through Philadelphia. relaxing time for me today and to catch up with laundry etc. see pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/vrdevika

A friend in need

Prof. Swaminathan is a rare individual with a rare passion. He is a kind of modern day Robin Hood except that he does not steal. He just takes ideas and shares with people who need them. He is a store house of information he has collected from all over. He has no qualms about sharing them with anyone. A rare individual interested in heritage in a scientific manner without giving in to emotions and muddling things. I have learnt a lot from him. Most important quality of his is humility and getting other people interested in heritage and sharing ideas. He gave me so much information on Gandhi. So I thought it fit to gift him with a khadi yarn garland that I spun myself.

an article I wrote in Times of India

This is the unedited version of the article that appeared in Times of India of 27th November 2009 in the Chennai supplement called idiva - Devika
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Vishalam Ramanathan sits surrounded by the umpteen bouquets of flowers sent by genuine admirers… overwhelmed with a big surprise party she received on her entering her sixtieth year. A woman I consider truly free, yet completely immersed in life. She is like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. There, yet not there. Completely present but untouched by the travails of life around.. amazing grace… she seems to be always aware of the totality and hence always functioning with her total attention to what she is doing at the moment whether it is getting a government minister to listen to her or tending to the unwell son of a watchman or doing the ritual obligations at home or sweeping the floor or cleaning the toilet…. So the richest and poorest rubbed shoulders in embracing her on her birthday…
This must be the kind of woman Paulo Coelho thought of while asking people to follow their dreams. Listen to your hearts says Coelho, there is essential wisdom in it and learn to read the omens strewn along life’s path and above all follow your dreams….
We live in fragments.. We are one thing at the office another at home, we talk about democracy but at heart we want people to do our bidding. The self as J.Krishnamurthy says is a complex entity moving, living, struggling, wanting, denying, with pressures and stresses and influences of all sorts continually at work on it.
True freedom is when a woman decked top to bottom in gold and diamonds can walk alone in the streets in the middle of the night without fear of being mugged said Gandhi. He was dreaming of a utopia where every one was good. But then freedom is also feeling empowered in a restricted space through a belief in oneself and in the goodness of being. None of the agonies of suppression, nor the brutal discipline of conforming to a pattern has led to truth says JK to come upon truth; the mind must be completely free, without a spot of distortion.
What do we want to break away from? Fear? Pain? I would say we want to break away from Sexism. I do not understand for the life of me, why in a marriage, the girl’s family is lower in status. They host the wedding and listen to every whim and fancy of the groom’s people. When it is the girl’s family that is losing something. They are losing a child they have brought up with loving care and the groom’s family gains a woman who is to become a full time cook, nurse, caretaker, house keeper, a sexual partner for the young man and the mother of his children. Why? Why then should the girl’s family feel they are obliged to bend backwards to please the groom’s family? Should it not be the other way round? Only daughters can change this if they decide marriage is not the be all and end all of a girl’s life and that they will not brook humiliation at marriage and turn down a proposal if there is any demand for pampering by the groom’s family. Fear of what people will say keeps girls from doing what they want to do. The Bharathanatyam dancer Bragha Bessel was surprised when a proposal for marriage to a British citizen came through the theosophical society. She wondered what people will say. I told her marry him if you want to. People will of course talk but they will talk for three days and then find something else to talk about. If you want to break free the first thing to break free from is the fear factor. When I decided to live on my own, there were eyebrows raised. How can a single woman live on her own in our society? Is not an unmarried woman to be looked after by parents or brothers even if she is over forty? But I was convinced that it does not take people more than a fortnight to know who you are. Then they will accept you. “First they will laugh at you, argue with you and then they fight you and then you win”
Feminist theory argues that sexism is a result of male values of aggression and dominance. I would argue that this difference is the result of conditioning and cultural forces. While many would agree that the family is a trap, most reject the idea that the existence of class society is an important factor. The key to emphasise is a need for change in men’s' attitudes. But let us face it why would they want to change their attitude when the status quo is to their advantage. Let us also face the fact that no matter how attitudes change, men are as powerless as individuals in regard to their working conditions as women are in their situations. Here and there come men who break out of their circumstance go after their dreams. So do women. Even women in trapped situations.
All it calls for is a dream and courage.. fly … jump …….it is after all your own destination…