108 letters to the editor

The launch of my Bharathanatyam Guru Shri Dhananjayan's latest book "108 letters to the editor" was very grand. But he  has a naivety that believes in fantastic things that is both charming and forbidding!   When he claims he built Kalakshetra brick by brick, he means the physical. He was among the students who lent a hand to the laborers who were creating infra structure at Kalakshetra when it moved from Theosophical society to its current space. Kalakshetra was solely "built" by RukminiDevi Arundale. Shri Dhananjayan left Kalakshetra in 1968 after a disagreement with her to build Bharathakalanjali brick by brick metaphorically. I decided to learn Bharathanatyam only to become a better school teacher and not to do arrangetram or perform on the stage. When he says he encouraged me to write and guided me to write reviews and reports in an impersonal style and do critical analysis of the performances without regard to the personal relationship of the artiste he means metaphorically. We agreed to disagree in discussions after my articles were published and still remained affectionate to each other. He  says my first review published in the Indian Express was written by him which got me into trouble with the artist's parents. My first review was that of the arrangetram of Priya Mahadevan (now Murle) which was written when The Dhananjayans were away touring Russia. After I had written some 300 reviews and articles, I said I would not like to review Tulsi Badrinath's arrangetram since I was the compere. Shri Dhanajayan wrote a review and sent it to express. The sealed cover without a name was delivered by a student of his. Indian Express gave my byline thinking it was me who had written it. I had written to them that it was not written by me. I am just clearing a confusion.

again the Devadasi

It was lovely watching Shyamala, Balasaraswathy's disciple dancing Mohamana Varnam in Tiruvarur temple. Hats off to Ranvir for organising such a great event. There was also Saskia Karsenboom doing Abhinaya for nadaswaram and of course dear dear friend David Shulman's book on Tiruvarur Devasriya mantapam paintings released. Devesh Soneji and Saskia and Rajeswari Ghosh spoke about their own relationship to the temple of Tiruvarur. It is destiny that brought Gujarathi speaking Devesh and the Dutch Saskia to Tiruvarur temple.

Saskia writes that modern India did not allow Devadasis to continue their ritual duties. She is confusing between the culture of the Devadasi and the human rights issue that Dr,Muthulakshmi Reddy fought for. If archakas in a temple could lead normal family life and be employed in the temple why could the Devadasis not marry and become the other woman in another woman's life? It was the culture of dedicating the girls that Dr.Muthulakshmi Reddy fought against and Rukmini Devi had nothing to do with that. She of course went along with the upper caste idea of the bhoga dasis spoiling a married woman's life by claiming the affection of her husband. Rukmini devi saw the dance and wanted to learn it. She later added her own repertoire to the dance.
The other side should understand that the orientalists would have left the devadasi culture alone if there was no issue of bonded labour and extra marital relationships and no rights for inheritance and name of the father.
Every dancer gives to dance whatever she can and Rukmini devi gave her own samskara as did several Devadasis before her.

Bharathanatyam...

"A brief note is necessary to situate myself as a student of one of the hereditary families of non Brahmin musicians and dancers" writes Methew H.Allen in the book "Bharathanatyam - A Reader" edited by Devesh Soneji. "That Rukmini devi was an intimate participant in the disenfranchisement of a community of artists to which my teacher's family belongs must not blind me as a scholar to the fact that she was simultaneously a dedicated artist and organiser who inspired many thousands of young people to study and respect the artistic traditions of India". Actually, this should have been on the jacket of the book as the entire north American academic scholarship is blinded by this one fact. The book makes no critical enquiry into the fact that Bala and her brothers fame and glory was mainly because of the Madras Music Academy the most nationalistic institution, a direct result of the meeting of Indian National Congress populated by Brahmins and other upper caste men and largely due to the efforts of people like E.Krishna Iyer, V.Raghavan, Narayana Menon etc. These men played a great role in the coming out of Balasaraswathi on to the national and international stage and were instrumental in her getting the Sangeeta kalanidhi. This privilege was denied to lesser members of the community. There is no looking into who wrote Bala's essay, when did Bala start performing Krishna nee begane baro, what and how did she teach non Indians etc and how the proximity to the family coloured two generations of academic pursuit in North America. Rukmini Devi had her faults like every one else. Her disciples even more... But they decided to call their dance Bharathanatyam and not Sadir (OK the word was already there but they preferred using that as their dance was different from Sadir). The academia condemns Rukmini Devi for using the word Bharathanatyam and for dancing devotional pieces. Harikrishnan has advised Anita Ratnam to call her dance Neo Bharatham as it is not Bharathanatyam. The same logic can apply for Rukmini devi too. The academia in north America damned Rukmini Devi for calling her dance something else and for introducing new pieces. Why then did Bala not insist in calling her dance Sadir and not Bharathanatyam? Why did she not give her daughter the initial T? These and many more are questions that need looking into........ The academia in NA forgets we are many layered people and that we have something called Dashavataram and accept change and different view points and practices as part of our way of life.. The book does not look into the fact that Muthulakshmi Reddi was the product of a marriage between a Brahmin man and a woman from the Devadasi community. That she was closer to her maternal cousins than her paternal cousins. She had seen both the worlds and hence most qualified to speak on behalf of the Devadasis. She had no intention in taking away the dance and making it her own. She was only looking at the health issues involved in the fact that girls married to the God were having children and had no human right to choose. Girls from poor families adopted by devadasis were up for the highest bidder and became a cash cow for the older Devadasis. None of this is touched by the fundamentalist academia that wants to punch the Bharathanatyam practitioners from outside the community in the face just like the goons who went into a bar in Mangalore and punched girls drinking in a bar saying girls had no right to drink.

Revival...?!

Guru Kittappa Pillai teaches a Bharathanatyam adavu korvai in the frontal position. Sishya Harikrishnan decides to turn it sideways and back. Wow! material for a future researcher of Bharathanatyam to look for a conspiracy theory. Doing away with Kittappa Pillai's dance?
Harikrishnan's decision to change the direction of the adavu has come from the changed ambience for his dance.You would not believe Srividya Natarajan, Harikrishnan and Narthaki Nataraj were the disciples of the same Guru. Srividya bounces with joy in her dance, stretching her fingers out into the beyond, Harikrishnan dances with his tummy forward, making every movement of his in the face, aggressive stress on a point of view. As aggressive as his oratory. Does this not disprove the theory that every Devadasi danced the same?

Conspiracy theories abound in the Bharathanatyam academia these days. The Tanjore quartet conspired to do away with Devadasi dance by creating the Margam, Rukmini Devi of course the ultimate villain who conspired to take away conjugal bliss from the dance, Ananda Coomaraswamy who took away the different forms of Siva by focusing on Nararaja. etc etc etc etc...... Why cont the academia also look at the original conspiracy theory where the upper caste men conspired to have their cake and eat it too in getting the temple to accept the Devadasi system? They could have a family approved family and also have a learned woman they could enjoy the company of, give her children but have no responsibility whatsoever! it is this that Dr.Muthulakshmi Reddy wanted to change. It is made out that it was the influence of orientalists and Brahmins that made Reddy work on this. But EVR Periyar supported her completely. The dravidian movement was with her. How come no one has studied this?

There is a romantic notion that the Devadasi was powerful and she was given lands etc but the upper caste men knew better. They made the God co owner of everything the Dasi owned that meant she could never sell anything. She just could live there with her many children and their children etc Always at the mercy of the temple trustees and priests.

Balasaraswathi was never a devadasi. her great grand mother had made the wise decision to move to Madras and so her family was not serving in any temple when Bala was born. So why is the North American academia so obsessed with proving Rukmini Devi the villain?

Change is the only constant thing but Wesleyan university's Ethnic musicology department still carries on with one point of view. That of just one family of dancers who were bitter that others were learning the dance they so guarded as their own. (It is the NRI mindset. Every Brahmin you meet in the US laments the reservation system and that non Brahmins are everywhere in India) Every family thinks they are the greatest. Sure they were great but their foreign trip and presentations outside the chamber concert of Veena Dhanammal was surely the result of the "revival" that was happening.

More on Devadasi vs Rukmini Devi...

Saskia Karsenboom gave two statements in her talk of deseating Nataraja from his wrongly exalted pedestal. She recalled a private joke of T.Shankaran (Balasaraswathi's cousin) "When Bala danced there is Bhakthi and when Rukmini danced there is Agarbatti". She also questioned the identity of the urban Indian Bharathanatyam dancer who has been wrongly told the varnam swamiye is talking about spirituality. "The identity should be Meenakshi. She is addressing Siva, seaking conjugal bliss". Ok granted. But then there is something called Swadharma in Indian tradition. Since that Meenakashi is expressing herself through the dancer's body which is in current time and is fed by current sensibilities and if this Meenakshi decides conjugal bliss is spiritual too. Who are we to question her?

Though she insisted it was a joke, her first statement brought focus to the Bala camp that North American academia wants everyone to belong to. They are some how against Rukmini Devi and Kalakshetra. Harikrishnan has the advantage of indulging in fanciful modern avant garte productions and invite people to the Bhoga mela dances and claim to be traditional. The north Americans get ears by their sheer orality and bombastic academic jargan.

Saskia Karsenboom, Devesh Soneji, Harikrishnan

Saskia Karsenboom, Devesh Soneji, Harikrishnan are the new policemen for the classical dance world. They tell you what we should like and dislike and they want to glorify the crime of dedicating young girls to temples and also the bhoga mela members. It is fine, guys if only it was out of choice of the girl. Did she have any say in what she was doing? What about her human rights? The upper caste men of the medieval ages made a cosy arrangement for themselves. They married their cousins when they were very young, had several kids by the time the girl was 16 and then they needed entertainment and sex. So they got the temple to supply to them girls who had been married to God and trained in the fine arts. They could be entertained with the finest music and dance and bodily pleasure and since the girls were wedded to the God, had no responsibility towards the children produced by this association. The children went in their mother's name and made do with whatever the father had gifted their mother. Dr.Muthulakshmi Reddy fought this system and got the Devadasi system outlawed. Then the dance was available to the wide world to interpret it and dance it without having to surrender rights of wifehood, motherhood etc.
Balasaraswathi, the crowning glory of the Devadasi line which claimed descent from the Rajarajeswaram of Tanjavur, had the advantage of belonging to a lineage, the revival scene and the Madras Music Academy to back her up. She never was a Devadasi. She was not married to a God and work in a temple. Bob Brown, a great lover of her dance, took her and her brothers to the US where she impacted hugely, the academia while Rukmini Devi Arundale, coming into the dance through the International route, impacted hugely, the practitioners here. The academia in North America finds fault with the nationalist movement, the dance revival, the use of Nataraja on the stage and they question the urban Indian dancer's right to dance and her identity. All of them are not native born to the Balasaraswathi tradition but claim to be the keepers of the tradition. I have not heard and seen such a paradox ever in my life. They dont like the Nataraja figure, they dont like English education, urban girls learning dance (they themselves are very urban and international). The British should not have ruled us, the education system should not have been there, Muthulakshmi Reddy's father should have just kept her mother (like many of his generation had done very respectably and not married her making her give the same rights her paternal cousins had to her maternal cousins) Then the North American academia would have been happy perhaps.

So Sir Devesh, Hari, Saskia madam, shall we revive the system of dedicating young girls to temples, create bhoga melas, bar women of upper caste view these and limit the dance to them? Why then not revive the sati system, child marriage, multiple marriages, untouchability etc also?

International Visitor Leadership programme of US State department

The US Consulate in Chennai organised for me to have a voluntary visitor leadership programme on the last week of my tour. They really did a great job of putting together a most magnificent programme for me to visit institutions working on peace education, conflict resolution, peace building etc in Washington DC and New York city and gave me a guide Mrs.Mary Wilburn, a retired lawyer who took me around. It was great company as she gave me historical stories as we went around, pointed out unusual things and insisted I go into the Indian embassy and say Hello after I took pictures at the Gandhi Statue in the nation's capital. As expected, Indian embassy was least interested in their citizen. In fact, the lady receptionist told me that she was surprised to see an Indian taking pictures at the Gandhi statue. "Normally it is Americans and others who take pictures there" she said and brushed us off. My meetings with institutions working on non violence, conflict resolution and peace building was most productive. The most interesting thing was when I was having a meeting at the Meridian International House, a gorgeous woman peeped in and said "I heard there is an Indian visiting and I could not resist the temptation to say Namasthe. I lived in India for three years." I said I am from Chennai and it was Chennai she had lived in as the wife of a US embassy official. The beautiful woman Joan Huskey took me out to lunch after our respective meetings and told me the story of her co founding Global Adjustments, a business that helps expatriates to settle in India and the American International School. We had a most marvelous conversation. Every name she mentioned, I knew very well. My itinerary was fulfilling. Here is the list.
May 3rd - International Visitor Leadership programme visit Meeting with Ms.P.Kowall, Programme Officer, Office of International visitors, US Department of State, Mr.Lau Gieszel, President elect of Association for conflict resolution at Meridan International House,Surprise meeting with Joanne Huskey, Mr. Charles F.Dambach,President and CEO Alliance for Peace building, Ms.Patricia Maulden, Institute for Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Washington DC.May 4th - International Visitor Leadership programme Meeting with Mr.Lakshitha Saji Prelis, Associate Director, Peace building and Development Institute, American University, Mr.Jefferey W.Helsing, Deputy Director, Education and Training Center of U.S.Institute for Peace, center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Washington DCMay 6th - International Visitor Leadership programme - meeting with Ms.Elizabeth Enlow, Regional Director, American Friends Service, Ms.Karen Bernstein and Ms.Nivedita Gutta, of Safe Horizon Mediation Programme, Ms.Jane Brody of Peace first New York City.May 7th - International Visitor Leadership programme - Meeting with R.J.DeSena Founder President Council for Peace, Creative Arts Team, the City University of New York and witnessing performance of "Face It" - presented by City at Peace - New York.

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…

Samudhra magazine for the arts awarded "Gnanasamudhra" title to V.R.Devika for her work in linking arts and education during their 7th anniversery celebration on 15th November 2009. The award was presented by philonthrophist Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty and Mrs.Y.G.Parthasarathy, dean and director of Padma Sheshadri Schools. Dr.Srinidhi Chidambaram inaugurated the function by lighting a kuthuvilakku and Mr.Natarajan, former director of Doordarshan and Mr.Nagai Muralidharan participated. The citation reads "Samudhra is proud to confer the title "Gnana Samudhra" on V.R.Devika art educator, writer and critic during its 7th anniversary celebration in recognition of her innovative approach in linking art and education and using it as an effective tool especially among children. May God Almighty bless her with long life and strength to continue rendering service towards the cause of fine arts" signed by Dr.Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti, Patron and Dr.Radha Bhaskar, editor.
more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/trustaseema/GnanasamudhraAwardToVRDevika#

picture of a boat

the name of this boat caught my attention!

story telling at Dakshinachitra

A story telling session for Semester at Sea students who took an art of living course at Dakshinachitra turned out to be quite enjoyable and judging from the response of the students, by them too. I rushed from Dakshinachittra straight to Mylapore Fine Arts club to compere the music of Brazil programme of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Such a feeling of joy to be with art all the time. very elevating I would not give this up for anything.

a sharing session

Prema kasturi asked me to give a talk to her friends at Medha Maithri a group of women interested in knowledge quest. I gave my talk on the Nataraja icon and orion constellation with a ppt presentation and story telling. Great response from everyone present. Great feeling!!1

an article in News today

www.newstodaynet.com

Mahatma, message, music

T S Atul Swaminathan Wed, 30 Sep, 2009 , 02:56 PM
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Mahatma Gandhi comes alive for V R Devika, managing trustee of Chennai-based Aseema Trust, not just on 2 October and 30 January— his birth and death anniversaries, respectively. She constantly works on taking the ideals of the Father of the Nation to school students, teachers and community groups through her project ‘Spin a Yarn’.
Through a focus on the performing arts of South India such as puppetry, dance, theater and music, the Aseema Trust reinforces a respect for differences, dignity in labour, and integrity in cultural preservation. Today, several projects fall under the Aseema umbrella— from teaching Gandhian principles through spinning workshops to leading a group of Indian performing arts children through the Netherlands. And from storytelling at a temporary shelter for Tsunami survivors in Nagapattinam district to conducting a project using traditional performing arts as an empowering tool.‘I have conducted the spin a yarn project in ten different schools in the city. The spinning on the Charkha is taught to the students to bring the lesser known ideals of Gandhi like cleanliness, civic responsibilities, respect for diversity and dignity of labour’, she says.Passionate about working with children, Devika came to Chennai as a young woman from her native city of Mysore to pursue higher education. She was asked to join as a teacher in a kindergarten school teacher. She loved it so much that she forgot about doing her masters degree.She however did her master’s degree in Gandhian Thoughts thirty years later and is now working on a Ph D on Gandhi at the department of Philosophy, University of Madras.‘In 1996, I founded the trust to link arts and education and to make the Mahatma relevant today. I did a series of workshops for students and teachers on ‘Swaraj’ at Dakshinachitra. I am going to organise sessions on reproductive health and AIDS and also dance sessions to create a awareness on Ahimsa,’ she says.Devika has also learnt Bharata Natyam and began to incorporate lessons from the traditional art into her teaching method. Deep interest in the theory of dance and her Gurus Shantha and V P Dhananjayan’s encouragement of compering dance shows and giving lectures on dance lead her to be invited to become a dance critic in some media houses. Acknowledged for her innovations in linking art and education, Devika was invited to become the director of education and culture at INTACH and the Madras Craft Foundation. Drawing on her years of experience in the field of art and education, Devika gained the confidence and support to launch the Aseema Trust. Her extensive international travel has exposed her to various cultures and forms of educations that also continuously enhance Aseema Trust projects.‘Always interested in history, I am also deeply interested in M K Gandhi and his innovative methods of reaching out to people,’ she signs off. Aseema Trust can be contacted over phone at 24464763.

tamil heritage group video

Mr.Badri Sheshadri has put V.R.Devika's talk on traditional performing arts in education for Tamil heritage group on video see it in this link

http://thoughtsintamil.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-post_28.html