Transform / Transcend ...

"When you achieve a goal, it feels good for — how long? You know, a week? A month? Six months? A year? And then it doesn't feel so good ... I don't care what it is you've achieved, and the reason is because life is not about achieving the goals, life is about who you become in pursuit of those goals."

Winter sets in ...

Since winter is slowly setting in Kolkata, I remember a poem that tells about the coldness within the human heart which is a kind of death. The powerful message is conveyed through simple language - almost like a nursery rhyme - which captures the futility of racism, bigotry and other such ideologies that segregate people.

~ The Cold Within ~

A poem by James Patrick Kinney

Six humans trapped by happenstance

In bleak and bitter cold.

Each one possessed a stick of wood

Or so the story’s told.

Their dying fire in need of logs

The first man held his back

For of the faces round the fire

He noticed one was black.

The next man looking ‘cross the way

Saw one not of his church

And couldn’t bring himself to give

The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes.

He gave his coat a hitch.

Why should his log be put to use

To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought

Of the wealth he had in store

And how to keep what he had earned

From the lazy shiftless poor.

The black man’s face bespoke revenge

As the fire passed from his sight.

For all he saw in his stick of wood

Was a chance to spite the white.

The last man of this forlorn group

Did nought except for gain.

Giving only to those who gave

Was how he played the game.

Their logs held tight in death’s still hands

Was proof of human sin.

They didn’t die from the cold without

They died from the cold within.

"Campfire on Winter Lake" - A painting by Eugene Iverd

Dance like a Man !!

“We dance perfectly. In unison. Not missing a step or a beat. We talk and laugh at all the mistakes we made in our previous dances … We were only human. We lacked the grace. We lacked the brilliance. We lacked the magic to dance like God ...”

~ Mahesh Dattani, Dance like a Man 

Mahesh Dattani’s play, Dance like a Man (2006), revolves around a couple, Jairaj and Ratna, both Bharatnatyam dancers who struggle to live up to their respective gender roles determined by society: the man has a ‘feminine’ passion for dancing, while the ambitious ‘masculine’ woman discards her role of the nurturer. The title of the play primarily focuses on the challenge faced by Jairaj – the male dancer – whose passion is condemned, his gender-identity questioned and stigmatized.

Today is International Men’s Day (2025) and this year’s theme is “Celebrating Men and Boys”. The celebrations are meant to highlight gender discrimination of men and promote positive role models for them. Both ‘Women’s Day’ and ‘Men’s Day’ are about achieving gender equality; but ‘Men’s Day’ is not considered very important as most men are delusional about their rights and privileges in a patriarchal society. At the same time, the anti-male narrative in mainstream media reinforces the idea that “men-have-it-all” ignoring the plight of those men who challenge traditional masculinity by breaking free of traditional roles, such as, male dancers.

Dance has always been a powerful art form for Indian men and women to showcase their artistic abilities. However, Indian classical dance is considered a woman’s world fraught with a curious reversal of gender discrimination against men. In Bengal, as in the rest of India, male dancers often face social stigma, they are stereotyped as effeminate which limits their roles and representations in dance performances. This perception is a legacy of British colonial-era morality which stigmatized male participation in dance. The British Victorian view of male dancers was sharply divided: participation in social ballroom dancing was considered an essential skill for a gentleman, reflecting good breeding and character, while professional stage dancing, particularly ballet, was viewed with suspicion, associated with effeminacy or a lack of rational thought. Dance in India, like many aspects of society, is gendered, especially classical dance – where grace is expected from women and men are expected to display strength as enshrined in the Tandava (Dance of Destruction) of Shiva Nataraja in Hinduism. Iconography of Nataraja is common all over India, including the east, viz. Bengal, dating from the 10^th to 12^th centuries. He is variously worshipped as Natambara, Natabhairava, Natarudra, Nattesvara, Narttesvara and so on. Shiva is also associated with several martial folk dances of Bengal, like the Chhau (Purulia), Gambhira (Malda), Gomira (Dinajpur), which are performed exclusively by male dancers and remarkable for their vigorous ‘masculine’ Tandava style. Lasya (Dance of Grace) is the complementary dance form to Shiva’s Tandava and it is attributed to Shiva’s consort, Goddess Parvati. While Tandava expresses fury and power, Lasya expresses beauty and grace. The legendary Indian dancer, Uday Shankar, combined the vigorous Tandava and graceful Lasya styles with western techniques to create a unique non-classical fusion style of modern Indian dance. He faced significant professional and social stigma, primarily because he was a man and had no formal training in dance. However, his dance form was popular and earned him the title of “Father of Modern Indian Dance”. The legacy of Uday Shankar was carried forward by his children – Ananda Shankar and Mamata Shankar. Others followed their path and several male-centric dance groups and associations were formed in Kolkata, such as the ‘Male Dancers Association’ by Samir Jana in 2017, whose members performs roles traditionally meant for women dancers, such as ‘Mahishasura Mardini’ invoking Goddess Durga. Among other male dance groups are the Unique Boys and Kolkata Royals Dance Academy.  

Modern Indian society has somewhat accepted the idea of the fluidity of gender identity and male dancers are showing the way with innovative performances and unique artistic visions.  The transformative power of Indian classical dance has the ability to transcend gender boundaries and foster empathy by helping men to understand the perspectives of women. This can become a journey of self-discovery for men where art destroys stereotypes and unites humanity.

Alipore Jail Museum

Some events simply take me back to my research days ... and each time I realize, there is a lot to learn !!

This week I attended a reading / discussion session on ‘The Bengali Babu – Culture and Consumption in Colonial India’ which was part of an ongoing exhibition “The Babu and the Bazaar - Art from 19th and early 20th century Bengal". The venue of the exhibition was a legacy of British colonialism in Calcutta (now, Kolkata) – the Alipore Central Jail.

The Alipore Central Jail, also known as Presidency Correctional Home, was built in 1906 as a modern prison at the time, to keep political prisoners by the British Government. It is no longer in operation as a jail; it has been developed into ‘Independence Museum’ in 2022 in memory of the martyrs who were imprisoned and executed here. The Jail Museum is aesthetically pleasing but speaks of the horrors that unfolded here ...

 

The Museum commemorates the sacrifices of those freedom fighters who were either executed at the gallows or who perished within the premises of the jail due to torture, suicide or illness.

The cells of the well-known political prisoners’ like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Kazi Nazrul Islam, have life-like statues in and around their respective cells. The Nehru Cell has a very human touch. When Jawaharlal Nehru was imprisoned in Alipore Jail in 1934 for his participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement, a young Indira Gandhi used to visit him for 20-minute meetings twice a month in the courtyard outside the cell. The Nehru Cell displays the statues of Nehru and his daughter sitting under a tree in the courtyard where they used to meet. The lesser known revolutionaries, whose contribution towards India’s freedom fight has been monumental, lived in cramped barracks in miserable conditions as evident from the “Historic Prison Ward”. The Police Museum has been shifted to Alipore Jail Museum from its previous address and displays revolvers, bombs and other ammunition used by revolutionaries. The famous trials of revolutionaries – Alipore Conspiracy Case (1908) and Howrah-Shibpur Conspiracy Case (1910) – are also documented here. These cases involved a large quantity of bombs and explosives linked to revolutionary activities. An enlarged replica of the bomb used in the court trial is on display here. The watchtower is a prominent feature of the Alipore Jail Museum.  It is not a true panopticon in the sense meant by Jeremy Bentham but it served as a key point for surveillance and control in the jail. The watch tower provides a commanding view of the jail and serves as a reminder of the oppressive surveillance of the colonial era.

The most overwhelming moment of my visit was standing in front of the Gallows. There was an undeniable sense of foreboding … and gratitude for all those who sacrificed themselves for the freedom we enjoy today. Adjoining the gallows are cells where prisoners waited before execution and the autopsy room. I did not have the heart to take photos of these; I paid my respects and walked to the list of martyrs, the sufferings they endured and the atrocities of the British.

Alipore Jail Museum was a walk down in time for me, which evoked a feeling reverence that would be invariably felt by any Indian. It is not just a museum; it is a memorial.

 

 "Only a few people actually look up and see the beauty around them ..." 😊

# Calcutta University

‘Baramulla’ ... a rare film !

‘Baramulla’ is a rare film that weaves timelines ... it weaves a decades-old unresolved wound into the realities of present-day Kashmir and uses supernatural as a metaphor for collective grief.

In the snow-covered town of Baramulla, also known as ‘Varmul’ in Kashmiri, a single white tulip blooms in the snow; a little boy is drawn to it and soon he disappears. This sets the tone for the movie. In Kashmir the tulip holds symbolic meanings: tulips bloom with the arrival of spring as a symbol of hope and renewal. The tulip becomes a recurring motif, a cinematic metaphor for the innocence of childhood that must be protected from extremists. 

The film unfolds through two layered narratives. One follows DSP Ridwaan Shafi Sayyed – a controversial police officer – who arrives in Baramulla to investigate the disappearance of school boys; while the other explores the paranormal experiences of DSP Ridwaan’s family members – his wife and children – in the old, creaky house where the family has been lodged. The police believe the children are being kidnapped by militants for grooming from a young age to ensure their lifelong loyalty i.e. what the CIA calls ‘diaper militancy’. The tulips gradually lose their pristine white colour symbolizing the bleakness of lost childhood.  However, as the investigation unfolds, DSP Ridwaan discovers that the case is far more complex. All the children have disappeared under mysterious circumstances: Shoaib Ansari vanishes from a closed box during a magic show, Faizal, disappears while fishing at a lake, Ridwaan’s daughter, Noorie, vanishes from their home – and finally, Yasser Ansari is pulled into darkness by a tree that transforms into a portal, before his own eyes. A white tulip blooms nearby before each disappearance and each leaves a weird clue, a snipped lock of hair.

The past and present converge in the final moments of the film to reveal the identity of the ‘abductors’. The old house in which DSP Ridwaan lives with his family once belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family, Kamalanand Sapru, his wife and children, who were slaughtered by militants. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Kashmiri Pandits were persecuted in their own homeland and thousands were forced to flee from the Kashmir Valley or convert to Islam or die. ‘Baramulla’ revisits this painful incident and becomes a cautionary tale when the Sayyed and Sapru families are placed in the same situation – their home being invaded by militants. The narratives come together through Zainab – who betrayed the Sapru family as a child, and decades later, she leads terrorists once again to the Sayyed family because DSP Ridwaan is a police officer serving the Government of India – hence a ‘kafir’.

In a striking inversion of usual horror tropes, the tulip flowers are revealed to be the spirits of Pandits who protect children – and people in general, like the Sayyed family – from extremists; they are the saviours in the Kashmir Valley.

‘Baramulla’ is a film about loss – personal, as well as collective. The missing children represent the dead /displaced communities, with forgotten histories and erased identities. The real horror in Kashmir is not supernatural – it is man-made. The spirits haunting the Kashmir Valley are long- lingering memories, buried guilt, generational wounds and the unresolved pain of displacement, and also the resilience of the Kashmiri Pandits who have built a new life in exile. The film explores the predicament of families in the face of terrorism, regardless if they are Kashmiri Hindus or Kashmiri Muslims. The message of the film is universal – it resonates with victims of persecution, displacement and alienation all over the world.

# Netflix

Fort William / Vijay Durg

 My first walking tour … exploring the ‘Vijay Durg’ (erstwhile, Fort William).

Fort William was built in the early years of British occupation of Bengal and remains one of India’s enduring British-era military fortifications. It was built in 1696 by the British East India Company with the permission of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and named after King William III. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-Ud-Daulah, attacked the fort when the British started unauthorized construction of new fortifications without permission, gained control and changed its name to Alinagar. Though the Nawab was defeated by Robert Clive in the Battle of Plassey in 1757; the British decided to reconstruct Fort William at a more strategic location i.e. right on the eastern bank of River Hooghly. Fort William is shaped like an octagon, its five sides face land and three face the river. Its thick walls could withstand cannon fire, its ramparts held hundreds, possibly thousands, of cannons and a dry moat discouraged attackers from reaching its walls. The land area around the Fort was cleared and came to be known as ‘Gor-er Maath’ (Gor is the Bengali word for ‘fort’). The new Fort William was invincible to attack by land or river. Indeed, Fort William was never attacked and its cannons never fired a shot in its long history. Fort William stands Invictus – and has been officially re-named ‘Vijay Durg’ (“Fort of Victory”) in early 2025, as part of a decolonization initiative which however evoked mixed responses.

Today the fort serves as the Headquarters of Eastern Command of the Indian Army. Civilian entry is obviously restricted, and so is photography, but thanks to ‘Old Cliff Archive’ and ‘Immersive Trails’, I had a chance today to step back in time …

The most memorable part of my visit was paying tribute to the eternal flame in honour of the martyrs of the Sino-Indian War, the Indo-Pak War, as well as those lost in insurgency and terrorism. It is a grim reminder of the sacrifices that are made to secure the peace and freedom of the country that we often take for granted.

The Walking Tour starts off after paying homage to the martyrs - the 'Vijay Smarak'  at Fort William. The Rising Sun is the Symbol of the Eastern Command of the Indian Army. 

Our Group at the Memorial. The photo was clicked and sent by the Fort William authorities.

# Immersive Trails
# Old Cliff Archive

Work ...

 "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished ..."

#Jirang_Monastery
#Odisha

Women in Blue !!

 “Virat khelein ya Smriti, jeeta toh India hi na” ...

All wins thrill but there are wins that shift narratives. Today is a such a day !!

Star Sports’ ad campaign “Jersey Wahi Toh Jazba Wahi” brought millions of Indians together as the 'Women in Blue' played the Final Match of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, 2025. This promotional film marks a cultural shift primarily inviting men, as well as women viewers, to transcend gender norms and raise women’s cricket viewership on equal footing with men’s cricket through the emotional resonance of the blue jersey.