Excelsior... Nation

Murals on canvas or wood, with contemporary themes

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: In their zest to popularise the ancient and unique Kerala-style murals depicting heavenly beings jostling for space with ...more

Ban on poultry imports not answer to bird flu: Thailand

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: The Thai Government says that it is unlikely that India will be able to escape the bird flu ....more

Three killed, 20 injured; militant strikes continue in Assam

GUWAHATI, Oct 3: Three persons were killed and 20 injured as militant violence continued in Assam for the second .....more

Rahul Bose’s no to formula, but’d love sthg diff in film like Lagaa

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: He has given a new lease of life to the genre of ‘Indian ......more

BSP can affect poll prospects of both Cong, saffron allaince

PUNE, Oct 3: BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan today said that the rise of....more

Celluloid holds no charm for Anoushka

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: Anoushka Shankar may have taken the acting route through her debut movie ‘Dance Like ...more

World Bank, IMF tools of US imperialism: Yechury

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 3: In an apparent justification of the Left parties’ outcry against the inclusion of the World Bank and . ....more

‘Cyclone weakens,
likely to hit Naliya in Kutch by noon’

AHMEDABAD, Oct 3: The cyclone, reported to be 50 kms off the coast of Naliya in Kutch district of Gujarat, is said to have "weakened" and is .......more

Murals on canvas or wood, with contemporary themes

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: In their zest to popularise the ancient and unique Kerala-style murals depicting heavenly beings jostling for space with green-hued demons, the two youngsters did a daring thing: paint them on wood and canvas as well.

Yet P Venugopal and Jayachandran K have not compromised on the quality of the art that they learnt over a decade ago when it was desperately looking for practitioners. What’s more, they have brought back to mainstream the typically two-dimensional murals, which were overtly turning realistic in their state during the last century under the influence of celebrated painter Raja Ravi Varma.

Thus the patterned depiction of ornately crowded figures in bright colours prepared from natural pigments remains unchanged in the hands of the duo though the motifs have of late been not just from the puranas but from the feudal era to a relatively contemporary period.

Ever since their passing out from the institute of mural painting at the central Kerala temple-town of Guruvayur in 1995, P Venu and Jayan — both in their early thirties — have been working together. Over the last six years, they have been in the capital, assiduously painting scores of murals.

An increasing demand for their works led the artist pair to switch over from walls to other forms of surface so as to paint in larger numbers. They tried on marine plywood and found it immensely successful in catering to the customer’s need of buying a framed work, transporting it home and fixing it in one of the rooms. Occasionally, they work on canvas as well.

That apart, Venu and Jayan stick to the basic tenets of mural painting, the Kerala genre of which is considered second only to that of Rajasthan in the country. The brush, with specially treated knot of arrow-grass in the tip, is made of bamboo stick. The colours are extracted from stones (red, yellow), lime (white) or plants —bought from the southern pockets of the Peninsula and stocked sufficiently.

The base of the work is a coat of tender-coconut water laced with lime, upon which the picture is directly sketched without prior outlining. The works get the finishing touches by bold black borderlines — a life-giving technique called ‘Unmeelanam’.

Over the years, the partnership of sorts has made their aesthetics and skills become convergent.

"It has happened over the time. Of late, even we find it hard to make out who among us worked on a particular area in any painting," shrugs Venu who, along with Jayan, runs ‘Tatvamasi’, entertaining orders for murals.

Chimes in Jayan: "It takes over two months to complete a single work of the standard size of 6 ft x 4 ft. And we seldom sit idle."

It was in 1998 that the two artists were called to the national capital for a mural painting at the Uttara Guruvayurappan temple in east Delhi. The work drew appreciation from several quarters so much so that Venu and Jayan stuck to this metro and soon found enough work to keep themselves busy.

Venu recalls it was lack of market for their art form in their homeland that forced him and Jayan to leave Kerala soon after their painting course. "Even upper-class Malayalis generally don’t have the habit of displaying frescos in their house. The art form draws little demand even in temples there," notes Jayan, a native of Venjaramood in Thiruvananthapuram district.

They first boarded a train to Chennai and had a stint of over a year in that conservative city. But it was after reaching here that their career really flourished.

"These days, Malayalis form only a minor section of our customers. There are also non-Hindus buying our works. Further, it is not just families, but establishments like hospitals, business houses and cultural organisations," reveals Venu, who belongs to the coastal arookutty in south-central Alappuzha district.

The varying taste of customers have dawned novel themes in the minds of the painters. Far from taking cue from the conventional ‘Dhyana Shlokas’ (verses suggesting the image of a puranic figure), they sought to introduce comparatively modern matters as the focal themes.

Thus were born paintings like ‘Ulsava Keralam’ and ‘Onam’. While the former tastefully depicted a range of folk, ritual and classical arts of Kerala, the latter is a virtual montage of cultural and ritualistic activities related to the harvest festival of Kerala with King Mahabali and the central figure. There is also a work on wildlife, profiling an array of animals and birds in the thick woods.

Such efforts have found increasing demand, but the artists make it a point that no repeat work is mere duplication. "There would be some difference on the other. We should not feel stale at any point of time," Jayan says.

Their latest engagement is a set of murals on Mahatma Gandhi entrusted by the Birla foundation as part of its endeavour to build a multi-media museum on the father of the nation.

Nonetheless, the genre retains its Archetypal touch.

Observes art historian Akavoor Narayanan, who has been a patron for the two artists: "It is a boon that we have these youngsters sticking to the traditional style of mural painting."

Septugenerian Dr Narayanan, a literary critic and retired Professor of Delhi University, is glad that there is a new generation capable of maintaining the purity of the Kerala style of frescos after the death of Mammiyur Krishnan Kutty Nair — the art form’s last patriarch who groomed students at the Guruvayur Devaswom-run institute and died in 1995. Murals, which were introduced to kerala ahead of the medieval age, had their golden period for some 300 years from the 15th century, when they decorated the walls of over 150 Temples, Churches and palaces across Malabar, Kochi and Travancore.

It was a visit to such places during their student days that urged Venu and Jayan to emulate the original style of Kerala Murals. "The main among them were the works on the Ramayana we saw at the Mattanchery palace (in Kochi)," Venu recalls.

The artists are proud that their customers include "VVIPs" as well. Like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and classical danseuse Sonal Mansingh. The two have also tied up with a foreigner woman for whom they paint murals on canvas. (UNI)

Ban on poultry imports not answer to bird flu: Thailand

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: The Thai Government says that it is unlikely that India will be able to escape the bird flu as it spreads its tentacles to other countries and feels that banning imports is not the answer to it.

It has called upon the Indian Government to set up systems to ensure the safety of Indian farmers, including maintaining hygienic conditions. Nothing, however, should be done which will harm the interest of the farmers.

"Don’t think India will be spared. Virus cannot be stopped at borders, banning imports is not the answer," Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisang said in a statement circulated by the US Grains Council in India.

Mr Chaturon said steps will need to be taken by India to make the farmers aware on the need of bio-security to safe-guard themselves as well as others.

Proper disposal of dead birds, curtailing movement of people and vehicles inside/outside the farms, could be few steps that the farms can take, he added.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, has partially lifted the ban on import of day old chicks, hatching eggs, processed chicken and poultry products and processed pork products.

The import of these products is allowed from only those countries which have no report of Avian influenza/bird flu.

India as on date has been fortunate enough not to have any cases of bird flu, but as the disease spreads, measures will have to be taken from the learnings from the countries where bird flu first emerged.

So far this year, 39 human cases have been reported in Vietnam and Thailand. A total of 28 people have died from the H5N1 strain of the Avian influenza virus, which ravaged poultry farms earlier this year, killing or forcing the cull of about 100 million birds across Asia.

As more ‘bird flu’ cases emerge in south east Asia, Thailand plans a campaign to change the poultry farming methods.

The campaign, due to start next week, would include incentives and punishments to persuade people to raise poultry in hygenic conditions and reduce the risk of disease.

"Priorities are to protect humans from the disease and minimize chances of the chickens being infected," Thai Deputy Prime Minister said.

The planned changes will be wrenching in a country where more than 60 percent of the people live on the land and the vast majority keep chickens, ducks and other fowl, he said adding that chickens in Thailand, as in most Asian villages, often wander freely, even in and out of houses, and defecate wherever they want, spreading any disease they might have, he added.

Huge flocks of ducks move over wide areas in a largely nomadic existence in search of food. That will have to be curtailed, Mr Chaturon said.

"Given that people have died of bird flu, we can no longer allow free range poultry farming to continue at the current large scale," he said. The ducks would have to be kept on farms.

"We will sponsor farmers to raise their chickens away from their homes, give them nets, cages and so on," he added.

International health agencies have been urging Asian nations to abandon traditional farming methods and overhaul hygiene at old-style farms since the H5N1 virus arrived.

Mr Chaturon said the Thai Government hoped to persuade people to change their farming methods with incentives. (UNI)

Three killed, 20 injured; militant strikes continue in Assam

GUWAHATI, Oct 3: Three persons were killed and 20 injured as militant violence continued in Assam for the second day today taking the toll to 29 even as union Home Minister Shivraj Patil reviewed the security situation in the state.

Terror strikes by NDFB, which is celebrating is 18th raising day, and ULFA spread to more areas affecting nine districts of the state.

Two National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants ferrying bombs were killed when the explosives went off at Koilajuli in Rangapara area of Sonitpur district, official sources said.

A tea garden labourer was killed on-the-spot and two others were seriously injured when ULFA exploded a bomb in Borhat in Sibsagar district.

Fifteen people were injured in another explosion in a cloth shop at Dhekiajuli weekly market in the district.

Police later seized six kgs of deadly RDX and arrested 10 ULFA militants from the district.

In another weekly market in Gossaigaon in Kokrajhar district, NDFB ultras opened fire seriously injuring two persons.

A crude bomb exploded in Nalbari town critically injuring a 12-year-old girl.

A critically injured CRPF jawan succumbed to injuries in Diphu in Karbi Anglong district. The condition of nine of his colleagues, wounded alongwith him when militants fired on a train yesterday, continued to be critical.

Union Home Minister met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and senior officials here and reviewed the security situation in the wake of the stepped up militant violence. He later left for Dimapur in Nagaland where 26 people were killed and over 100 injured in twin blasts.

Fifty one people were killed and over 150 injured in militant violence in Assam and neighbouring Nagaland yesterday.

Mewanwhile, Director General of Police P V Sumant told PTI that "maximum alert" was sounded in the NDFB strongholds with additional security forces deployed and security along railway tracks intensified following apprehension that ultras might target trains.

Since yesterday militants have left a bloody trail through the districts of Dhubri, Bongaingaon, Karbi Anglong, Kamrup, Morigaon, Chirang, Sonitpur, Darrang, Nalbari and Sibsagar. (PTI)

Rahul Bose’s no to formula, but’d love sthg diff in film like Lagaa

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: He has given a new lease of life to the genre of ‘Indian English film’, the name given to a ‘new wave’ of films representing the sensibilities of the new generation of English speaking urban class.

With hits like ‘Everybody Says I Am Fine’ and Aparna Sen’s ‘Mr and Mrs Iyer’ to his credit, Rahul Bose, who has also starred in films like Dev Benegal’s English August and Mumbai matinee , has emerged as a ‘natural choice’ for anything experimental in Indian cinema.

But when an actor like Rahul Bose does a series of mainstream Hindi films like Govind Nihalani’s Takshak , Sujoy Ghosh’s Jhankaar Beats and Sudhir Misra’s Chameli , one wonders whether, the ‘frontman of experimental cinema’ is finally moving towards mainstream Hindi cinema in a bid to increase his audience.

However, the actor told UNI in an interview here "I would love to have the kind of audience that actors like Shahrukh Khan command. But to a part of a commercial Hindi film means that one has to stick to playing to an existing successful and tested formula which is unacceptable to me. My sensibilities do not allow me to do anything which is formulaic. I think art is about pushing boundaries and for me repetition is death. So I am content in doing the kinds of films I am doing at present."

Commercial films may be a complete ‘no no’ for this advertising executive-turned-actor but, at the same time, if offered a good role, different from any character I have played previously, in a pathbreaking formula film like the Oscar-nominated Lagaan , I would love to do it.

According to Rahul, though Takshak and Jhankaar Beats were commercial films, I chose to work in them because my role in these films allowed me to do something different from what I had done before. For example, I did Jhankaar Beats because my role in the film was of a light-hearted person which I had never played before. So I decided to take it up as a challenge. After the success of Jhankaar Beats and appreciation for my role in the film, I was offered three four films with similar kind of over the top role. Naturally, I rejected the offers.

Then, I did Chameli . But, Chameli, in my opinion was not a commercial film in the real sense of the word. Apart from the fact that it had a star like Kareena Kapoor, the characters and the setting in the film were so real-to-life .

Having done these films, Rahul is back to where he belongs-the Indian English film set up. He is now doing Vinta Nanda’s White Noise , a film that deals with the "heady, cut-throat world of production houses involved in the relentless process of churning out television soaps that bring in the lolly."

In White Noise Rahul plays the role of Karan(Rahul Bose), who joins Mickey Malhotra’s studio ‘Lighthouse’, as a sound engineer. Starring with him are British Indian actress Koel Puri (who earlier worked with himin everybody says I’m fine ) and Aryan vaid, White Noise is slated for release in India and UK on November 26. Directed by Vinta Nanda, the film is produced by Uday Watsa, Mohanjit Singh and Vinta Nanda.

My character in the film is a silent but strong one. In fact, the character in White Noise completes my trilogy of playing strong silent characters who play second fiddle to women. In Chameli , Mr and Mrs Iyer and White Noise my character plays a passive role vis- -vis women characters in these films(played by Kareena Kapoor, Konkana Sen and Koel Purie respectively), he said.

Rahul says he took up White Noise because one, it is the first film that deals with the happenings in the television world. It is the first time that you will see the making of a television serial in a feature film. Second, the fact that it was being made by a woman(Vinta Nanda) who knows the television world inside out made me do it. I specially like Vinta Nanda’s idea of wanting to juxtapose the lives of characters working in a television serial with the people behind the working of this serial in the film. Lastly, I did the film because of its feminist tilt wherein the women characters have the upperhand over the men. I, for one, don’t mind letting actresses hog the limelight where the script demands it.

Next, Rahul is busy with the script of his next directorial venture but it is taking some time what with all his acting assignments.

I am currently writing my own script, which I’d hopefully direct as soon as I get time from my acting assignments.

In the meantime, the Buddhadeb Dasgupta directed Bengali film, Swapner Din starring Rahul has been invited for a premiere in New York on December 3 at the re-opening of the museum of modern art along with the latest films of Jean-Lnc Godard, Abbas Kiarostami, theo Angelopoulos, Bela Tarr, Hal Hartley, Wes Anderson, Alexander Sokurov and Agnes Varda. It will also be participating at the Berlin and Toronto film festivals.

So, for now, Rahul Bose seems to have his hands full with films that fascinate him. (UNI)

BSP can affect poll prospects of both Cong, saffron allaince

PUNE, Oct 3: BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan today said that the rise of Bahujan Samaj Party in Maharashtra could affect the poll prospects of both Congress-NCP and saffron alliance during the October 13 Assembly election.

"BSP has become a factor in the Maharashtra Assembly elections because the Dalit leaders from the state have been hoodwinking the people from their community for long, thus foisting the BSP to a position from where it can now affect the poll prospects of the two alliances Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena-BJP," Mahajan told reporters here.

The Dalit leaders of Maharashtra have failed their community rather "backstabbed" them, the consequence of which was the emergence of the BSP on the electoral scene, he added.

By distributing tickets to contestants from all communities, BSP was in a position to affect the voting pattern for both the alliances.

However, as many of the BSP candidates are former Congress activists, the quantum of damage to Congress-NCP, compared to what it would be to the Sena-BJP alliance, could be more, Mahajan said adding at some places we could be affected and at others it could be them (Congress).

On the challenge posed by rebels, he said referring to the deserters as rebels was improper because they were ‘beimaans’ (dishonest).

The number of ‘beimaans’ in BJP is only a dozen , but there are powerful congress rebel contesting in every two to three constituencies and this phenomenon could thus be more damaging to the Congress than us, he said.

Regarding the non-availability of Shiv Sena supremo Balsaheb Thackeray and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the campaigning, he said it was unfortunate that both the leaders, who are star campaigners, were unwell.

"To us their health is more important than anything else," he said, expressing hope that the second rung leaders of Shiv Sena and BJP would drive the alliance to victory.

Regarding the number of seats he expected the alliance to win, the BJP leader said it was difficult for anyone to predict that. However, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance would have no problem in getting absolute majority by winning 145 seats comfortably, Mahajan added.

He said BJP has never used Hindutva as an agenda in the elections.

About Himani Sarvarkar, the daughter-in-law of Veer Sarvarkar, fighting from Pune’s Kasbapeth Assembly constituency on a ticket of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, he said we have high regards for Sarvarkar.

"When fake Congressis can fight elections what’s so objectinable if a genuine Sarvarkar contests, he said adding, it was not the first time that someone from Hindu Mahasabha was fighting against the BJP. Like Hindutva, the issue of Sarvarkar too was something which was close to our hearts.

On who would be the Chief Minister should Shiv Sena-BJP alliance win the elections, he said one thing is clear that he is not going to be from BJP. (PTI)

Celluloid holds no charm for Anoushka

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: Anoushka Shankar may have taken the acting route through her debut movie ‘Dance Like A Man’ but the sitar player has no intentions to traverse the path of Bollywood potboilers, and instead prefers to answer the call of the ‘stage’.

"I am more in love with the stage. Its magical.... Its romantic," says Anoushka, who was here to promote her movie.

She says the stage beckons to her more than the commercial Hindi cinema.

The mainstream Hindi cinema is not for me, I am more comfortable with the off-beat movies, she says.

"My Hindi accent is not so good and I would be a misfit," Anoushka adds.

The script of ‘Dance Like A Man’ and idea of working with Shobhana was appealing and hence I agreed to do the movie, she says.

In the movie, she plays the character of Lata, a Bharatnatyam dancer born to accomplished dancer parents played by Arif Zakaria and Shobhana.

To play the role of a danseuse, Anoushka had to relearn the classical dance form since she had not practised it for quite sometime.

Elaborating more on her role, Anosuhka admits to similarities between reel and real life.

"There is a surface similarity between the character of Lata and myself. But, that is where the similarity ends," says Anoushka.

Lata is basically a meek and mellowed girl for whom living up to her parents expectations is important, which is in a complete contrast to my nature, she says.

"Undoubtedly, there are pressures of being born to a celebrity father and be in the same profession as him. But, I have a passion for music and therefore I am in this profession."

Already working towards the cause of spreading classical music especially sitar in the west, Anoushka interacts with students in elementary and high schools abroad to explain the nuances of Indian classical music forms.

"When I was touring USA, some 20 students enrolled themselves to learn sitar. It was amazing," she says.

Anoushka, however, agrees that though more people in west are professing interest in Indian music, "we shrug off this music as stuffy."

"It’s easy to shrug off the music as `stuffy’, but at least hear it once before categorising it," appeals Anoushka.

The onus is on each one of us - Gurus, Shishyas-to popularise our music in our own country.

"Indian classical music is elitist in nature, with more stress on `purity’ of Gharanas. It needs to be more open and assimilative if it is to survive," believes Anoushka.

The father-daughter duo are also promoting Indian music through their world music centre in the capital.

"The Centre is more like a Gurukul, where students stay on months together in pursuit of music," says Anoushka.

Regular concerts are held by the students and in this winter there would also be a recital by Pandit Ravi Shankar, she adds. (PTI)

World Bank, IMF tools of US imperialism: Yechury

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 3: In an apparent justification of the Left parties’ outcry against the inclusion of the World Bank and IMF representatives on the Planning Commission consultative panels, senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury today said these agencies were being used to promote "US imperialism."

Inaugurating a seminar on ‘class struggle in the age of globalisation: Lessons and reminiscences from akg’ here, Mr Yechury said the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF and their conditionalities were being used to "prise open the economic sovereignty of developing countries."

"This element is being utilised by the US imperialism to increase its hegemony over the third world," he added.

Stating that human exploitation was inherent in globalisation, the CPI-M politburo member said that the political objective of globalisation was the "economic re-colonisation of the developing countries."

He, however, opined that globalisation was, in the long run, unsustainable and added that it was the recognition of this fact that had prompted the supporters of globalisation to now talk of ‘globalisation with a human face.’

But, gloablisation and the human face could not co-exist as the exploitation of the masses was the very basic principle of globalisation, he said at the seminar held by the CPI-M to mark the birth centenary celebrations of the late communist leader A K Gopalan.

Describing globalisation as a phase of capitalist development, Mr Yechury said it ensured the control of capital in a few hands and the breaking down of the natural, sovereign boundaries of countries for the unhindered flow of capital.

"The economic sovereignty of countries is being assaulted by the relentless need of capital to flow unhindered to maximise profits. This leads to increase in exploitation of the people," Mr Yechury added.

Stating that there could be no question of reforming globalisation, the CPI-M leader said the only alternative was to overthrow this "exploitative" system.

"The TINA (There Is No Alternative) factor is often raised to say that capitalism is the only way. However, we say that the way forward is SITA (Socialism Is The Alternative)," he added.

Mr Yechury said the World Bank data itself showed that in the past ten years, the gap between the developing and the developed countries had increased. Similarly, in the developing countries, the gap between the rich and the poor had widened. The number of poor in absolute terms had also gone up, he said.

This was true of India also, he said, adding "irrespective of statistical jugglery, it is evident that the number of poor in the country has gone up. This is also reflected in starvation deaths and distress suicides taking place in the country."

Mr Yechury said while the class struggle intensified sufficiently enough to overthrow the exploitative capitalist system, it was the aim of the Left parties to extract the maximum possible benefits for the working class and the underprivileged from the ruling class.

It was for this reason that the Left parties were supporting the UPA Government and the Common Minimum Programme was replete with schemes for people’s welfare such as employment guarantee, mid-day meals and rural health and infrastructure, he said.

Leader of the opposition in the Kerala Assembly V S Achuthanandan, CPI-M secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, economist Prabhat Pattnaik, and senior party leaders including M A Baby and Samar Mukherjee, were among those who attended the seminar.

Mr A K Gopalan’s daughter Laila was also present at the function. (UNI)

‘Cyclone weakens, likely to hit Naliya in Kutch by noon’

AHMEDABAD, Oct 3: The cyclone, reported to be 50 kms off the coast of Naliya in Kutch district of Gujarat, is said to have "weakened" and is expected to land along the coastlater in the day, meteorological department officials said here today.

"The cyclone has weakened and has no damaging potential. It may land somewhere along the coast of Naliya later in the day and does not appear threatening at all. Rainfall may occur in the region", state Met Director R K Kankane told PTI.

Meanwhile, Kutch District Authorities are not taking any chances and have evacuated several people living along the coastline to schools near Jhakau apart from taking several other preventive measures, officials said.

Heavy winds accompanied by showers were reported from Kutch and Bhuj regions last night.

Alerts have been sounded and fishermen asked not to venture into the sea.

District administration in Porbandar, Kutch, Jamnagar and Junagadh have made required preparations as heavy rains have been forecast in many places in these four districts for the next two days.

Nearly 1700 fishermen are still in the sea and coast guard helicopters have carried out sorties to trace and warn them.

"We have launched three ships, including one with integral helicopter on board so that fishermen in sea are located and warned. Air sorties have also been carried out over Daman and Diu Union Territories", Commandant D S Saini of Indian Coast Guard told PTI from Porbander, about 400 kms from here.

Saini said 400 to 500 small and big ports have also been alerted and hovercrafts, speedboats and helicopters have been kept ready. (PTI)