Category: Stage, music, art, reviews-English and Bengali
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Translation of a song by Rabindranath Tagore
Far away, a plaintive tune …
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প্রসঙ্গ-শ্রী শম্ভু মিত্র — প্রসঙ্গত-শ্রী উৎপল দত্ত
আজকাল পত্রিকা, শারদ সংখ্যা ১৪১৯। সামান্য সম্পাদিত। শ্রী শম্ভু মিত্রকে কেবল মাত্র বাংলার মঞ্চ জগতের এক অবিস্মরণীয় প্রতিভা বলে মনে করলে অবশ্যই সেই পরিচয় অসমাপ্ত থেকে যাবে। তাঁর অনন্যসাধারণ অভিনয় ক্ষমতাকে ছাপিয়ে উঠেছিল বাংলা নাটকে যে মৌলিক ধারা তিনি প্রণয়ন করেছিলেন। তাঁর বাচন ভঙ্গী থেকে শুরু করে অভিনয় শৈলী, মঞ্চের উপর তাঁর চলন — সবই […]
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Royal Russian Ballet — Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake in India
Robert Fogel, the Nobel winning economic historian, had once made a remark to a few of his colleagues, which I, an inconsequential graduate student, had overheard. It was not Economics that Fogel had discussed. Instead, he explained why he was disinclined to attend live symphony orchestra. The problem with these, he observed, was that they left no room for encores, however much one might wish to listen to a favourite tune a second time.
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Tagore, Savithri Krishnan and Carnatic Music
Savithri Krishnan (nee Govinda) was a fourteen year old girl who lived and went to school at Adyar when she was introduced to Rabindranath Tagore. She was a student of the Fourth Form and had no idea at all who this man was, when her drawing teacher came to fetch her to be presented before the poet. She was playing outside her home with her friends in the gruelling heat of June.
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16 Mandeville Gardens — 4 Reviews
Solitary reviews of my Bengali book 16 Mandeville Gardens.
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Sri Sambhu Mitra — Review of a Stage Production
One cannot quite ignore the Greeks when discussing Sambhu Mitra and that not merely on account of his immortal production of Oedipus Rex (Raja Oyedipaus). Every now and then the Greek notion of Fate keeps rearing up its head in the play Sri Sambhu Mitra as well. The play is all about an uncompromising pursuit of purity and perfection sitting in a world where vulgarity rules the roost. Ultimately, it is Fate that decides how much one must succumb to pressures that lead a person astray.
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Lady Justice’s a Pretty Nice Girl
I: “In sooth, I know not why I am so sad …” Me: You are the world’s greatest plagiarist, do you know that? Why can’t you manufacture words of your own? I: How can I? I am at a loss for words. I do have thoughts of course, thoughts that perturb me to no end even if they are “airy nothings”. Besides, even if I speak out, who’ll listen? Me: Ha, there goes the plagiarist again! For all these years you have been tiring me out with your quotations. I have no choice. I am doomed to hear your ranting for the rest of my life. So, why not lad? Go ahead. Bore me with your wisdom. What makes you so sad today? You had better speak audibly. Even if you don’t, I can’t help hearing you of course. God designed us that way. But if you’re audible, a few others might hear you too. I can at least share my grief with others.
A KALEIDOSCOPE WORLD 