Nrityagram & Taj Kuteeram

Nrityagram is a dance gurukul which has been set up by Protima Bedi. I had done a post on various gurukuls too earlier. I am very glad I could visit this one here. It is located 30-40 kms outside Bangalore on route to Tumkur.

The route is very simple and can be reached with the easy directions from their website. Only clause being that you should reach there before 2 pm as the visiting hours are 9 am – 2 pm only. We reached there only at 2 pm and hence missed the school :( Following this, we went on for a nice lunch.

Opposite to the entrance of Nrityagram is Taj Kuteeram, which is also constructed in a very similar structure and style as the dance gurukul. Here are some pictures of the place and small things which caught my eye. We had lunch here and walked around the entire area, clicked many pictures and wondered into a watch tower and also between some geese and other animals which were roaming about.

The very helpful staff at Taj say that the olden glory and dance culture of this place is lost and not many students stay there nor do they come there to study. The architechture of the place is what is worth the visit.

I will someday make another visit to this place to see the dane school from inside.

Wildlife at Ranthambhor

I visited Ranthambhor during the month of January. The day was beautiful, sunny but not hot and the drive from Jaipur was fun. The state highway from Jaipur is in a very bad condition and the National Highway in between is truly something deserving a sigh of relief.

Anyways, once on reaching Ranthambhor, we realize that we have reached late and we need to go to the park and the fort ourselves as the last safari is out by 4 pm. So we got the pollution license checked at the entrance of the park and proceeded to see what all we could.

What we saw?

We saw: Peacocks, sambhars, spotted deers, langurs, a nilgai and some small species of colourful birds. We did not get to see the famous tigers of Ranthambhor as we were not allowed to venture into the forest unless with forest officials.

The park is beautiful with the greenery and the old broken remains of the forts offering the animals more than enough space away from the crowds. The fort in itself is quite run down and offer very little to see except for the forest which is seen in its vast expanse all round, once one climbs to the top. Numerous guides and hawkers all round this area make it all the more touristy!

Here are some pictures of the park, fort, animals and more.

Looking beyond PINK

The first time I heard of PCC, I was intrigued and wanted to read and know for myself what the deal was. On reading the page and what they intended to do, it sounded like something in lines of a simple rally or protest which was to be staged. This protest was not on the roads or by sitting hungry at the steps of a building. This is a technologically advanced and internet savvy protest and predominantly with the metropolitan crowd of women.

Women who are not in the cities and independent do not presently fall in the purview of the Sena. They wish to bring the western thoughts and practices down and culturally tie a noose around the necks of women. But isn’t this a more deep-rooted problem and not related to just drinking and wearing a pair of jeans with a noodle strap?

Here is an article by Sagarika Ghose on CNN IBN which has a different view to the problem which we are facing with. She believes that the problems are more of classes than of clothes.

This is a thought which prevails in the minds of many today that an educated woman, who earns a living, can hold a roof over her head and take care of her children will in the days to come have a voice and would want her voice to be heard. Till today, the household ladies did not need to their voices heard as in many cases; their needs were never with the society at large. Their needs were taken care of by the male members of the family but now that they are outside their homes for a large chunk of the day and require the society to accept their role. Unless this acceptance occurs, there can not be a true advancement with each member of the society contributing to the economy.

If there is any hope to bring a small amount of equality to India then, we need to see what is the true issue that is faced by the many who are consorting to religion and culture to show the anger which might be brewing within for some other reason altogether.

And, I do not think I will be doing anything which is going to be of the form of a pink underwear mailed via the India Post.

There have been previous incidents in the west, and this has been only categorized under extremist behaviour, even if for the upliftment/liberation of women. On the face of anger and frustration, one might think that ‘tit for tat’ is the best solution, but how successful have these ideas ever been through history? Do we want to regret the whole project once the aftermath is seen? I do not think that more than media coverage of goons with pink underwear, anything adverse is going to come of it. I do not want the extra media for these goons and I think we require well directed taunts backed with facts which they will have to retort back too. And here I am sure with education to back us, we shall prove that culture and religion can not be the solution to the present...

If we want to bridge the gap between the two fighting sides then the best solution is to look ahead. And, if you are not interested in looking ahead, then keep the ideology which you follow to those who are of the same thought and who see the right in what you preach.

Beating women in hope of making them adhere to your norms will not be tolerated in a free country. There might be many women who see the right in what you say, and you can beam ear to ear seeing these I women. Do not try to change us Indian women who are not interested in your thoughts.

Edited to add this yet another blog entry by Zubin Driver, very relevant to this post.

Muthalik and look alikes!

We have a Muthalik who says that women should be shrouded and kept indoors, and in Europe we have the Pope and his Bishops who also believe in something similar.

The following have been picked up from an article on IHT.

His Bishop is to have passed a comment on Swedish television , stating that Jews killed in the Holocaust to be just a mere 100, and the Pope did not seem to consider the situation important enough to demand an apology or correct the statement, in spite of it being a well known fact that Jews have been killed in far greater numbers and its is a very sensitive topic to comment upon without a serious thought.

Further he has some more thoughts and ideas which he wishes to perpetuate to the masses.

He disapproves of their wearing pants and believes that they shouldn't be permitted to attend universities.

Now I ask myself, if in a seemingly forward European Society this kind of talks and mentalities do exist. Then is a wonder that someone like Muthalik has similar or worse views?

Among his stranger ideas is that the World Trade Center in New York City was destroyed by explosions, not by hijacked airplanes.

Now, I am not sure whether he does not believe his own eyes, or he does not generally wish to see the truth, or worse still, he will not accept that technology exists which will prove that a flight approached and collided with the WTC causing the collapse of the structure!

Many of Lefebvre's followers joined the movement because of its devotion to the traditional Latin Mass, dropped by the Second Vatican Council and reinstated by Pope Benedict in 2007. But in its essence, the movement stands for something else - something narrow, dark and very dated.

As we see in this Wiki entry, there is a great deal of male-female inequality which stemmed even during today's times. This wiki entry is of the society which has been formed by Lefebvre in the 1970s.

We have one religion of the world brought under scrutiny by moral police, and second brought under de-reform and un-conciliation with the world at large with their old, dark and dated ideology.

Now I am waiting to watch what worse can be brought forth?