Sunday Long Reads: Legacy of Pt Birju Maharaj, Gandhi’s assassination, Delhi’s street names, the paradox that is Kashmir, and more

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Pandit Birju Maharaj was an ocean whose depth one could not fathom

The guru with his shishyas. (Courtesy: Aditi Mangaldas)

Kathak came to me from Kumiben (Kathak exponent Kumudini Lakhia) when I was growing up in Ahmedabad. She was also close friends with Pandit Birju Maharaj ji. I must have been seven or eight years old when he visited us and transformed an evening with his baithak in our house. An entire night passed in the blink of an eye. He performed till six in the morning, and would often say, if you performed till morning, it was a successful evening.

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Did a painter actually prophesy Gandhi’s assassination?

Polish painter Feliks Topolski’s reworked painting of Gandhi’s assassination (Courtesy: Rashtrapati Bhavan Archives)

As you walk across the corridor of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre (RBCC) and reach the open hall leading to the main West Hall, there hangs a painting that portrays the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Curiously, Polish painter Feliks Topolski had originally drawn this painting in 1946 as if he had a premonition of Gandhi’s violent death. The painting, titled The East, is a reworked version done in 1948.

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Parleys in the Jungle: Canines vs Felines

Is lion truly the king of the jungle or is it just a self-proclaimed title? (Credit: Ranjit Lal)

Last week, there was a lively debate between domesticated canines and felines regarding which was superior. This week, we take the debate to their wild cousins, tigers, lions, wolves, foxes, et al. The conversation takes an unexpected turn…

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How to win votes and influence people

Tryst with Strong Leader Populism
P RAMAN
Aakar Books
285 pages
Rs 695 (Source: Amazon India)

Contrary to a number of books that have come out after Narendra Modi’s emergence as one of the most popular leaders in recent history, Tryst with Strong Leader Populism, by former journalist P Raman, stands out because of the painstaking and meticulous research that has gone into it and of the analytical study it has made of the Modi regime. At the risk of being downplayed as a cynic, Raman looks at each major decision of the Modi government since it took office in 2014 and combines media reports — Raman appears to have loyally tracked every report on the functioning of the Prime Minister and his office — with critical analysis.

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The old city of Madras comes alive in Manohar Devadoss and Sujatha Shankar’s Madras Inked

Bharat Insurance Corporation (Courtesy: Madras Inked…Impressions of an Artist and an Architect)

Thanks to the pandemic, you and your backpack have been homebound more than ever. It’s a good time to turn to a book that hasn’t been shrunk to a portable paperback. You can browse at leisure, see pictures and read text in multiple fonts – on that unmistakable habitat called Chennai.

Artist Manohar Devadoss’s drawings are detailed to match the architectural notes of Sujatha Shankar. These are meticulously crafted images and researched text. That should be enough for an authentic book on any place but the authors don’t stop here. Word and image complement each other in more ways than one – the writer designs and the artist writes.

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How Pandit Birju Maharaj taught his students to be powerful like Jatayu and agile like a hen

Pandit Birju Maharaj with his student, Navina Jafa. (Photo: Navina Jafa)

Pandit Birju Maharaj stood with us, his students, on the lawn of the old Kathak Kendra building in central Delhi, in 1984. Looking at a tree, he said, “There is an entire world on the tree – the birds, their nests, the ants crawling in order; they coexist in a shared space. Look at the old leaves falling and the new red-veined ones… Like how we dance to a rhythmic time cycle, where one cycle finishes and a new one begins…”

Maharaj ji (as he was lovingly called) taught the seekers with generosity. He stands tall among classical dance gurus in creating Kathak as a constituency of an all-inclusive democratic world. Through Kathak Kendra, the National Institute of Kathak Dance, he nurtured and presented the form, making it a part of the eclectic and popular culture of the country.

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General Nirmal C Vij’s ‘The Kashmir Conundrum’ offers insights into the paradox that is Kashmir

Security personnel in Srinagar. (Source: Express Archive)

As Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) periodically returns to violent ways, interest in its affairs always remains high. A solution is elusive and will probably remain as such for long. The villain of the piece — Pakistan — keeps the proxy conflict alive, and, along with this, some analytical literature keeps appearing from time to time: a few scholarly articles and an odd book, mostly cliched. However, after fairly long comes a comprehensive piece of writing with some authentic research and based upon experience in the handling of the J&K situation at the national strategic level. HarperCollins has recently published a book by General Nirmal Chander Vij, The Kashmir Conundrum: The Quest for Peace in a Troubled Land. It is a masterpiece on India’s most intractable security issue which has troubled us since Independence. General Vij is eminently qualified to write this, being a former Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Vice Chief of the Army Staff and then the Army chief. Besides, he hails from Jammu, and so, was born in the conflict zone. People from Jammu have larger stakes in peace in Kashmir although they do not like to be a part of a hyphenated state, now a Union Territory.

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How Gali Churi Waalan got its name and other stories behind Delhi’s street names

Delhi, in Thy Name: The Many Legends That Make a City by AdrijaRoychowdhury; Rupa Publications; 209 pages; Rs 295 (Source: Amazon.in)

Adrija Roychowdhury is a familiar name for the readers of The Indian Express, especially for those who have an interest in the histories of people, places, practices, politics and similar fields.

Getting intrigued by names of places and wondering about their origin is a rather common occurrence for anyone researching histories. The need to delve into the “why” would have come naturally to Roychowdhury given her training as a journalist and her interest in history.

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What Edward Lawrence Schoenfeld, impresario of Chinese cooking in Manhattan, brought to the table

Eddie was deeply pleased to see how food connected people and cultures. (Source: Suvir Saran)

I was all of 24 years of age in 1996 when I met Edward Lawrence Schoenfeld. He came into my world to shake it up and to help me grow into new and more fulfilling versions of myself, to help make me a global citizen. He was my Bestie, brother, friend, guide, and parent—all in one.

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