Zishan’s photographs documenting his grandfather / The Hindu
PHOTOGRAPHY Watching Zishan Akbar Latif’s exhibition was an experience in itself leaving many feeling cathartic
In this deluge of exhibitions, there are a few which can’t escape attention. Mumbai-based photographer Zishan Akbar Latif’s first ever show “95 Mani Villa” was one of those. First, I wanted to see it because of professional requirements. Importantly, I wanted to see it for myself.
For last couple of years, I have been toying with the idea of recording my grandmother with the intention of documenting the beautiful traditional songs that have been passed on from one generation to another in this family of Madhya Pradesh. The region’s cuisine, its peculiar customs, that I have got a glimpse of while growing up were other aspects I sought to record through my nani who is in her 70s, now.
The project in my mind was merely anthropological until I saw Zishan’s just concluded exhibition, which inspired me to give it a spin and explore the personal world of both my grandparents. Not just my nani’s songs, the sole picture of my grandparents together after they got married in 1951, my grandmother’s colourful hairclips, her bright glass bangles, the paan box they open after every meal, the memories of their dead son and daughter the old couple have clung to, the letters my grandfather writes every single day to the Prime Minister, the President, various political parties and ministries, his poetry and the stories of the various wars he fought in as an army person. I also wish to make my 85-year-old grandfather relive the life in D-20, Delhi Cantt, where I would return to post school every day to play with his hand-made toys in an unimaginably huge garden that he single-handedly maintained…his handcrafted tables, chairs…
95 Mani Villa, brilliantly curated by Amit Mehra, is a similar navigation of memories although with a different approach. It starts with a young photographer setting out to document the last few years of his grandfather Dhanji Anklesaria in 95 Mani Villa in Jhansi. In a pitch dark room, Zishan lets the viewer into his intimate world through the backlit black and white images of his late grandfather.
Shot on film, Zishan captured the last two years of Dhanji’s life trying to understand him better. “It was because of him that my mom had eloped with my father. He reconciled to the fact late. Then he had an estranged relationship with his son, who married a divorcee, a non-parsi, having kids at the age of 53. While he had reconciled with my mother marrying a Muslim, he couldn’t accept his son…I wanted to know him better,” says Zishan.
Frequenting 95 Mani Villa to spend time with his ailing grandfather, Zishan captured his last birthday, his routine, his phone – his only connect to the outside world, his harmonium, his dog, a constant companion and his loneliness. “I wanted to create a surreal space which would enable people to experience and identify with it. It wouldn’t have had the same effect if I had shown just simply displayed prints. And I always wanted to have an AV in the show. The darkness was also intended to prevent the viewer from getting distracted.”
While such personal work could have gone into cliches, Zishan’s work eschews all of them. The subtle, aesthetic shots weave a poignant narrative of inter-personal relationships, memory and familial bonds. “When I started shooting him in 2010, I was shooting to document him, not for a show. But everyone who saw the pictures asked, ‘Where is the grandson?’ There was a distance. By the end of it, everything came together, I as a photographer and I as a grandson.”
SHAILAJA TRIPATHI
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Shailaja Tripathi / December 14th, 2013
Fervour marks annual sandal and Urs of Hazarath Gulam Rasool Baba Dargah
The 72nd annual sandal and Urs of Hazarath Gulam Rasool Baba Dargah of Chittoor commenced on Saturday amidst religious fervour, with the performing of sandal in the evening, followed by Urus.
The annual event draws huge crowds from all sections of people in Chittoor division, while the Dargah is seen as an epitome of Hindu-Muslim unity since seven decades. Local belief is that the Hazarath while wayfaring down South had settled in Chittoor a century ago. His presence was said to have brought copious rains in the region, driving away the perennial drought conditions. As a mark of respect for the Hazarath, the people of Chittoor built a Dargah. Earlier, the traditional ritual of carrying sandal commenced in the afternoon through the arterial junctions. After performing Fathiha ritual, the Dargah heads distributed the sandal to the gathering. Poor feeding was performed from evening till late night.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Chittoor – December 15th, 2013
Poets from five States participated in a poetry fest organised in Bidar on Monday night by several literary organisations.
Poets used Shayari couplets, Ghazals and Tarannums to send a message to society. The issues they chose ranged from love, heartbreak, mother’s love, the life of the Prophet Mohammad to the recent carnage in Muzaffarnagar.
B. Narayan Rao, former Zilla Panchayat member, who inaugurated the Mushayira, lamented that Urdu was being limited to Muslims. Urdu is the language that binds India together. “While millions of non-Muslims speak Urdu, millions of Muslims in several States don’t understand the language,” he said.
Tanveer Ahmed Salman, who anchored the Mushayira, said Bidar was the city where the first Urdu book “Masnabi Padamrao Kadamrao” was published in the 14th century. This remains a matter of pride for us, he said. It has produced poets of global repute like Hazrath Ishqui in the 18th century and modern day favourites like Rashid Ahmed Rashid and Suleiman Khatib.
Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer released six books. He said though the number of people who spoke Urdu was increasing, the number of those who could read and write the language was decreasing. “This is the problem with most Indian languages. We should make concerted efforts to preserve Urdu and other Indian languages,” Mr. Jaffer said.
The books that were released included Bidar Ke Asare Kadima, a note on the monuments of Bidar, by Abdul Samad Bharati; Tazkara Mahamud Gawan and Jahan-e-Kaleem by Nissar Ahmed Kaleem; Nashrah and Saad by Ameeroddin Amir and Ghanti by Hameed Saleem.
Poets from Karnataka, Andhra, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa participated. They included Misbaq Azmi, Akram Nakkash, Saifuddin Saif Ghori, Naveed Abdul Jaleel and Nooruddin Noor.
Poets from Bidar like Mohammad Yousuf Raheem Bidri, Mukhtadir Taj, Nissar Ahmed Kaleem, Basit Khan Sufi, Ameeroddin Amir and Rehana Begum participated.
The surprise package was the singing of two ghazals by Deputy Conservator Forests Sunil Panwar. “A native of Uttarakhand, he learnt to read and write Urdu after being posted to Bidar,” Mr. Bidri, who was a member of the organising committee, said.
‘Bidar has produced poets of global repute like Hazrath Ishqui, Rashid Ahmed Rashid and Suleiman Khatib’
We should make concerted efforts to preserve Urdu and other Indian languages: P.C. Jaffer
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Bidar – December 10th, 2013
People entering Taj Mahal complex for prayers on Fridays will now have to carry identity documents, according to a directive issued by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) following a complaint that non-Indians were also entering the mosque despite it being closed for visitors.
The directive, issued by ASI’s Agra unit superintending archaeologist N.K. Pathak on Thursday, has, however, received criticism from Taj Mahal’s Mosque Committee which has said that no Muslim, irrespective of nationality, can be stopped from offering prayers at the mosque.
The local ASI unit had received a complaint that an Indian Muslim had allegedly brought five Bangladeshi nationals along with him to Taj Mahal’s mosque last Friday, leading to a row over as to who all should be allowed inside the mosque.
The ASI authorities claim that the body’s Director General has ruled that only Indians should be allowed to enter the mosque to offer prayers on Fridays, when the monument is closed for visitors.
The Taj Mahal Mosque Committee President Ibrahim Hussain Zaidi, however, criticised the directive and said Muslims should not be discriminated on the basis of nationality.
“The Gazette notification of January 1, 2001 issued by Government of India states that Muslims will be allowed to offer prayers at the Taj mosque on Fridays even though it is closed for visitors. Nowhere does it say that Muslims of other nationality should not be allowed,” he said.
Reacting to Zaidi’s criticism, ASI caretaker at Taj Mahal Syed Muazzar Ali said that the mosque committee has no locus standi on the matter.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Other States / PTI / Agra – December 27th, 2014
COMMUNITY CHRONICLE The wedding invitation of Wajid Ali Shah’s son, a fatwa by a pundit, nikahnamas embossed in gold, a judgement by Akbar Allahabadi…Khalid Sabir’s house in New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh preserves remnants of yesteryear Awadh
With age, nostalgia becomes a hobby for many. One of its probable side effects is the fascination for most things old — they become a token of the times that were, appealing for the stories they hold, don’t they?
But with New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh resident Khalid Sabir, young age never became a deterrent in evoking nostalgia for an age his forefathers belonged to, and he began collecting — and collecting — so many things from the past that most of his two-storey house is now packed with an assortment of things that are clearly rare, precious and deserve space in a museum.
The transformation of Sabir, now 62, into being a hardcore collector rather sprang from a strong sense of documenting history that caught his imagination in his school days in Allahabad. Sipping tea, surrounded by things from his valuable collection spread over a bed, an effervescent Sabir reels back to his first venture at collecting things. “My uncle Ahmad Sabir was the still photographer for Mughal-e-Azam . When the film got released, he came to Allahabad and took the entire family to watch it. It was he who gave me a couple of posters of the film. That triggered in me the urge to collect film posters. Over the years, I had an amazing collection but all got burnt during a fire in the house some years ago.”
Collector’s items(From left) Khalid reading out from a royal nikahnama; in a room with old documents; an issue of Urdu daily Nawal Kishore Photos: S. Subramanium
Much later, in the early ’80s, work took Sabir to the U.K. but the urge remained. During visits to his home State Uttar Pradesh — to towns like Allahabad, Lucknow, Rampur, etc. — he would check out on the local scrap collectors, the kabari-wallahs. Each time, he would hit upon a treasure from the past. “I have collected most of my things from kabari-wallahs,” says Sabir, displaying for this reporter a judgement given by the famed Akbar Allahabadi, a silk map of Lucknow dated 1884, an invitation sent out by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah for one of his son’s weddings, a judgement by Sir Lawrence Peel dated 1865 in a case involving Bahu Begum of Faizabad; a fatwa proclaimed by a Hindu pandit in 1800, a pre-1857 nikahnama of a princess written in gold with mehr worth 12 lakhs, among other prized catches culled out from the dump yards. Holding the copy of the fatwa, he points out, “Like the maulanas, Hindu pundits also used to declare fatwa. Urdu was the language of the times, so it was used in them. Every fatwa refers to a hadith, so this one also begins with one written in Urdu by a maulana. It is followed by a pandit answering the maulana by referring to a shloka from the Ramayana in Devnagiri before pronouncing the judgement.” Indicating the date written on top of the fatwa, he says laughing, “This one is before Ghalib.”
Sabir reads out from the wedding invitation of Wajid Ali Shah — known for his love for poetry — prodding you to listen carefully to the language. “It was a time when Urdu was emerging from Persian. You can see the mix here,” he says with relish. That marriage went into trouble, leading to the return of the bride’s dowry. Interestingly, Sabir has letters of the fight between the bride and the groom, also the list of her dowry.
Carefully taking out from a plastic envelope a clasp of yellowed papers a judgement given by the famed poet and judge Akbar Allahabadi in 1862, Sabir says, “Read this, not for nothing there is an old saying in U.P. that what is left in Allahabad apart from Akbar and amrud trees.”
In rows of steel almirahs and shelves covering five rooms of his house, there are stacks of old land deeds of thousands of families across U.P., receipts of property tax issued during the British rule, nikahnamas of Hindu nawabs, initial editions of Urdu dailies like Nawal Kishore , Haqiqat , Awadh Akhbar , personal letters of English couples living in that region among other things. “I have the third issue of the Lucknow newspaper The Pioneer too, which I don’t think the company itself has,” he adds.
A compulsive collector that Sabir is, he also has a roomful of postage stamps from across the world collected since his school days. And another room where stacked to its ceiling are old editions of Indian magazines and press clippings on 400 topics. “I have published 13 books after compiling these press clippings on different subjects,” he informs. Till a while ago, Sabir says, he used to subscribe to 30 newspapers across different languages. “I had employed four people to help me out in preserving my collection. But I have slowed down after a heart attack sometime ago,” he says.
So what does he plan to do with this priceless collection? “I had approached Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University, Rampur Raza Library, all the important places that you might think would be interested in keeping this Awadhi treasure. But none seem to be really so. I have spent a lot of money and time on this collection, don’t want it to go waste. So I am saving money, planning to start a museum on my own,” he says. Meanwhile, he has just returned from Dubai “after giving photocopies of some old newspaper papers for digitisation to a Dubai-based organisation. It digitises for free old Arabic, Persian and Urdu documents.”
I had approached Jamia Millia Islamia, AMU, Rampur Raza Library to preserve this Awadhi treasure. But none seem to be really interested
source: http;//www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty / September 08th, 2014
In a sharp contrast to the sweltering heat, a smiling Mohammad Faisal picks up a huge cooking vessel called degh with his right hand, and applies hair-thin Malaysian tin foil on it. Then, with a thick pad of old cotton soaked innausadar (ammonium chloride) ash, he moves the foil within the vessel, while rotating a fixed iron fan on the floor with his left hand. The result: within minutes an ultra shining degh is ready. This polishing technique is called qalai – a tin polish done only on copper and brass utensil.
Faisal is perhaps the last of this generation who inherited this craft from his grandfather Mohammad Sharfuddin, now 82. His uncle Irfan is managing shop No. 1132 at Matiya Mahal Bazar called Qalai Ghar. It is a nondescript shop in a row of attractive ones, except that it draws attention with its shining vessels – from a small bowl to a degh with 80 kg capacity.
The shop has three naand or pits full of water, as big as the bottom of an 80 kg degh , in which it is immersed slowly, soon after the hot tin foil is rubbed on it. After the wash the shine is exemplary.
Says the 52-year-old Irfan: “This shop is 150 years old but we have been in the business of qalai for about 80 years. We learnt it from our father. For now we have quite a lot of work, especially because in Old Delhi, people still keep brass and copper utensils in their homes and also gift them at weddings. Moreover, Karim Hotel gives us its qalai work every two months – we polish their 70 to 80 big and small utensils and this work remains our main source of income.”
Mohammad Irfan charges as little as Rs.20 for a small bowl measuring three inches in diameter to Rs.800 for an 80 kg degh .
Earlier, Delhi’s Bhogal and Sundar Nagar used to be the hubs for qalaiwalas; some of them can still be located in small corners. Muslim Punjabis or sadagars from Pakistan are the main users of copper and brass utensils and most of them live in Old Delhi.
The Walled City used to have as many as 10-15 qalai shops earlier. Three of the big ones were located at Turkman Gate. One of these closed during the Emergency, another one some 25 years ago, and the third one vanished without a trace, say the area residents.
Qalai Ghar too may close down in a few years from now. Sharing the reason, Irfan says: “I have not taught this skill to my three sons. They sell ready-made garments. This business may not grow in future.” He had also stopped getting ‘boys’ as trainees nearly “40 years ago”. Then inflation has also affected the skill adversely. “Earlier wood coal used to cost me Rs.3 per kg, now it is Rs.35. Earlier, a tin foil used to cost Rs.7, now it comes for Rs.1,800. Moreover, the work needs high energy levels, as we are constantly exposed to heat, fumes and our hands do not stop working for almost eight to 10 hours every day.”
There has been no technology invented to keep this skill alive either. Technology, says Irfan, is a far cry because utensil sizes vary. “How many machines can be invented to polish the vessels of all sizes and thickness,” he asks.
Though now almost all five star hotels, especially in the Capital, have again started using copper and brass utensils for health reasons and for showing a ‘connect’ with the Indian roots, yet that hasn’t got people like Irfan going.
Notably, the food cooked in an unpolished brass or copper utensil becomes poisonous, and so is the water kept in one. But some families with diabetic patients still use copper vessels for health benefits. But this is not enough to sustain the waning skill either.
The Walled City however, still has a few qalai walas . A couple of them are pheriwalas who go from door to door; a few have fixed shops at Uncha Charagh, Tazana House and Kala Mahal; while one sits on the footpath at Chandni Mahal.
Veteran Sharfuddin warns: “One should not go for pheriwalas as they do ‘duplicate’ work. They use solder rod foil (used for stitching in electronic goods), while the genuine polish can be achieved only through Malaysian tin foil which is expensive. If you rub your finger on fake-polish utensils, they will turn black, while rubbing finger on genuine polish won’t.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Other States / by Rana Siddiqui Zaman / New Delhi – September 09th, 2014
At 93 years of age, MF Husain could have been forgiven for calling it a day. But when he sought exile from India in 2006—on account of the vandalisation of his works and the stress of presenting himself in small-town courts all over India, where cases of obscenity had been filed to harass him for having had the temerity to paint goddesses in the nude—he sought not retirement but revalidation.
And that came easily for, arguably, India’s most popular artist. In spite of his advanced age, the royal family of Qatar commissioned him to paint an epic series on the Arabic civilisation for the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. And in London, the Mittal family—which had gifted the city the controversial ArcelorMittal Orbit ahead of the Olympic Games—seized the opportunity to ask him to paint a tribute to Indian civilisation.
That should have been enough to keep most artists busy, but Husain, missing familiar places and faces in India, was known to have painted extempore at the homes and offices of a large number of Indian families, demanding nothing more than affection and a home-cooked meal in exchange for a hastily improvised drawing or painting. He would appear at the doughty Dorchester, where the staff invoiced him for scribbling figures on its pristine damask napkins. In Mayfair, where he had a studio, the white-haired and often barefoot artist became a familiar sight for Londoners bemused that he should carry a large paintbrush with him as an indication of his profession. At the venerable Victoria & Albert Museum, like scores of art students on any given day, he could be seen sketching on his pad at the Ironwork Gallery, unaware of the chuckles he inspired among visitors ignorant of his fame but conscious only of his age.
It is from this phase of his life, spent in Doha, Dubai and, in particular, London, that a number of ‘last’ works by the artist are gaining currency.
Most, understandably, are not for sale; they are the legacy of families who befriended him in an alien city and extended warmth and hospitality. Though Husain was wealthy—if his collection of sports cars and bikes is any indication, he was extremely rich—money was something he rarely carried on him, so his art became the currency of exchange for favours rendered. The right-wing parties that had hounded him in India enjoy the support of many non-resident Indians, but in London Husain seemed not so much offensive as vulnerable. Secretly, they clamoured for his works, so even though prices were falling back home—or, at least, they were failing to keep pace with modernists SH Raza, FN Souza, Tyeb Mehta and VS Gaitonde—his popularity never waned. Because he still had a large inventory of unsold canvases, he was not required to paint to eke out an existence, however luxurious. The sale of those works—this writer is privy to some of them—now afforded him the comfort to paint in a manner and style of his choosing.
Some of these ‘last’ works, the ones commissioned by Usha Mittal, will now go to the V&A’s gallery 38A for a viewing as ‘Master of Modern Indian Painting’ from May 28 to July 27. According to a spokesperson, even though Husain is “not very well-known” in London, “this exhibition will rectify that”. The V&A had been in conference with the Mittals about a number of projects, and it was natural that the First Family of Steel should suggest the Husain exhibits as a starting point for that venture.
Husain wanted to paint 31 triptychs or 93 panels to express his vision of India, a country that he referred to as “a museum without walls”. Among the peers of the Progressive Artists’ Group, Husain alone, among the founding members, chose to paint a holistic view of Indian society from the vantage of the street, often portraying myths from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, but also singers, dancers, musicians in a manner that some described as expressionistic while others dubbed it primitive impressionism. Wrongly called ‘the Picasso of India’—that sobriquet better suiting Souza—Husain was maverick, manipulative, marketable, as popular for his remarkable talent as his ability to command the media. He mocked the press, made films with popular film stars, and was quick with repartee, a one-man act that became the face and form of modern art in India from the 1950s till his death in London in 2011.
Critics and collectors claim his best works were done in the early decades, but Husain continued to reinvent and surprise himself and everyone else. Identified for his paintings of horses, he is equally well regarded for his works on Mother Teresa. He courted controversy during the Emergency, when he painted Indira Gandhi in the form of Durga riding a tiger, but was a member of the Rajya Sabha in the eighties.
An observant artist, his eye for detail livens up the Mittal canvases, even though he was at an advanced age when they were painted. Husain completed eight of the 31 triptychs before he died, each painting consisting of three 12ft x 6ft panels (or 12ft x 18ft for the triptych), and it is this unfinished collection that offers a glimpse into his thinking.
Not only did he refuse to create a linear historicity, his insistence on providing glimpses of the life and culture of India in the manner that he experienced it became the context from which he visualised the whole project. The exhibition, therefore, begins with an invocation to Ganesh, the beloved elephant-headed god who is considered a remover of obstacles, the only single panel or painting in the exhibition. The eight triptychs, which form part of his vision of India from Mohenjodaro to Mahatma Gandhi, span “mythology, architecture and popular culture”, according to Usha Mittal, who was privileged to see the artist work on the series in London.
However sure he might have been, Husain pored over books, journals and tomes to ensure that he chose the correct nuances for the triptychs.
Which other artist would have picked something as banal as Indian Households as a subject for one of those triptychs? Yet, in his hands, it becomes a comment on the co-existence of religions and faith in India with its unique syncretism. The first panel of the painting depicts a Muslim household, where the old man with the hookah could be an allegory for his grandfather, and the little boy playing under the charpoy may be autobiographical. The second panel peeps into an educated Hindu household from the south—witness the head of the family immersed in The Hindu—while the familiar image of the umbrella, another leit-motif for his grandfather, links it to the previous panel. The third panel depicts a warrior Sikh family, but not without its middle-class nuances, captured through the table clock and Singer sewing machine, voyeuristic glimpses of middle class lives in India.
It is these delightful insights that make up the rest of the triptychs. In ‘Indian Dance Forms’, the sage Bharata holds forth on the Natya Shastra, while the other two panels depict bharatnatyam and kathakali. The ‘Hindu Triad’ has, of course, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in their roles as protector, preserver and destroyer, while in ‘Three Dynasties’ he picks the Mauryan, the Mughal and the British Raj for their abiding influence. In ‘Tale of Three Cities’, he opts for Delhi for its historicity, Varanasi for its spirituality and Kolkata for its culture, and in ‘Indian Festivals’ he chooses Holi, Tulsi Pooja and Poornima—all Hindu festivals, the right-wingers will be glad to know—while ‘Language of Stone’ highlights the country’s—again, Hindu—sculptural tradition alongside poet-laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry.
Handwritten notes describe each panel and their importance, something he discussed at length with Usha Mittal as part of a venture that, had it been completed, would have changed the visual perspective of India as well as that of its artist.
Let it be said: Husain was its most enthusiastic votary.
Image: Dave M.Benett / Getty Images Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal with wife Usha and MF Husain
The Commission
Usha Mittal was principally responsible for the patronage the family extended to MF Husain when he began work on the project in 2008 in London. In this email interview, Usha Mittal shares the shaping of the series and her interactions with the artist.
Why did you choose Husain for painting this series?
Husain Sahib had a profound understanding of Indian history and culture and was knowledgeable about many aspects of life in the subcontinent, from mythology and religious beliefs to architecture, poetry, music and the visual arts. On seeing Husain’s series on the Hindi film Mughal-e-Azam, I suggested to him that he should capture the history of the Indian civilisation on canvas. The conversation led to a major commission, which the artist started working on during the final years of his life.
Why pick on the Indian civilisation as the series theme?
The Indian civilisation is rich in culture and diversity, and spans thousands of years. Aspects of Indian civilisation have been represented in Husain’s paintings from the start, whether folk images, rural life, dance, mythology or history. With his immense understanding of India and her culture, I felt that Husain Sahib was uniquely endowed to execute such a commission.
Did he discuss the panels with you before painting them?
He was very inspired by this project. Every time I would meet him, he would talk only about the next panel, and would ask for my opinion. In fact, he was talking and dreaming about the forthcoming panels on his last day.
Which are the other Indian artists in your collection?
Apart from Husain, I very much admire the works of Ram Kumar, Tyeb Mehta and SH Raza.
Can you share incidents
of your interactions with Husain while he was working on this series in London?
I saw him paint on several occasions. When he painted, he was totally submerged in the paintings. He had a childlike enthusiasm, and happily painted while listening to music. He had a great sense of humour, and his knowledge of Indian culture, customs and traditions was commendable. Before he started painting the history of India, he read several books on Indian history, and spent several weeks analysing and determining what he wanted to paint and how. He decided he wanted to paint 31 triptychs, but unfortunately could complete only eight. I always admired his qualities as a painter.
Husain’s worth, or the worth of a Husain
Despite a fall from grace, he cared about his legacy
Image: Amit Verma / A Husain (left) and a Souza displayed on the same wall at the Christie’s auction in Mumbai last December
That he was prolific has never been in doubt, and observers have speculated about the number of paintings he painted in his lifetime: Variously between 20,000 and 40,000 works, which record has a parallel with that other equally productive artist, Pablo Picasso.
Husain was always conscious of his value, using it as a benchmark of his talent as well as his popularity. Early in his career, he would sulk if Raza’s prices at an exhibition were marked higher than his, removing his own works on one such occasion. He did see Raza’s prices, as well as those of Souza’s and Tyeb Mehta’s, best his own in his lifetime, by which time he was concentrating harder on his painting, knowing that time was now against him as he raced to complete commissions that would result in a unique legacy of art.
Even so, for decades he enjoyed the distinction of being India’s most expensive artist, and the movement of Husain’s works in galleries and at auctions has always been brisk. With his most iconic works in museums and in collections that are unlikely to sell, it is only those works in the market that determine his benchmark.
For now, his top canvases do command prices in the region of Rs 2–5 crore. Since uniqueness and provenance adds value to an artist’s worth, his triptychs for the Mittals could be among the more expensive of his works, though Usha Mittal has refrained from commenting on the commission’s value, only commenting that it was “a private matter between Husain Sahib and myself”.
source: http://www.forbesindia.com / Forbes India / Home> Life/Special / by Kishore Singh / May 13th, 2014
At Saad Bin Jung’s luxury eco-tourism lodge in Kabini, Karnataka, villagers and tribals work together to conserve the forest and the big cats that inhabit it
Image: Shaaz Jung A new calling: Saad Jung believes in eco-tourism that conserves more than animals
As the last rays of sunlight filter through the leaves, a shadow slinks out of the thick foliage with an unmistakable feline elegance. “There,” whispers 27-year-old Shaaz Jung from his perch atop a jeep. Immediately, seven pairs of eyes turn to the clearing ahead. Under the rapt gaze of the tourists, a male leopard emerges from the foliage. A flurry of clicks from SLR cameras breaks the silence of the waning dusk. But the leopard makes an indifferent model. He was aware of the jeep the moment the vehicle entered his territory, deep in the jungles of Karnataka. For the tourists, however, this sighting is a privilege. The shy animal deigned to make an appearance on the last of the five game drives organised by Bison Wildlife Resort near Kabini Lake, Karnataka. The resort, started by Shaaz’s father, 53-year-old Saad Bin Jung, lies between two national parks, Nagarhole and Bandipur, and is a two-hour drive from Mysore. It is also a labour of love, one in which villagers and tribals work with the Jungs to conserve and preserve this ecologically vibrant zone.
Though the eco-resort opened five years ago, it took over a decade to come to fruition. Consider its back story.
Like his uncle Mansur Ali Khan—the late nawab who is remembered by his moniker ‘Tiger’ Pataudi—Saad Jung started his career as a cricketer. A descendant of the royal Pataudi family of Bhopal and the Paigahs of Hyderabad, he acknowledges and accepts the popular portrayal of Indian nobility as hunters. “I now realise the mistakes we made while addressing wildlife conservation within the forests that belonged to our family,” says Jung. “The rulers, to a large extent, permitted community usage of forest produce. Locals were asked to manage forest land, but were banned from hunting. That was the sole prerogative of the royals. There was control, but there was also inclusion.”
Image: Prasad Gori for Forbes Life India The village: The resort maintains a rustic look and feel, although it houses luxurious facilities
Saad began taking an active interest in conservation in 1986. He started with Bush Betta Resort at Bandipur and an angling camp on the Kaveri river soon after. In 1997, he acquired patta (registered) land outside the protected forest area and worked with locals to build a luxury resort, one that doesn’t intrude on or disturb the ecologically sensitive zone. The Bison Resort, made up of African lodge-style stilted, elaborate tents and decks that overlook the forest and Kabini lake, is the result. Most of the building material for it was sourced locally. Rather than alienating tribals and villagers from the land, Saad brokered a symbiotic relationship between resort and village.
The Bison, which opened in 2009, has succeeded because it combines luxury with inclusive growth. Saad and Shaaz, who is the resort manager, create a rustic yet opulent experience. From sunken showers in bathrooms to bars that overlook the lake, the resort delivers a unique kind of grandeur—one that typically costs more than Rs 10,000 a night for Indians and Rs 24,240 ($400) a night for foreign nationals. Most employees are locals and their intimate knowledge of the land heightens a visitor’s experience.
source: http://www.forbesindia.com / Forbes India / Home> Forbes India/Live / by Shravan Bhat / August 16th, 2014
The house in which founder of Kathak Kendra of UP and winner President’s award Pandit Lachchhu Maharaj was born lies in a state of shocking neglect. Famous as Kalka Bindadin Maharaj ji ki Dyodi (Jhaulal ka Pul), the house where the legendary Kathak dancer and choreographer was born is in a miserable state, though the government once promised to turn it into a museum.
He hailed from an illustrious family of Kathak exponents in Lucknow (1907-1978), recipient of the prestigious President’s and Sangeet Natak Akademi award Lachhu Maharaj and also the founder director of the Kathak Kendra of Uttar Pradesh, the government of Uttar Pradesh has done absolutely nothing to keep his memories alive. Even the promise of turning his house into a museum made by the state government remains unfulfilled.
Kathak doyen’s nephew Pandit Birju Maharaj too said he had been trying hard to get the house converted into a tourist place but so far he has only received false promises from the parties in power.
“This year, I have requested the Chief Minister to consider with priority the proposal of preserving the house as a museum. I hope some positive results come out soon,” said Pandit Birju Maharaj.
Lachhu Maharaj’s first disciple in Lucknow, Kumkum Adarsh, a popular city-based Kathak dancer and the maestro’s niece Rameshwari Mishra too have been championing the cause. Speaking to TOI, Rameshwari Mishra, who lives in another portion of the same house, said “It gives me immense pain to see the pathetic condition of the house of the legendary artiste who contributed so much to the field of Awadh’s culture.”
She said around 15 years back, during its previous regime, Samajwadi Party mooted the idea of creating a museum in his name but nothing has been done so far.
“If you visit the government flat of Gulistan colony in which Lachchhu Maharaj breathed his last, you will find a rusted ‘sarkari taala’ on the door,” she added.
Kumkum Adarsh, who has been organising an award function in memory of her favorite mentor on his birth anniversary September 1 since 1998, feels her ustad has not been given the recognition he deserved in his home state.
“I am disappointed that no one has actually done anything to keep his memories alive and the pitiable state of the portion of the house he was born and lived in shows the government’s callous attitude,” she rued.
Besides his family and disciples, city-based historian Yogesh Pravin and short-story writer Aisha Siddiqui are also of the view that it is high time people came forward and took up the issue. “Even today there are hundreds of fans of Lachchhu Maharaj across the globe. I still recall how students who came from all over the country would say ‘hum maharaj ji ki dyodi ko choomna chahte hain”, said Yogesh Pravin. “The government must preserve the memories of legendary artists not only as a form of honour to the person but also so that the future generation remains attached to the city’s rich culture and heritage,” said Aisha Siddiqui.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India / by Uzma Talha, TNN / September 01st, 2014
In these days of gender-equality, achieved after defying the much loathed gender-discrimination, our city seems to pioneer a new trend beginning this Dasara with an All-Women Team, except for some space for men too, well geared to conduct this year’s Dasara and the District administration as well. Here is how and why.—Ed
Women power will be at the helm of affairs this Dasara as they will share the responsibility of organising and monitoring the Dasara events that begins in city from Sept.25.
The officers in-charge are Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha, who is also the Dasara Special Officer, Mysore In-charge Secretary and Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Women and Child Development and Empowerment of Differently-Abled and Senior Citizens Dr. Amita Prasad, Regional Commissioner Rashmi V. Mahesh, Additional Deputy Commissioner M.S. Archana, Assistant Commissioner Syeda Ayesha, ACP (K.R. Sub-Division) B.T. Kavitha. This apart, ZP President Dr. B. Pushpa Amarnath and Mayor N.M. Rajeshwari Somu will also be an integral part of the Dasara celebrations.
DC Shikha, who has the experience of organising Dasara 2013, is expected to conduct this year’s festival with ease. Shikha was also lauded by the general public for successful conduct of 2013 Assembly Elections and 2014 General Elections in Mysore. She previously worked as Managing Director of CESC in Mysore.
Deputy Commissioner Shikha being the Special Officer for the Dasara celebrations will have the responsibility of co-ordinating with various committees and Ministers while planning this year’s festivities.
It is not only her; Shikha will have the guidance of senior IAS officer Dr. Amita Prasad, who is currently the Mysore In-charge Secretary. Having held the post for five years, Amita Prasad has been lending her valuable suggestions to the officials on conducting Dasara activities. Another officer who would be a part of Dasara festivities is Regional Commissioner Rashmi V. Mahesh. A 1996 batch IAS officer, Rashmi passed her IAS examination at the age of 22 years. She has the previous experience of working as Assistant Commissioner in Hassan, Mysore ZP CEO, Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner, Joint Commissioner of Excise Department, Secretary, Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and also in Department of Medical Education. She has now replaced M.V. Jayanthi as the Regional Commissioner of Mysore Division.
This apart, Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha will be supported by Additional Deputy Commissioner M.S. Archana and Assistant Commissioner Syeda Ayesha, both native of Mysore. While, the officers take charge of the overall activities, ACP (K.R. Sub-Division) B.T. Kavitha, will be in-charge of monitoring the security while the Dasara events take place at various venues.
Adding to the list of women who will be at the helm of affairs this Dasara will be Mysore Zilla Panchayat President Dr. B. Pushpa Amarnath, who has been given the charge of organising Raitha Dasara and Grameena Dasara. This apart, she will also be leading the green campaign during Dasara festivities. Chief Minister Siddharamaiah considering her suggestion has banned the use of flowers and bouquets to welcome the guests during the 10-day festival. Instead, the guests would be greeted with saplings.
Mayor N.M. Rajeshwari Somu will also play a vital role in Dasara, being a member of the Dasara Reception Sub-Committee. Dasara being the festival that revolves around Goddess Chamundeshwari and women being entrusted the job of organising the 10-day extravaganza, this year’s Dasara is all set to celebrate the women in power.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / September 09th, 2014
