The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy – Apr 12, 2013

It was no surprise that all had read this novel when it came out first. With great keenness we came together to experience the thrill again and share our appreciation. We kept in mind what Arundhati Roy said of the novel: “It is easy to forget it is a political novel. It is about caste, about violence, about contemporary things. … The most ugly thing about our country, and our culture, is caste. It is there in the book. And please don't forget that.”

Ayemenem, with the Meenachal river sustaining its luxuriance, is the Eden where the twins, Estha and Rahel, grow up. Arundhati Roy is its most diligent observer, recording the ordinary things with the memorable precision of a poet's eye. Did she keep a diary in her childhood, or is this entire world recalled from the deep recesses of her adult mind?

Bobby (away facing), Kavita, KumKum, Priya, Thommo, Mathew, Sunil

The most arresting feature of Arundhati Roy's style is the wealth of similes and metaphors, at times overwhelming the reader like a pelting of hail. Somewhere she remarks that the structure of the novel was the most difficult part of the writing, but she lost the painstakingly-made architectural plan of the book in the mêlée at her place soon after the book was published.

Bobby, Kavita, KumKum, and Priya

When the eloquent homilies of her political books on power and powerlessness are forgotten, this novel will remain, and be read and studied. So why can she not oblige with a second novel, she who said in her famous Come September speech: “For reasons that I don't fully understand, fiction dances out of me, and non-fiction is wrenched out by the aching, broken world I wake up to every morning.” See

https://collectiveliberation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Roy_Come_September.pdf

The spoken version of her speech is on Youtube.

Priya & KumKum exchanging life force à la Michelangelo

Come dance, Ms Roy, or we'll arrive like midwives to wrench that novel already germinating within you, waiting to be born ...

Here are the readers pictured after the session:

 Kavita, Priya, Thommo, Bobby (hidden), KumKum Mathew, Sunil, Joe

To read the full record of the session, click below

Vikram Seth Reading 'Beastly Tales from here and there' — Mar 23, 2013

Vikram Seth read a fair portion of his 1991 book of stories in verse, called Beastly Tales from here and there. The occasion was the release of a sumptuously illustrated version at the India Habitat Centre Amphitheatre in New Delhi.

 Vikram Seth reading, takes flight

Not only did he read, but he answered questions from the audience, interspersed with his reading of five of the tales. He gave advice when asked about writing, recounted his journey in the literary world starting as a humble economics student in Stanford, and talked about his interest in several forms of art from calligraphy to painting and music.

 Vikram Seth Absolut vodka Blue paintings with Urdu script 'In Blue and Gold, I watch the evening sky Darken, till neither remains nor I'

The audience stayed late into the night, for Vikram Seth was like a musician who is set on fire by the audience response. He congratulated the illustrator, Prabha Mallya, and had the audience give her several rounds of applause.

 Prabha Mallya, illustrator of Beastly Tales, with Vikram Seth

And then he stayed back, liberally engaging in conversation those who queued with books to be autographed. He wrote personalised messages, and didn’t hesitate to share his vast stock of knowledge and instant wit with those who waited patiently. It was two hours before KumKum came to the head of the queue with two copies to be signed for her grandchildren. He apologized graciously for the readers’ inconvenience, but was indefatigable himself. And smiling.

Vikram Seth signing and smiling indefatigably

For a full account click below.

Poetry Session ‒ Mar 8, 2013

Ten readers enjoyed the poems of ten poets at this session, the second of the year on Poetry. Men and women were evenly represented among the readers, but the poets were predominantly male.

 KumKum & Thommo

Three poets were read in translation from Urdu, Russian, and Persian, including the incomparable Mirza Ghalib, and the great poet of the Russias, Alexander Pushkin.

 Priya

International Women’s Day was celebrated on the same day. Aptly, we read the poems of two fearless women , Maya Angelou and Forough Farrokhzad, who battled the burdens imposed on women by society. In addition, we considered the matter of whether women hereabouts are flustered  by the admiring gaze of men!

 Kavita & Talitha

We welcomed back two readers who had long been missing from our company, Bobby and Kavita. Here we are after the evening’s reading —

 Priya, Talitha, Kavita, KumKum, Zakia, Thommo, Bobby, Mathew, Sunil, Joe

To read more click below …

Short Stories of Anton Chekhov ― Feb 14, 2013

 Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov, master-storyteller and dramatist, keen observer of human behaviour, and professional physician, has left an enormous number of short stories which seem ageless.

 Gopa

Many of them have no point to make; they are descriptions of mundane things that happen to ordinary people, without any dramatic element, or surprising revelation at the end. Others like Ward No. 6 have the plot lines of a novel. The inversion of fortunes at the end makes one wonder how easily a person may be passed off as insane.

Arundhaty reads from Chekhov's play 'The Three Sisters'

As numerous, however, are the carefully plotted gems, such as A Work of Art.  Humour, surprise, the small deceits of human beings, and sense of fate coming full circle, contribute to its masterly hold on the reader.

 Priya ponders a point

Salman Rushdie hid his identity during the fatwa period under a name composed of two of his favourite authors, the first being Anton Chekhov. The surprisingly graceful translations available in the public domain do great credit to Chekhov.

 Gopa learns Kindle e-reader techniques from Priya, as Thommo and KumKum watch

Here are the readers assembled before the reading:

 Talitha, Priya, Thommo, Gopa, KumKum, Mathew, Sunil, & Joe

Zakia & Arundhaty came later

Click below to read more ...

Chitra Banerjee Divakruni reading from her works — Feb 12, 2013

David Hall hosted the Indian-American author, Chitra Banerjee Divakruni, on Feb 12, 2013. She gave two readings from her works. The first from her retelling of the Mahabharata, The Palace of Illusions, speaks of the trembling in her heart as Draupadi goes to face the swayamvara, escorted by her twin brother, Dhristadyumna.

  Chita Banaerjee Divakaruni, reading from 'The Palace of Illusions'

In the second reading from a recent novel, One Amazing Thing, Chitra Banerjee Divakruni deals with seven characters isolated in a building by an earthquake. The title has to do with the characters breaking the ice by narrating the one unbelievable event that has taken place in their lives that they’ve not told anyone about. 

 The audience for Chita Banaerjee Divakaruni's reading

Introducing the session was a mime by Bharatnatyam dancer Dr. Mini Vettickal. Her marvellous interpretation of a poem, The River, by Chitra Banerjee Divakruni was enacted with great spirit, exploiting all the resources of Abhinaya. We hope to see more of this fine dancer on the stage in Kochi.

 Mini Vettickal 'performing' the poem 'The River'

Please click below to read more.

Poetry Session ‒ Jan 11, 2013

Zakia, Priya, KumKum, Talitha, Sivaram, Thommo, and Mathew listening to Sivaram, gone digital with his iPad, to read 'Burnt Norton' by T.S. Eliot

The poets we read were from the world over: India – 1, Britain – 3, USA – 2, and Greece – 1. Two were read in translation from Malayalam and ancient Greek respectively. Only one poet was a woman. The readers were split, 4 women and 3 men.

 Talitha reading 'The Great Lover' by Rupert Brooke

The missing four readers lost out on the great enthusiasm with which the New Year’s session started. The Malayalam poet’s idiom was modern and Sappho speaking through the voice of her translator came through as a lyricist (and lyrist) of love and longing. 

 

Priya in soft focus

T.S. Eliot, a favourite of Sivaram since college days, was recited for the third time in our group whose collective memory is preserved at Poets& Poems, here to the right.

 KumKum reads fragments of Sappho as Priya and Talitha watch

Our general mood, always enlivened by the give and take of exchanges, ended on a note of great merriment when Mathew read from Ogden Nash.

  Priya reading Balachandran Chullikad's poem 'Winter in Stockholm'

Here are the readers at the end of the session (Joe is clicking and Zakia was away).

Priya, Talitha, Thommo, KumKum, Sivaram, Mathew at the end

For a full account and the text of the poems click below.

Kochi Muziris Biennale — 2

The Biennale featured a number of artists who used the inviting walls of Fort Kochi to express their delight in working here. Artist Daniel Connell from Australia created two huge faces of his friend Justin Alan Magridge from Port Augusta, South Australia. The artist imagines that people from this very place migrated to Australia 60-80,00 years ago to form the aboriginal population there:

 Grandson Gael poses by Daniel Connell's work

Here is Daniel engaging with local people, which was seen as one of the projected benefits of the Biennale:

The start of the Biennale occurred on 12-12-12 when Maya Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., performed on the opening night on the Parade Ground. Joe was among the groupies who waved hands above his head and swayed to the chorus of a thousand folk who had assembled:

But it was nothing like the experience of hearing Joan Baez, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, or Bob Dylan in his youth.

Colourful art enlivened the unkempt walls of a property near Aspinwall House:

The heart-brain connection stimulated by art is symbolised in this street painting:

On the morning of Dec 30 we had the rare pleasure of meeting painter, muralist, Murano glass sculptor, and the most famous modern artist in India, Anjolie Ela Menon. Here she is with KumKum at Le Colonial hotel in Fort Kochi:

The day before, a Times of India reporter had persuaded her to provide a reflection in art on the death of the courageous woman victim of the Delhi gang-rape which galvanised India. Here is the resulting memorial, sketched spontaneously:

 Nirbhaya’s million sisters mourn today. Let us keep up the fight. Let us not let them forget.

We went in search of Mandalay Hall in Jew Town but it was closed with three locks on the door and a drooping Biennale flag:

Earlier Htein Lin and a companion performed a re-enactment of the maritime links of Kochi with Burma, courtesy of the Clark House Initiative, an art gallery in Mumbai:

However, we  enjoyed some sunny moments in thriving Jew Town. Here are KumKum, Raja Menon, and Anjolie Ela Menon:

Gallery OED on Bazar Road is hosting a collateral show of artists on the theme ’Re-picturing the Feminine’:

Yvette Vexta's overwhelming nude is suspended on the eastern wall of OED gallery:

Nearer eye level is Dhruvi Acharya’s painting of women with thought bubbles:

Kate Benyon has painted women in circles; the central figure has a Medusa-like aspect:

Chitra Ganesh's woman transfixes the gaze with fingers dripping off her tongue:

Another painting depicts a woman, high on a hookah with unusual plumbing:

A gentler woman by another artist has embroidery blooming from her head, however:

For this hanging drape, artist Fiona Hall may have been inspired by a vision of the skulls of Cambodians killed by the Pol Pot regime in the Killing Fields:

As we waited to view the art at Moidu House two Brahminy kites alighted on stumps of coconut palms at the Customs jetty on Calvetty Road:

After viewing Moidu House Raja and Ela Menon completed their circuit at the Pepper House: