Nritya Tarangini

My research work in India is focused on Tarangams and Kuchipudi dance. Tarangam, is a common name for a song that is part of Narayana Teertha's Sanskrit opera Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini. Though there are over 150 songs in the text, only a handful are commonly performed by Kuchipudi artists.

Over the last few months I and my mentor Dr. K. Uma Rama Rao have been putting together a production that is based on excerpts from the Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini. I will be presenting this show in Hyderabad in 2 weeks, at the Ravindra Bharati! I am excited to present my own production, this has always been a dream of mine. 

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The above is the flyer for Nritya Tarangini! If you are in Hyderabad on the date, please come and support me. I think it is going to be a very interesting program!

Tank Bund Trip

For those of you that do not know this: Hyderabad has a twin city Secunderabad. People say they are separate cities but really it is all one big city part of "the greater Hyderabad." Honestly, if you counted all that is part of "the greater Hyderabad" that is one HUGE area. Click here for a map of this crazy place...  So Hyderabad is approximately the southern 60% of the map and Secunderabad is the northern 40% or less.The greater Hyderabad shares one government / mayor etc.

Last Tuesday I went to visit my Vani akka (older sister / older cousin) and her family in Sainikpuri. Sainikpuri is a suburb of Secunderabad and I really love that place because I feel like I am actually away from city life in a nice and comfy suburb. (Reminds me of home actually). After eating a lunch there made by my aama (aunt), my akka and I decided to head back to the main city and do something exciting, like visiting Tank Bund.


The Hussain Sagar (or Tank Bund as it is commonly called) is the only water relief for the land locked city of Hyderabad. It is a decent sized lake that sits right in the middle of the city. Though often the water from it smells due to large amounts of trash / god knows what dumped into it, it is definitely a beautiful part of the city to see.  (Can any Hyderabadi please tell me why it is called Tank Bund and what that name means?)

So on a lovely Tuesday afternoon, Vani akka and I set out to make a trip to Tank Bund. There is a park called Lumbini which rests right on the banks of the Hussain Sagar. Going to Lumbini park was a common outing for me and my family back when we lived in India, when I was just a kid. And yes, it is here where there is an indoor light show in which terrorists planted a fatal bomb blast a couple years ago. =(

The park is small and adorable. Palm trees line the waterfront and there is plenty of room to play on lawns on in sand (if you are a kid or a Teja). There is also a boating deck for those who want to go out on the lake.

The most significant aspect of the Hussain Sagar is the large statue of Buddha that sits in the middle of the lake. From a distance, one would say it looks like the Statue of Liberty; if only it was green :-p

Anyway, if you choose to hop on a boat ride, many stop at the Buddha statue so you can get a closer look. The excellent weather (hot but breezy) tempted us to take the boat ride, so akka and I set out. After arriving at the statue we could see that the base was stone carved with images from Buddha's life.

Finally, we ended the day by taking rides around the park on a kid's train. I naturally sat in an orange cart cause it matched the orange flower in my hair. And during the ride I took a cool picture I thought I would share. =)

 Haha...  I know I took a simple trip around Hyderabad and elaborated it. But really for you guys to understand this city things should be told in such a detailed fashion. ( Though I think most of my readers have lived in or been to Hyderabad before :-p )

On a side note, I wanted to say, one of my New Year's resolutions was to update this blog more often, which I am definitely doing. Be proud of me people!!! It is rare that New Year's resolutions actually happen for anyone (and especially me). I do however fail in my other resolution, which was to sleep earlier (it is already 2 am here), so that means I need to sign off for the night. Enjoy.

Program Review: Kuchipudi Nrityosava

Hyderabad is like a desert for traditional arts. The programs here are very mediocre and poorly attended. The worst part is, there is no interest in developing art culture.

On Monday Jan 24th I managed to find a Kuchipudi dance recital to attend. It was hosted by Telugu University, which is the only institution in Hyderabad that pays any attention to classical arts. However, the organizers, as usual, did a horrible job publicizing their event.

First on the agenda was an hour long discussion conducted by a few men who do not know a thing about dance. They discussed how Kuchipudi is on a serious decline and needs to be revived and brought out to the world. This is the case with all Kuchipudi events nowadays: lots of talk and little progress. It frustrates me to my core to listen to these people. I don't want to talk anymore, I want to do!!

The program commenced with a performance by Vyjayanthi Kashi's daughter Prathiksha Kashi. I found her program particularly interesting as she presented two items from the Krishna Leela Tarangini, which is the text I am doing my research on. Following tradition she first presented Jaya Jaya Swamin, an invocation to Ganesha. This choreography was nothing like the choreography I learned for this song. The song was actually sung in a different raagam, with text from various other songs/slokams mixed in. I found the choreography to be fresh because of the use of the full stage, especially the diagonal lines. The second item from the Tarangini she performed was Nanda Nandana Gopala, set in Raagamalika. The song and choreography were very similar to what I learned from my Guru Uma Aunty.Traditionally in "Tarangam" choreography the dancer narrates an episode from Krishna's life in the middle of the item, Prathiksha did not do so in this item. Though the choreography origin is questionable, it was well executed by the dancer.

The second artist to grace the stage was Bala Krishna. I had not heard of him before, I still do not know if he is a traditional artist from the Kuchipudi village or an avid learner like the rest of us. He began with the Bala Gopala Mam Tarangam. This was once a very popular Tarangam, but has not been performed in recent times. I was hoping to bring it back into performance, which is why I am presenting it during my show on February 20th. Bala Krishna beat me to it. He was very graceful and feminine but the choreography was not refined. The movements seemed rough and almost vulgar, which was a stark contrast to his feminine facial expressions. He narrated the popular episode of Krishna stealing butter from a gopika's house. He finally concluded the piece by dancing on the rims of a brass plate with a pot of water on his head. Since the 80s, Vempati Chinna Satyam's clan has grown immensely (they perform tarangam with only the plate and no pot), so seeing Bala Krishna perform this tarangam was a treat.

The second item he performed was a sabdam that was on the Ramayanam. He narrated the story of Marich disgusing himself a deer. And later Ravana disguising himself as a begging Brahmin in order to lure Sita. I really enjoyed this piece because he easily transitioned between male and female characters and the difference was very clear. I have noticed male artists are easily able to portray female roles but I have seen very few female artists playing strong male roles well. It is easy for a female to play a character such as Krishna or Vishnu who are not as masculine as the demonic male characters. But most females have a difficult time playing characters like Ravana or Shiva. It is interesting to see how even Indian male gods are classified in dance.

The last portion of the concert that I saw was a choreography by Bhagavatula Sethu Ram. I do not wish to say much about this performance because it was nothing extraordinary. Neither the dancers abilities, not the choreography stood out. I think it is a problem with group performances as synchronization never seems to be a priority for Kuchipudi artists.

I am really hoping to see more Kuchipudi programs soon! Hyderabad, I am pleading you......

Exhibition

I have a friend in Hyderabad named Marisa. She works at the US Consulate here and her job is to interview people who want visas. I met her back in October during my first few months here. Anyway, Marisa has served her two years time in Hyderabad and her assignment ends next week :-( so she will move back to D.C.

Since she is leaving soon Marisa decided to throw a small get together on Friday night.  Where she invited her other co-workers from the consulate. We got a chance to meet four newcomers to Hyderabad, who all speak Telugu! I thought it was super cool that they spent the last 6 months learning Telugu and they are really very fluent. In fact, they know more vocabulary than me. I suppose it is cause they learned it formally whereas I am limited to the vocabulary people have spoken to me so far.

When we told Andrew (one of the Hyderabad newbies) that we are going to exhibition tomorrow and he should join us. Andrew responded "what are they exhibiting?!" HAH.. this made me laugh =D

Exhibition is like a giant carnival in Hyderabad. There is this place called exhibition grounds, which is a huge area, in middle of the city. The exhibition, which is a carnival/vendor fair runs for 1.5 months every year, around this time. Apparently during the rest of the year the grounds are empty. This seems like a waste of space to me but it seems they make way too much money in that 1.5 months they don't even bother for the rest of the year. There must have been 25,000+ people there last night and the entrance free is Rs. 20. Inside there are games, rides, food and lots of vendors. So you can imagine how much money they make.

Let me tell you the exhibition is like Disneyland minus the Disney characters walking around. Obviously its a little more dirty cause its India. But the food is also infinitely better, cause its India. =p

There are 1000+ vendors who set up for the month to sell clothes, toys, perfumes, fabric, house decorations, vagera vagera (btw this is the word for etc here).  There are rides including the giant ferris wheel. There is one "show" called the well of death. In this show they have 4 cars and 5 motorcycles driving really fast in a small area. The thrill is that the vehicles miss each other by just a little bit.

I went to the fair with Aditya and Laddu. As we were about to get on the ferris wheel there was a lady in a burkha in front of us in line, her mother came up to her and told her "don't sit in a compartment with boys, sit in one with girls only." But the lady did not have any option she had to sit with me, Adi and Laddu. I entered the compartment and proceeded to sit across from her and she says "Aunty, can you sit next to me." !!!!!  I could not imagine, sitting there in my cute little kurti, in what world I could have been perceived as an auntie!!!! I was so angry and what made it worse is that as the ferris moved faster and higher she had the nerve to hold onto me after calling me Aunty!! UGH

Me with a cotton candy mustache

At the exhibition the three of us managed to consume: cotton candy, mirchi bajji, samosa, alu toast (which was spelled alu toust), noodles, manchurian, pineapple juice, orange juice, strawberry juice, kulfi and sweet lassi. I think there was more, I am just forgetting. I just wanted to say that strawberry juice in India is awesome!

Adi & Laddu

We also rode the giant wheel and this other ride which is similar to something in Great America. Laddu was a little scaredy-cat. =)  

View from the top of the Ferris wheel!

After all the excitement, I spent over an hour searching for a white/off-white cotton saree but didn't manage to select one. I ended up buying 3 pairs of earrings instead. Poor Adi and Laddu joined me on this endeavor. =p thanks guys!!

Overall it was SUPER fun! And I would definitely recommend anyone in Hyderabad during January/February to attend exhibition!!!

Research Progress?

It is nearly 12 AM and I have been sitting on my bed trying to do "research" for the last couple hours.... the result? I feel like I accomplished nothing. If any of you have tried to conduct research you know that this happens A LOT. Slowly but surely I am getting used to it. 

Usually research subjects are vast and do not have the information easily accessible; hence they are being researched. So it takes a painfully long time to get things organized and sift through the ocean of knowledge. Most of the time I feel like I am drowning in this ocean of Kuchipudi. Searching for something about Tarangams, hoping it floats to me. Instead, I have been finding many other interesting subjects to take me off track (and if you know me well you know how easily I get distracted).

The fact is, this 9 month Fulbright grant is not enough time to do the work I set out to do. The worst part is, I am 5 months in with nothing substantial in my hands. What does this mean? Crunch Time!!! [Teja freaks out]

Other Fulbrighters have mentioned that there is a point midway through you project when you feel like.. oh shit?!? what have i done?!?! what i am doing?!?!  But you don't have to be a Fulbrighter to feel this way, everyone does at some point during a big project. I have hit that point. I think I am passing over it now cause I have figured out how to deal with it: small goals.

I never knew how to set small goals until recently. I still haven't mastered the art. Sometimes my goals are too big (like learn Sanskrit), sometimes they are too small (like withdraw money from atm) and sometimes they are just right (like blog at least once a week). So I am sticking to my "just right" goal right now.

If goals are too big then you end up swimming, actually treading, for your life, because you have nothing to hold onto. It is not so bad if goals are too small, but the problem with this is then you end up having 200 small goals to finish and you don't know which to accomplish first.

Another problem I have is: after starting on a goal and making some satisfactory progress, I move on. I start with the next goal and forget to finish the first one! Someone please tell me how to solve this one..... its really getting to me. :-p

Okay, other than the business of goal setting and swimming in knowledge. I attended the International Symposium on Kalapas at Central University today. I got a chance to see Gollakalapam performed in Nattuvamela Tradition and Bhamakalapam in Kuchipudi Tradition.

I finally managed to put into words why Kuchipudi has not become and will never become as popular as Bharatanatyam. Kuchipudi as a dance form is so tied up with language and literature. It is not just a collection of movements, but an enacting of the literature. This dependency on language limits the audience and hence lessens popularity. After all, no one can enjoy watching Gollakalapam without understanding the spiritual and philosophical meaning behind the dialogue.

Since the now generations of Telugu speaking people cannot even fully understand these dialogues, there is no feasible way for the dance form to continue existing as it is. It saddens me to admit that the era of "real" Kuchipudi has come to an end. But I am positive with great effort we can modify and change the traditions to create something enjoyable to the modern audience. Whether or not we get the blessings of "traditional" Kuchipudi artists and gurus remains to be seen.  

Tick Tock

Time is rushing by. It feels like just yesterday I arrived in India but I have completed more than half my Fulbright. I feel happy with my experiences in here so far but, unsatisfied with the amount of work I have done. Slowly the pace is picking up. There is a lot to catch up on in the last few months.

Kuchipudi Village
In November, I got the chance to visit Kuchipudi village, where the dance form really flourished for the last couple centuries. It was great to visit the birthplace of Kuchipudi, but the trip also brought to light the pathetic state of the village presently. There are many great gurus who live in the town, most very old and unable to carry on a proper interview. These people possess so much knowledge but seem to be in no state to pass it on to the next generation. What upset me the most was that there was an excellent facility built recently to teach Kuchipudi. When I visited the school and spoke with the teachers I found out there were only a handful of students in such a large facility. In fact, the dorms were completely empty. It saddened me to see such a good facility go to waste. I will definitely write a post soon about the village specifically, and include some pictures.

Kuchipudi Convention
In December, we had the International Kuchipudi Convention; a MEGA event that attracted over 5000 in delegates. Being in Hyderabad, I could not pass up the opportunity to go so I was one of these delegates. The shows during the conference were average. Different dance schools were given 15 min each and they wanted to throw all their students on stage, due to this attitude the quality was reduced greatly. I performed with my Guru Dr. Uma Rama Rao and 5 other students of hers. To be honest, I was not very impressed with our program either, as it was thrown together at the last minute. There was a huge list of  lecture demonstrations and many of them sounded interesting. Unfortunately, of the few I attended, many of them were in Telugu and though I consider myself a fluent speaker in Telugu, I could not follow them. Many of the lectures I attended that I could follow were presented by people that I know personally, most of which I attended due to obligation. I am hoping that the video compilation of the lec-dems will provide more insight into the world of Kuchipudi. The conference was overall a grand sucess because a significant portion of the delegates were kids from nearby villages and they had the opportunity to attend such a large and lavish event. I do believe this is a childhood memory many of them will cherish. I think the convention was most successful in motivating and inspiring these children to continue dancing. This is essential for Kuchipudi to survive in the future generations.

Hyderabad

It's been a long time since I last posted and my arrival in Hyderabad now feels like ages ago. My brother, my father and my grandparents joined me and my mother in Hyderabad. We visited family, saw some tourist spots and finished furnishing our new flat. Mid September my mother, father and brother went back to the states. My grandparents remained with me and have been taking care of me since.

During the last few months I have had such a wide range of experiences. I celebrated my birthday in India for the first time since I turned 7. For the first time I witnessed a wedding and for the first time I witnessed a funeral. I saw many festivals celebrated in the most colorful and splendid fashion imaginable. In addition, my research has gone through many ups and downs and now I am wishing that I bothered to record it all.

The fact is I am really bad at consistently blogging. And being bogged down with emotional up and downs that accompanied by academic obstacles did not help. Also, I began a C++ class at NIIT and that has been taking up time as well. The festive season is over now, and my research in falling into place, so I think I have a little more time and motivation to think about blogging. I did document all events through video and photos so I will most definitely upload them asap.

Having family in Hyderabad is both a blessing and a curse. I feel that without them I would be lonely and miserable. But knowing people here and already being part of the "culture" makes me feel that I am not getting the complete Fulbright experience. I'm not really sure what the "Fulbright experience" is but I don't think this is it.

For now, I am more focused on my research. I'm trying to work more and experience less, because the last 3 months of events has taken its toll on me both physically and emotionally. A huge obstacle I encountered in my research was that my dance teacher Uma Aunty was hospitalized for nearly 2 weeks. She now requires 1 month to recover. During this time I am still taking classes from Revathi aunty. In addition I have a lot "book" work including reading, looking through archives and conducting interviews.

I feel like this was a very to-the-point post, but I suppose that is how it would be after I have not blogged in so long. Anyway wish me luck! Because now I am about get my hands dirty with the work that has been piling up.