guys, after hari had written a little bit about the first book of the ramayana which madangopal brought back from india, i couldnt help but pick it up myself.
it is entitled prince of ayodhya. what a book! at first, i thought the writer was too concerned with the physicality of the characters - he loves describing the dhoti, the langota, the silk sari, the shape and feel and texture of things, but later, it became obvious that he wanted to make each scene as palpable as possible. he was writing to relate to our senses. and as hari has told you, he starts with rama having a nightmare of ayodhya being raped and plundered by asuras and rakshasas!
rama is drawn carefully, revealing his very centredness slowly. events begin to spark off intense circumstances of danger, intrigue, uncertainty... and in all this, the sage vishwamitra strides in majestically to lead rama away into the forest. throughout the heinous plot of ravana to sack the arya nations of ayodhya and mithila are made known to us right from the beginning. this is very clever because it ties up what we know as the end of the ramayana with the beginning. this looming danger drives the entire plot. but in between, the circumstances of the characters are revealed in an interlacing web of relationships which are challenged by the external forces of both evil and divine.
in the second book, the siege of mithila, we find a beautiful sita, warrior princess, who vibes with rama on every level. this is a beautiful relationship. their chance meeting on the road of adventure, the swayamvara scene which is fraught with danger and excitement because ravana has come in disguise to win sita's hand, and the impending irrevocable destruction of mithila by the demonic army, and the extremely intense beauty of rama's selfless action at the end of this book make these first two books of ashok k banker absolute must reads for all of us.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Pune journal
Pune,7.1.07
i'm beginning to understand usmanji's method of guiding. He basically lives the poem about what love does to you written by khalil gibran in the prophet....during the morning practice with usmanji,his daughter and another student, i was suffering to play at the speed they were going..and usmanji just kept going on and on and on..but in between ..he would give me those smiles from the corner of his eyes which sort of said " so.. are u tired now ?"..which actually kept me going and the more he could see i was suffering ..he would smile more frequently and say "make sure u r not using any shortcuts"(there are shortcuts in tabla for stamina's sake). He would finally ..after like an hour come to the grand tihai..i would be so relieved and juz when i thought it was finally over, he would start all over again at a faster tempo (all i played was dha dhin dhin dha which is hard coz u only use ur index finger for all 4 syllables).Finally it comes to an end. The best part was that a few hours later, he asks me to play again and this time i got a shock when i heard the quality of the sound that i was producing...it sounded so much louder and clearer..i dare not use the word richer though('rich' is a big word and should only be used to describe the sound produced by musicians like prakash anne and usmanji)..haha..and most joyful of all, i got the opportunity to feed usmanji a few biscuits ... i felt so contented that day........ more comin up soon.. for now adios amigo.
i'm beginning to understand usmanji's method of guiding. He basically lives the poem about what love does to you written by khalil gibran in the prophet....during the morning practice with usmanji,his daughter and another student, i was suffering to play at the speed they were going..and usmanji just kept going on and on and on..but in between ..he would give me those smiles from the corner of his eyes which sort of said " so.. are u tired now ?"..which actually kept me going and the more he could see i was suffering ..he would smile more frequently and say "make sure u r not using any shortcuts"(there are shortcuts in tabla for stamina's sake). He would finally ..after like an hour come to the grand tihai..i would be so relieved and juz when i thought it was finally over, he would start all over again at a faster tempo (all i played was dha dhin dhin dha which is hard coz u only use ur index finger for all 4 syllables).Finally it comes to an end. The best part was that a few hours later, he asks me to play again and this time i got a shock when i heard the quality of the sound that i was producing...it sounded so much louder and clearer..i dare not use the word richer though('rich' is a big word and should only be used to describe the sound produced by musicians like prakash anne and usmanji)..haha..and most joyful of all, i got the opportunity to feed usmanji a few biscuits ... i felt so contented that day........ more comin up soon.. for now adios amigo.
Monday, March 19, 2007
My Pune experience
Hi guys.. Uncle Ket had told me to write about my experience in Pune.. so here goes... Initially when Prakash anne had told me about what it would be like i thought it was going to be all enjoyable and full of fun... lepak and stuff... but when i went there, it was a totally new experience. I felt kinda alienated from the rest of the people there and... u know, living alone in a bachelor's hostel... sharing a room with total strangers... no TFA... it was kinda hard to live with... and all i did was practice tabla for 3-5 hours everyday (of course not all at one go). I was kinda of stripped away from all the other things i like... the people, language, lifestyle i was familiar with and comfortable in... all that was juz taken away for those two months and it seemed like eternity everyday... honestly...deep down... couldn't wait to come back.
but i stayed on and made the decision to stay back that extra three weeks which was actually the time i benefited from most (tabla wise)... and the thing is i came back and read somewhere that the best choices we make are sometimes the most difficult ones... and well, i'm happy i made that descision and am actually proud for having made a decision and stuck with it no matter what the odds, for the first time of my life. I'll type in the details from my journal later... gtg... i'm blogging from college... first day...
The orientation makes me feel that this course is challenging... exciting and fun... adios amigo.
madman.
but i stayed on and made the decision to stay back that extra three weeks which was actually the time i benefited from most (tabla wise)... and the thing is i came back and read somewhere that the best choices we make are sometimes the most difficult ones... and well, i'm happy i made that descision and am actually proud for having made a decision and stuck with it no matter what the odds, for the first time of my life. I'll type in the details from my journal later... gtg... i'm blogging from college... first day...
The orientation makes me feel that this course is challenging... exciting and fun... adios amigo.
madman.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Prince of Ayodhya [The Ramayana]
hey guys....just felt like writing another blog, something to do with madan's blog. Now i know that most of you won't be able to read the blog these next few days or weeks coz i know that we have exams or shows.....but what the heck.....
Anyway, The Prince of Ayodhya, is the 1st book of the whole Ramayana series by Ashok K. Banker. The only thing different about this Ramayana is that it has been 'configured' a bit, i mean storywise. I'll just give you guys a brief story on it..........now it the story starts of when Rama, in his teen years, has a dream-like prophecy, a prophecy so terrible and painful to watch that he is scared and terrified that it will come true. The death of Ayodhya. And the demon causing this is of course, ya......the Lord of Lanka, Ravana (i hope Mayilai remembers his character when he was a kid!!!!) . Days are going by and Dasaratha has to descend the throne, therefore he chooses Rama, his eldest, to become the new King. Of course, Second Queen Kaikeyi is all worked up about this and disagrees with him. According to her, Bharat, her son, should be the rightful king, but alas, the King sticks to his idea..........Then, Sage Vishwamitra comes along to Ayodhya. (There's a whole big chunk which i won't share coz its a very......unRamayanaish thing...hahaha). So, he has a request, and that is to take prince Rama with him so that he can conduct his yajna without disturbance by any asuras..............this is where the story starts. The action, adventure, pain, loss, and so many other interesting aspects from this 'side' of the Ramayana.
Now i better get started on the 2nd book.....another 5 more to go!!!!!!!!!.....anyway enjoy yourselves all of you, and read books like these, then maybe we can do something with the younger generation.......
Anyway, The Prince of Ayodhya, is the 1st book of the whole Ramayana series by Ashok K. Banker. The only thing different about this Ramayana is that it has been 'configured' a bit, i mean storywise. I'll just give you guys a brief story on it..........now it the story starts of when Rama, in his teen years, has a dream-like prophecy, a prophecy so terrible and painful to watch that he is scared and terrified that it will come true. The death of Ayodhya. And the demon causing this is of course, ya......the Lord of Lanka, Ravana (i hope Mayilai remembers his character when he was a kid!!!!) . Days are going by and Dasaratha has to descend the throne, therefore he chooses Rama, his eldest, to become the new King. Of course, Second Queen Kaikeyi is all worked up about this and disagrees with him. According to her, Bharat, her son, should be the rightful king, but alas, the King sticks to his idea..........Then, Sage Vishwamitra comes along to Ayodhya. (There's a whole big chunk which i won't share coz its a very......unRamayanaish thing...hahaha). So, he has a request, and that is to take prince Rama with him so that he can conduct his yajna without disturbance by any asuras..............this is where the story starts. The action, adventure, pain, loss, and so many other interesting aspects from this 'side' of the Ramayana.
Now i better get started on the 2nd book.....another 5 more to go!!!!!!!!!.....anyway enjoy yourselves all of you, and read books like these, then maybe we can do something with the younger generation.......
Monday, March 12, 2007
Drama - The Truth and Beauty of it
Umesh Shanker
ok..this is my first blog...btw i was supposed 2 post this up 3 weeks ago, but unfortunately i couldn't..sorry uncle ket. so anyway...3 weeks ago...i was watching 'the taming of the shrew' on the halkmark channel. even uncle ket and hari watched it. the whole story was not exactly the same as what we did and what i read a little in swathi's book ''Illustrated tales from Shakespeare''. it has the stories of 15 of his plays - just the story and only few dialogues. wel,l the theme there WAS 'taming of d shrew'...petruchio was taming katherine...but in a different way. in that adaptation, petruchio was looking for a rich wife... and was introduced to kat by a friend. at first, after knowing about her, he was hesitating a bit... but then later, he actually loved kat... and in return kat also loved him. here kat is a very high ranking politician.
on the weding day, the groom got drunk and crashed the wedding in his boxers and suit top. but still she decided to go on with d marriage in that condition. only god knows why...but she is also pissed off with him at the same time. and then they went on their honeymoon (i forgot the place) and there he hid her suitcase and forced her to spend one whole day in her big wedding gown (oh ya.. they went on ther honeymoon straight after their marriage from the church). he bullied her in so many ways that i cant remember now.. hehe ...ok and then at night, he brought the suitcase, and threw it in the swimming pool. and 1 more thing... he invited that friend who introduced them to the place they were having their honeymoon but he came a bit later lah... so he did all this to teach kat a lesson..taming the shrew..and managed to tame her. then they just lived together and eventually her anger went down and the whole thing went on.....
what i am trying to say here is that drama is a never ending way of doing or expressing somethin...you can take 1 play...any play and you can do a million adaptations of it... then you can also do misadaptations! and like that you can create a million plays from just one original piece. one can adapt a drama in any way he or she wants according to her mood. or maybe based on his/her own life or based on his/her observations of other people's life... all using the same characters or also if you want to change the characters according to the story line. and i find drama can be a way of expressing your feelings. if we cant express them in reality, we can use those emotions in drama.
drama has also helped me become a better actor...haha. in school we are given something to act out, and being a part of this theater group has helped me to identify the right moods or tones to be used in telling a dialogue... not only that, it has taught me how to throw my voice without shouting... which helps me in my prefect life in school...funny huh...
so basically, drama has helped me in sooo many different ways and has helped me realise things now. thanks to uncle ket and this whole PET group, i have begun to appreciate literature and shakespeare's works. i really love being part of this group and part of TFA. if i had not come 2 tfa, i definitely wont be part of this incredible group. and to have such a great drama teacher, uncle ket 2 teach me loads of new stuff... and i feel lucky to be able to take part in 3 pieces...
my first ever ''the crow, the mole and the tortoise'', then ''malaysian merchant of venice'' and finally ''kadalin shakti''. i wish we will have more full length plays to come and i can be a part of it.
oh ya uncle ket... i was just reading the play "much ado about nothing" from swathi's book and i found it quite interesting. i think it will be a great play, if we can do it...so that's all!
ok..this is my first blog...btw i was supposed 2 post this up 3 weeks ago, but unfortunately i couldn't..sorry uncle ket. so anyway...3 weeks ago...i was watching 'the taming of the shrew' on the halkmark channel. even uncle ket and hari watched it. the whole story was not exactly the same as what we did and what i read a little in swathi's book ''Illustrated tales from Shakespeare''. it has the stories of 15 of his plays - just the story and only few dialogues. wel,l the theme there WAS 'taming of d shrew'...petruchio was taming katherine...but in a different way. in that adaptation, petruchio was looking for a rich wife... and was introduced to kat by a friend. at first, after knowing about her, he was hesitating a bit... but then later, he actually loved kat... and in return kat also loved him. here kat is a very high ranking politician.
on the weding day, the groom got drunk and crashed the wedding in his boxers and suit top. but still she decided to go on with d marriage in that condition. only god knows why...but she is also pissed off with him at the same time. and then they went on their honeymoon (i forgot the place) and there he hid her suitcase and forced her to spend one whole day in her big wedding gown (oh ya.. they went on ther honeymoon straight after their marriage from the church). he bullied her in so many ways that i cant remember now.. hehe ...ok and then at night, he brought the suitcase, and threw it in the swimming pool. and 1 more thing... he invited that friend who introduced them to the place they were having their honeymoon but he came a bit later lah... so he did all this to teach kat a lesson..taming the shrew..and managed to tame her. then they just lived together and eventually her anger went down and the whole thing went on.....
what i am trying to say here is that drama is a never ending way of doing or expressing somethin...you can take 1 play...any play and you can do a million adaptations of it... then you can also do misadaptations! and like that you can create a million plays from just one original piece. one can adapt a drama in any way he or she wants according to her mood. or maybe based on his/her own life or based on his/her observations of other people's life... all using the same characters or also if you want to change the characters according to the story line. and i find drama can be a way of expressing your feelings. if we cant express them in reality, we can use those emotions in drama.
drama has also helped me become a better actor...haha. in school we are given something to act out, and being a part of this theater group has helped me to identify the right moods or tones to be used in telling a dialogue... not only that, it has taught me how to throw my voice without shouting... which helps me in my prefect life in school...funny huh...
so basically, drama has helped me in sooo many different ways and has helped me realise things now. thanks to uncle ket and this whole PET group, i have begun to appreciate literature and shakespeare's works. i really love being part of this group and part of TFA. if i had not come 2 tfa, i definitely wont be part of this incredible group. and to have such a great drama teacher, uncle ket 2 teach me loads of new stuff... and i feel lucky to be able to take part in 3 pieces...
my first ever ''the crow, the mole and the tortoise'', then ''malaysian merchant of venice'' and finally ''kadalin shakti''. i wish we will have more full length plays to come and i can be a part of it.
oh ya uncle ket... i was just reading the play "much ado about nothing" from swathi's book and i found it quite interesting. i think it will be a great play, if we can do it...so that's all!
Friday, February 23, 2007
Thinking about Rama
Hi everyone, i am finally back in KL. I am pretty eager 2 see all of u guys. I missed all the plays u all did here in jan and feb. I'm sure it must have been wonderful. What are the new projects comin up ? I had some ideas about doin something with the kids like how vijay anne and sharmila akka did with us. I thought maybe we should do it under PET with Uncle Ket's guidance. Maybe a ramayana or somethin. I've been reading this new version of ramayana by this writer called Ashok K. Banker and it's really good; somewhat like mixture of William Buck's ramayana and some Lord of The Rings influence. I feel that dramatically i'ts really good so i got the whole series (six books in all) and thought we should all read it for some inspiration and then put our ideas together. Just a suggestion. We gotta how things go. For now Adios.
madman. aka sarang burung.
Madan
madman. aka sarang burung.
Madan
Sunday, February 04, 2007
The beauty of drama...
What is drama? To me, drama means learning to bring out your feelings through an act. It is about learning many things like improvisation, response and getting into the core of a character. By learning and exploring these aspects and applying them into our lives, we can or will become better people. To me, i think this is because we eventually learn to control or show certain feelings.... i have also learnt that when we our mind, heart and soul come together as one, we form the CHARACTER... the true or the real person... the one who is not 'me' but 'I'...
Throughout these past few years, i have been keeping so much inside of me that i did not know how to show or tell people that i was 'being torn between life and understanding'... i was a loner, a boy who did not understand many aspects of life and yet i helped those who were feeling the same as me... i had only a 'mask' which i would use in front of those close to me... a fake me at that point of time....until today am i the same.... ask any of my friends, and they'll tell you that "the Hari i knew was never like this".... i think, although i don't want such things to happen.
Only through drama was i able to let go of my fears, my anger, my sorrow, my pain. When i wanted to bring my heart, mind and soul together did i let go. Improvisation, playing the character differently and not the correct way... Appa had given us this task so that we could discover or explore new ways to play that particular character... it struck me that it was time i should play my character the way i had always been living.... a Person who was stuck in the corner, who wanted to come out but did not know how.... a person who would worry about other people and not himself, who would worry about what people would say... When i had done it, i was still in my 'character' ......it took me awhile to get out...and then BOOM....i broke out...that was bad i was feeling inside.......i could not hold it any longer............i wanted to fly away into the night, to get away from everything, to be free..........just like my dreams...
Well, in a nutshell, i am grateful to my parents, who have showed me many interesting things, who have taught me to be strong and confident, to my friends who have heard me out.......and of course to Swamiji....................................'Deep in the heart's core, there was a boy who was being torn between life, understanding and love. Why?, he asked himself and to all those listening to him. And then it struck him that, he was going through LIFE, UNDERSTANDING and LOVE'.....
Throughout these past few years, i have been keeping so much inside of me that i did not know how to show or tell people that i was 'being torn between life and understanding'... i was a loner, a boy who did not understand many aspects of life and yet i helped those who were feeling the same as me... i had only a 'mask' which i would use in front of those close to me... a fake me at that point of time....until today am i the same.... ask any of my friends, and they'll tell you that "the Hari i knew was never like this".... i think, although i don't want such things to happen.
Only through drama was i able to let go of my fears, my anger, my sorrow, my pain. When i wanted to bring my heart, mind and soul together did i let go. Improvisation, playing the character differently and not the correct way... Appa had given us this task so that we could discover or explore new ways to play that particular character... it struck me that it was time i should play my character the way i had always been living.... a Person who was stuck in the corner, who wanted to come out but did not know how.... a person who would worry about other people and not himself, who would worry about what people would say... When i had done it, i was still in my 'character' ......it took me awhile to get out...and then BOOM....i broke out...that was bad i was feeling inside.......i could not hold it any longer............i wanted to fly away into the night, to get away from everything, to be free..........just like my dreams...
Well, in a nutshell, i am grateful to my parents, who have showed me many interesting things, who have taught me to be strong and confident, to my friends who have heard me out.......and of course to Swamiji....................................'Deep in the heart's core, there was a boy who was being torn between life, understanding and love. Why?, he asked himself and to all those listening to him. And then it struck him that, he was going through LIFE, UNDERSTANDING and LOVE'.....
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