Kathak by Rani Khanam

Digital duo. A viewer snapping Kathak performance with his phone camera. 

 Rani Khanam performing. The evening performance was preceded by her lecture demonstration of "Improvisation aspects of Kathak -Laya and Bhav" in the morning

Manipuri dance by Suman Sarawgi and party at Mudra Festival

Suman Sarawgi and troupe at Mudra festival, Vylopilli bhavan, Trivandrum

Ms.Sarawgi will followup her performance on Monday with a lecdem on Tuesday on 'Tracing the origin of Manipuri dance- one of the oldest as well as a living tradition of India",  Pity I will miss it.

Kuchipudi

Anupama Mohan performs Kuchipudi. Anupama had her training in Kuchipudi Art Academy Chennai

Odissi

Aloka Kanungo performs Odissi at the Mudra festival in Vylopilli Bhavan. Aloka has trained under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Raghunath Dutt and Mayadhar rout. She runs Shinjin Nrityalaya

Mohiniyattam at Vylopilli

Kalamandalam Sarawathi (not in the picture), and her disciples performed Mohiniyattam at he Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan Koothambalam as part of the Mudra dance festival.

Keechakavadham Kathakali

Keechakavadham Part I, Kathakali at Margi Theatre, Fort, Thiruvananthapuram

Photo Exhibition

Yesterday, I visited an exhibition titled, 'Hues and Barks' by photographer composer,  Udaybhanu, at the Lalithakala Academy gallery, Vylopilli Bhavan. Thiruvananthapuram.

The show, described as An Abstra-Photo Exhibition, is sub - titled ' An attempt to make a lightning before the  thunderous axe falls'.

One would have thought that seeing 25 to 30 closeups of tree barks would have been boring.  However, Udayabhanu's images were technically perfect,eye catching, with some amount of intrigue. One could play games with one's own interpretations. Inconspicuous captions on the side of the frames gave the photographer's perspective.
Above all, what came through  was the photographer's deep love for nature.

Recommended for all lovers of nature,  art and photography.

This is an international  tour with halts in the Gulf,  Calicut, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Trivandrum.  The show is on till 27th at Vylopilli.

His website : www.huemenstudio.com

An evening stroll along East Fort

A stroll along the busy East Fort is always interesting for a photographer. Not having much else to do on a Sunday evening, I decided to do just that. Earlier, my attempt to photograph the Ganesas being got ready for the Ganesh Chathurthi was disappointing as the place was locked out. So East fort it was. I parked my car in the new parking lot opposite the Railway station on Power House road and walked. There was some Onam and Ramzan fare by the Supplyco, some handloom exhibition, a meeting of the united Hindu forum at the Putharikandam maidan.  Skipping all these, I moved to ' kottakkagam'. It was mostly the vendors and their ware that caught my eye. Here are the images. 

Nendran Chips

Chakka chips (jack fruit chips)

This is Peer Mohammed from Palyamkottai, TN. He runs the Padmam chip stall near the Padmanabhaswamy temple. He has got fresh Nendran and other chips ready for Onam . He has been living in Manacaud for the last 25 years. 

Lottery tickets are ubiquitous in Kerala

A blind artiste blasts out Malayalam songs. Note the buckets for the offerings and the multi-faith icons.

A vanishing tribe. An old umbrella repair man.

2nd day of dance festival

The second day of the Sree Yasoda Mahotsav dance youth festival organised by Samudra Arts International at Vylopilli Samskrithi Bhavan in association with the Indian Council for Cultural Affairs.
Besides, Kathak (by Hemanta Kalita), Bharatnatyam and Odissi, it also included a contemporary item by Nitin Gandhi.

Dance Festival at Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan

Some  photographs from the Dance festival organised by Samudra Arts International at Vylopilly Samskriti Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram on 20th & 21st August 2014

Krishnavataram Nangiarkoothu

Margi Usha performing Krishnavataram Nangiarkoothu at Margi, Trivandrum.. Edakka and Mizhavu can be seen the background. 

Vylopilli again

Saturday, the day after the Independence day, was a rather quite day for me. After attending to some bank work in the morning and  a short afternoon nap, I was at a loose end in the evening. On browsing through the Metro Plus of The Hindu, I was happy to see that the Bharat Bhavan at Thycaud had a kathak performance at 6-30. On reaching the Bhavan at 6-30 I found the place deserted and locked up. The Hindu had goofed up. The program was two days earlier according the banner on the site. Disappointed, I moved on to Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan, not knowing what to expect there. The program there was a Carnatic kutchery  by a young artiste from Ernakulam, Sreenath Nambudiri. Mr Nambudiri holds a lot of promise but has a long way to go. It was a pity that there were only about 10 people in the audience!. 

Football fever. FIFA

As the football fever is rising as we move towards the FIFA finals, I thought of sharing some photoes from my archives showing football on the street and on the beaches. 

A serious game of football in pouring rain on the Valiythura beach, Trivandrum

A spontaneous tackle at the Cherai beach, Kochi

Not "Christ the Redeemer" but another Christ figure blessing a football field near Poovar, North of Thiruvananthapuram