Dastangoi

The regular visitors to the blog would have noticed that my outings have become few in number. I could make excuses like work keeps me busy, nothing interesting is happening anywhere in Delhi etc. But the truth is, I'd be lying. The fact is at 30, age seems to be catching up with me. I only attend events that excite me enough to push myself to leave the comfort of my home. 

Fortunately for me, Team Dastangoi and India Habitat Centre (IHC) announced a show titled New Tales from the Tilism-e Hoshurba sometime in July. I stalked Facebook pages, Twitter handles and the IHC programme desk. I mailed friends, blabbered about the previous shows I had seen and almost feared that I had oversold the experience of dastangoi to friends who had never watched it before. 

After having very expensive and really awful tasting milk shakes, the six of us headed to our seats--first row, almost centre. I was very pleased. And then the magic began, Poonam Girdhani & Namita Singhai took the stage first. They looked beautiful in their silver and white attires. They sounded even better. 

 

 

Then came the masters themselves, Danish Husain and Mahmood Farooqui,  and they transported the audience to a world of magic. Their words, expressions and actions ensured that every one in the hall sat mesmerised. I could not resist providing just a clip so that you could experience a little bit of magic. 


 

 

 

At the end of the evening, I was glad that I had not oversold the show to my friends. The six of us were smiling for a long, long time, happy that we had been under the spell of the dastangos for over two hours.

To know more about their performances: click here Dastangoi

The Man in a Case

Rati, who goes by the Twitter handle @punditcomment, had asked me around 15 days ago if I could go with my camera to attend the play she directed and is the star of, The Man in a Case, at India Habitat Centre. Unfortunately, I was travelling then and missed the show. Luckily for me, there was a repeat show on 19 April 2012 and I requested my younger brother to accompany me and take the driving wheel for the evening.

Organized by the Yatrik Theatre Group, this short play had props which you could count on one hand, modest but well done lighting, and two talented actors who ensured that the audience was involved in the stories of the characters and rooting for them. There was music, love, dance, laughter (from the audience), action (the hero falls trying to manage a bicycle), and intensity of expressions. The ambiance of the Amphitheatre at the India Habitat Centre added to the magic.

If you are on Twitter, follow the actors: Rati @punditcomments and Gaurav @mildlyclassic. Catch there play and it will be a pleasant, beautiful evening, I promise! For now, I hope my captures will do justice to the magic these two created on stage.

I have deliberately decided to post the pictures in an incorrect order. Try sequencing them and see if you can make a picture story :-)

The intense look

Love in the eyes

The fall

Eyes filled with a thousand questions

Best foot forward

Dancing

Red is the colour of my love

Look, can you see our future?

The beautiful bride to be

A man who captures moments lest he forgets to celebrate them later

A basket of fresh apricots

The bicycle and the red wall

Talking to the flowers

The stage

Hmmm

The end

The venue

Textures

I'd like to believe that some people see in textures. I know scientifically, one is supposed to touch to recognize textures. But there are times when I see in textures. Here are some of the textures that caught my eye during my recent visits to the India Habitat Centre.

Photography Exhibition at India Habitat Centre

I went to India Habitat Centre after a very long time, today.

A few days back, Sherry Aggarwal mailed me asking me to visit and feature the exhibition cum sale of photographs clicked by the students of Delhi School of Photography on Delhi Photo Diary. I could not resist the temptation and went to see the exhibition. Some of the photographs were nice and it was an evening spent well.

Dastangoi: The Persian Art of Storytelling

Last week, I went to attend a storytelling session at the India Habitat Centre. The effort was to revive the dying art of Persian storytelling. Here are the photographs of the four artists who held the attention of a house full of listeners for almost 2 hours.


You can read about the performance we saw and the synopsis of the stories told in Urdu here:

Photography Exhibition

This was a photography exhibition I saw at India Habitat Centre recently. Loved the colours and expressions captured in this selection of photographs.

Grandma's Kitchen

This is one of my favourite sections in India Habitat Centre. This is the 'Grandma's Kitchen', which serves amazing pastries, cakes, doughnuts etc. It is a nice place to celebrate something as little as getting a seat in a crowded bus or something as important as a birthday. :-)


Above is the Grandma with her bicycle and below are the treats, to bring water to your mouth.

February Theme Day: (Touch) Wood

It is time for February Theme Day: and this time the theme is Wood.
Here is a blast from the past. This is one of my closest friends, Gurneet and me almost hugging an artifact at India Habitat Centre. This is from our last outing before she got married and moved to Canada in January 2008. I vividly remember that after this photo we both had said in chorus: Touch Wood may we remain friends forever. :-)

A happy February everyone!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Promised Treat

This is a selection of Indian sweets at Eatopia in India Habitat Centre (IHC). I don't have a sweet tooth myself, but many of my friends love a good cup of rabri or kheer. This here is firni and I searched the net to find the easiest recipe for you to try making this at home. As you will notice, the dish is served in earthen pots. There are some Indian treats that taste better in earthen pots so try and have then the way prescribed here... It will help you savour the authentic taste.

Kesar Firni


Preparation Time : 30 min
Cooking Time : 30 min
Serves / Makes : 4

Ingredients
500 ml milk
50 gms sugar
75 gms rice flour
A few strands of saffron
8 green cardamom
25 gms pistachio
25 gms almonds

Method
Boil the milk so that it reduces to half its quantity.
Add the rice flour to this and mix well so that no lumps are formed.
Add the sugar and cook for sometime so that the sugar dissolves.
Dissolve the saffron in warm milk and add this to the above mixture.
Pour the Firni in earthen bowls and garnish with pistachios and almonds.
Allow it to cool and set in the refrigerator and serve cold.


Do let me know how it tasted.

Eatopia!, India Habitat Centre

Eatopia! is a eatery at the India Habitat Centre. This is a place where most of us go after watching a riveting performance, play or movie screening. It has been designed to resemble the chaat streets across the country. Street lamps line the passage which houses the food stalls on one side. The food is generally Indian and continental snacks. The specialty of the place is the array of sweet dishes. Hope to get you salivating tomorrow, as I will post the sweet dishes next.

Answer!

I was hoping that one of the Delhiites could identify the place. But I guess they did not visit the blog yesterday. I really wish that the three guess were right and I was fortunate enough to have studied in a university like the building above. Nice attempt Magic Eye, That is the chicken and Hilda. But hoping that you would make a correct guess would be a tall order... since you are not from Delhi.

I will open the suspense. This is the India Habitat Centre (IHC). Its an office cum cultural complex and is special as it is powered by solar electricity. Hope you visit IHC, when you come to Delhi.

Concrete Jungle

This is an ideal example of what a concrete jungle should be like. One of my favourite places in Delhi, the India Habitat Centre (IHC) houses these tall trees within its complex. The roof made of solar cells panels (in blue), the red bricked buildings and the green trees make for a very serene yet colourful spot to enjoy any part of the day.

Fallen Art, IHC

I loved this sculpture, carved out of a tree trunk at the India Habitat Centre (IHC). But was sad to see it fallen on the ground, waiting to be carried out. Till the time it lived there... it was well loved and appreciated.

Some more photos to bid one of my favourite sculpture a goodbye.

This Too Is Art

Its difficult to refrain from passing judgment, when something as un-attractive as this is passed on as ART. I truly believe that art need not always be beautiful, a scene of murder with blood and evil all around can also be art... But this... this was disappointing. Luckily not all the installations at India Habitat Centre are this bad. In fact some are outright awe-inspiring. Will post more in the days to come.