Desicritics Category: Culture: Arts

Exiled, Poems of Gwalior

Amitabh Mitra — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:15:32 EDT

east london on a bleak winter sea side
exiled
or did i run away
when nothingness
surmounted gwalior
a fortitude strung
of lingering summers
with your name no longer
tied up
when you were no longer there
an eye refused the absence
of your silence
when the sea shared thoughts
random talks of an unsure emblem held
in a night just before the dark
winter overbearing
many years since
why does then
your name
wafts
so deftly on a seascape
horizon
still.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Eyestorms, Poems of Gwalior

Amitabh Mitra — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:12:34 EDT

sardar shitole's place
was the last to be ransacked
by a sudden gusto of time
creepers ran taking over a ruinous
sky
i didn't
know
even when you had left
its just a matter of moments
you said
stones only remember
the violence
of eye storms.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Poetry: Knives at Dark, Poems of Gwalior

Amitabh Mitra — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 04:22:20 EDT

knives i love in quiet submission
a sheer habit
a linear stabbed dermis
an ooze turning into a
splash hits the words
i incise into each night
breath streaks
a slash and then a murmur
of spent needs
sleep eludes unspoken lust
i cut my dreams often wide open
a night walker perhaps feels the wound

a dog yelps
in suggested desolation

Poem and Art by Amitabh Mitra

Poetry: Old Gwalior, Poems of Gwalior

Amitabh Mitra — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:41:10 EDT

]many aeons back
when rock changed faces
many a times and clan men
resisted irrefutably
time
the sky always gave way
to unhindered horizons
to newer lives
in dust torn
revelry
each time we passed the long
languorous tunnels of
waking
each time we found
ourselves on ledges
of looming betrayal
the fort grew taller and higher
overlapping many a skin
many a shadow
many a summers
and i thought that
perhaps one day
you would tell me a secret
of holding the lizard
in my grip
of a moment
knee deep in a drying river
of your breath
navigating a stronghold
of refute
you told me
the ruddy earth would also change
the peacocks would be no more
fungus and fern would darken
such agreements
such love
insisted
and we would remain torn
answerable only to the wind.

why did we run away each time the
sun changed surfaces
why did we cross eye storms
ensnared long hidden stars
why did we eclipse in patterns
of lip talk on your neck
why did we turn one and only one
burnt one single night
why did we then never die
why did the fort
kept silent
why

beneath us
deep down
stayed the dargah
the mad man danced
looked at us
in sightless eyes
we had seen him before
much before
when the hot wind
blew away advancing
and departing reasons
a maratha willingness to melt away
at each nightend
we saw him still
shaking his head
his hands sang the song
of the next blitz
the dead around in cavernous
holes never slept
we knew
the rainriver
would storm down
in crypts and crevices
in sultry memory lanes
weather broken thickets
on to those
living and buried
we knew then
it was the moment
of a quiet dismissal
of unhastened departures.

families left for far shores
and houses sprung up on
rusty dreams
a dishevelled robe dragging
a far innocence
hands sought to hold a
belief
and eyes stored tears
unbelieving
on your lips i saw a murmur
loves disparity rootless in
undefined times
i told you the stillness of the fort
stillness of our drifting
stillness of the riversong
stillness of an everydaysky
yet
we lived
shattering long drawn thoughts
in strange dawns
in
old gwalior.

Poem and Ink Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Poetry: July Afternoon - Poems of Gwalior

Amitabh Mitra — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:30:28 EDT

july afternoon
an unbridled river rushed
down the fort
on to the chironji trees
a battle cry rose
eyes and steel
glinted in forsaken
shadows
a cloud burst galloped
in many a steed
on the dead and dying
the green turbaned man who lives
with the bats in the cave
came out again
touched the rain
his eyes swirled
birds screamed
imprisoned
in stronger silence
we had held on to the
stones
your hair closed me in
your hands held my thumb
palms caught the language
of rage
a maratha rain
a tale as old as this fort
you said
is a slaughter of rumination
you and me
would still grow
in this broken sun
in a fallacy
of such a gwalior noon.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Archaeology and The Bible - Keep Them Separate

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 4 Jul 2010 11:13:44 EDT

There was this fascinating lecture which I attended this week delivered by Professor Hugh Williamson at the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society at the British Museum.

It was a fascinating lecture and I learnt so much about the Bible and Archaeology. It was full of professors, people with spectacular beards and corduroy wearing historians, archaeologists and other luminaries.

My contact with Archaeology goes back to Professor Shankar Tiwari who was the father of a close school friend of mine. His house was brilliant. It was full of statues, coins, reliefs, strange piquant smells from the chemicals he used, dogs, tons of books. It was a total chaotic house and I loved it. I loved the idea of going into the wild and finding out new things, digging up history. Here’s one report of what he had done. He used to spend patient hours explaining what he had found, the history of India and the local areas. I would say that my interest in history is heavily influenced by him. For example, he spent much time in Bhimbhekta. That area shows that man has inhabited those lands with a recorded history and evidence going back 100,000 years. Then you had Wilbur Smith’s Sunbird. As usual, I would get excited when I read about something that proves the Bible was right, for example around the issue of Noah’s Ark.

To cut a long story short, going around in places like Greece, Turkey, Italy, Egypt, India and Israel, you could see the places and remember what you have read in the religious, mythology and history books. Israel specially is gobsmacking. It perhaps has the highest density of historically important events per square meter than anywhere else in the world. Well, at least for the dead kings, generals and priests. Which is what Professor Williamson said. Once history is extended to the ordinary citizen, then the links between archaeology and the Bible become even more diffuse. But more on that later.

Chaim Herzog and Mordechai Gichon wrote a fascinating book on Battles of the Bible. It talks about the various battles fought in Israel down the ages and is a thoroughly good read. Comes highly recommended. The group talks about how archaeology influenced the study of history and vice versa. It liberally refers to the Bible. When I first read the book, it was, on the face of it, quite interesting. It confirmed my deep seated thought the bible’s descriptions are factual and rely significantly on archaeological finds to buttress its claims. And in case, I was reading it from the perspective of military history, strategy and military tactics. Here is a website which describes what I mean. But after this lecture, I went back to reread it and found there is less of corroboration than I originally thought. More woolly and light on evidence I am afraid.

For example, Professor Williamson clearly said, there is simply NO evidence about Abraham that we have found up till now. None. Zilch, Nada, Zero. But look at this page from the Bible Archaeology website. Read it to see there are suppositions, assumptions and propositions about Abraham. Evidence, none. He also said the prevailing view of Israel being populated by external invasions and migrations is not that accurate. It grew more organically rather than from invasion. He clearly said that while he isn't a professor of archaeology, he is a professor of Hebrew and has joined in archaeological digs in the Holy Land before.

Another example he quoted was that of Joshua. No evidence there were any walls or any town that supported those walls. He is supposed to have brought it down and there is supposed to be a war. No town, no walls, no fight, no archaeological evidence whatsoever. Not even of Joshua himself. Jericho was a tiny settlement of 2-3 houses then. Btw, do you know that Joshua is the patron saint of Spies? (amusing!). Here is a good link on this Joshua debate.

He showed some amazing photographs, but I simply couldn't take any good ones photos of my own with my little iPhone. One stone that he showed had Amharic writing about the existence of David engraved on it. This was found first, and then 2 additional fragments were found later on. Interestingly enough, the placement of the fragments against the main stone can change the point about David. I did not get hold of the details of the stone unfortunately so cannot report with some more facts on this.

History, historically speaking, is written for and about kings, generals and priests. Archaeology doesnt usually support the myths we have made up on them. Once we extend history, as is being done now, to the ordinary citizen, life becomes even more difficult for the people who are trying to establish facts to fit in what we see in the Bible. For example, he talked about pig bones were found in so many places and talked about the links with Jewish Dietary Laws and mentions in the Bible. Which brings into question the validity of the history of restrictions on pork eating.

So his point was simple, do not look at the bible as a history book. Look on it as a book of faith, a book of myths and stories, a book which is full of parables. It was written by people who collect memories and then mix it up with rumours, myths, politics, and so on and so forth. All religious books are like this, without exception. Leave archaeology alone.

Here’s another example of archaeologists themselves encouraging thoughts like this. I quote:

The remains of a small house that can be dated back to the time of Jesus have been found in the past days during excavation works in progress in Nazareth, guided by a team of Israeli archaeologists. According to the scientists, this is the first house from that era ever uncovered. The find was announced by professor Yardenna Alexandre, who leads the project on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. She said that the remains have been dated back, with a small margin of error, to around 2000 years ago. "The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth. It sheds light on common life (in Palestine) in that era", underlines Alexandre in a press meeting. "The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period," the archaeologist added, suggesting that "Jesus and his childhood friends may have known this house". Alexandre pointed out that according to the little written evidence available, including the Gospel, Nazareth at the time was a small Jewish village, which seems to be confirmed by the recent find. "Until now" she specified, "a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth, however no settlement remains had been discovered that were attributed to this period"

See what I mean? suppositions and assumptions. Jesus may have known this house. This kind of thinking is dangerous.

While coming out of the lecture, I noticed these three columns. The one on the right is an ancient Egyptian Stone Pillar of more than 3000 years old. Then you have a silvery lighting tower and finally an information white tower. One is a religious book, the other two are functional or factual. Mixing does not make sense, does it?

While exiting the British Museum, guess who I bumped into? One of the Kings (well, Prince Charles in this case) for whom history is written.

Poetry: East London

Amitabh Mitra — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 10:52:09 EDT

east london
an african sun suddenly stood
still
in the midst of rain
people
and thoughts
unseen
a song climbed
another tenor
splashing you
ferns of laughter grew wild
a patter of rainsteps
ran amok
shadows
tugged
whispered
of distant shores
long lost touch
wet with a shiver
of dawn.

Photograph by Kaustav Mitra

Poetry: Rain

Amitabh Mitra — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:05:21 EDT

Steady patter of summer that swung into your
windows
eyes that begged me to keep quiet
and wait for a promised
rain
again.

Silk Screen Print and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra
From, A Slow Train to Gwalior

Movie Review: Raavanan - Read Amar Chitra Katha Instead

IdeaSmith — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 02:47:10 EDT

If you haven’t seen Ravan (or Ravanan) already, I’d suggest you not bother. If you’re the only person in this country who doesn’t know the story, pick up an Amar Chitra Katha rendition of Ramayana. It has the basic plot, the facts as most of us have heard them and the visuals are nice enough. It’ll be cheaper on the pocket too.

I would have given the movie a definite skip if it had been called Rama or Ramayan. I mean, I was weaned on the Ramanand Sagar classic and the aforementioned Amar Chitra Katha culture. I even saw the various renditions on television, movies and pop culture, edifying the perfect man, his perfect wife and the exact opposite embodiment of evil with all the paraphernalia of Hanuman, Vibhishan, Lakshman and Surpanaka.

If by some chance, I found I’d forgotten a tiny point, I could retrieve my copy of the original or I could turn around and ask just about anybody and expect the right answer. Why then, would anyone in their right minds, want to spend time and money to hear the same story in a theatre?

I was intrigued by the title Ravanan. While I’ve seen the old story in the old setting and in new settings, I haven’t heard it from the other point of view, the darker side. I’m sorry to say, it was a sad trick to lure the audiences into the theatres. As a vision, the idea of telling the Ramayan from Ravan’s point of view is interesting but it didn’t carry through in execution.

*spoiler alert*

A movie that set out with such lofty ideas didn’t even explore the complexity of some of the other characters. Hanuman, for instance, is depicted by a washed-up actor portraying a jungle officer given to silly dancing and pesky monkey-like behaviour. Vibhishan is no more than a nondescript younger brother who has exactly one dialogue and gets shot dead soon after. Lakshman is a lackey cop who is unconscious/dead for most of his screen time. Each of these depictions comes across as a parody in poor taste.

The idea of a tribal leader on the wrong side of the law is intriguing and the tough forest terrain would well explain his personality and behaviour. But it wouldn’t explain spending an entire hour showing what looked like rejected National Geographic clips. I kid you not, I was surprised when the interval came and my watch showed only an hour had gone by. And the Vicco Vajradanti ads in the interval were far more entertaining than what I had been subjected to, before that.

The second half picks up (though not before a forced back-to-back two songs) but by then the damage has been done. Too much, too late. There just isn’t enough time to think about the character conflicts, the depth of each of their emotions. Mostly by then, you just want the movie to get over and be done with it.

I’ve never liked Aishwarya Rai as an actress and with this movie, I add the rest of the cast to this list too. Vikram does an Ajay Devgan with grunts and a perpetual scowl to depict menace. I’m sorry to say that Mani Ratnam and A.R.Rahman fall in my ratings too. This is just lazy creativity – poor storytelling and rehashed tunes.

The bigger question is why are we so stuck on the two great epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata? Granted, they were great stories (and that’s why they’re called epics). But have centuries worth of storytellers not been able to come up with new fare? Have we become pathological remixers?

Last week’s fiasco Rajneeti was a foul remix of Mahabharata and The Godfather. It grated on my nerves for how the characters seemed to be forced into the roles of their Mahabharata counterparts to the point of ridiculous serendipity (Ajay Devgan being the driver’s boy a.k.a charioteer’s son, Ranbir Kapoor as the sharpshooting Casanova a.k.a. Arjun). Ravanan didn’t even get that far. With the caricature of Hanuman in the first few minutes of the movie, they had already lost me.

My tweets on this have been getting a few replies to the effect of human emotions being finite and there being only so many stories to express them. I disagree. The art of storytelling is universal and timeless. It is an art because it moves, it flows, it engages and it grows. It’s what made Omkara wonderful even as it was a retelling of Othello. Vishal Bharadwaj managed to find his Iago in a rustic local goon called Langda Tyaagi. His version, in an English script could have been called Iago and not Othello. That’s what a different story is all about, even though it’s the same plot.

With a movie, there are several components that can drive the story forward – an original script, great casting and acting and good screenplay. Ravanan, I regret to say, enjoys none of these.

Haiti, Poems and Drawings

Amitabh Mitra — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:17:16 EDT

"It (his death) is something that cannot be celebrated, because he departs with the truth about many." Steve Biko

the dead lived in caskets
their eyes shorn
suddenly
of a wisp
of unwept
agony
the dead saw
the living
in complete
congruity
as the living rushed
to be next to them
in death
life merely stammers
in death
eyes remember
the strangeness
of its first dawn.

helicopters crossed a torn
sky
while birds escaped
on to the other side
people stretched their hand long
people peered at the hole for long
people caressed the tear for long
there were no stars
there wasn't any sun
the birds never came back.

Poems and Ink Drawings by Amitabh Mitra