Tag: mumbai

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Listen

Where music comes to the people

National Streets for Performing Arts (NSPA), after entertaining commuters on Western Railway, wants to spread the cheer at other Mumbai spots.
by Medha Kulkarni

June 27, 2012 was an interesting day at Churchgate station. In the midst of this busy railway station, a group of musicians assembled for their first-ever performance. It was a small performance involving two buskers, Jishnu Guha from UK and Sureshji, an Uttarachali folk singer, (both talented vocalists) and within minutes, a crowd had gathered to hear them.

This group was the National Streets for Performing Arts (NSPA) at work. The NSPA was born last year out of the idea to take the performing arts to the people by reclaiming public spaces for street performances. By its own admission, the NSPA seeks to champion public spaces as an alternative platform for performance, encouraging greater interaction between artists and the community, creating spaces of cultural interaction and energising the very city and its people. It aims to support the livelihoods of less privileged and independent performers across diverse genres.

A big factor in starting the NSPA? “To rekindle an atmosphere of street performances in urban India (starting with Mumbai) that aims to bring some joy to the lives of millions as they go about their daily commute,” says founder Ajit Dayal,52, best known as the founder of Equitymaster, Personal FN and Quantum Mutual Fund, when asked about the inspiration behind this unique initiative. Recalling his childhood days of watching street performers in Mumbai city and noting how street performers continue to brighten the lives of residents of cities like London and Paris, Ajit says he wanted to “recreate that in an organised fashion in Mumbai.”

 

Following their debut performance at Churchgate station, the NSPA launched full time performances on October 8, 2012, with music performances at Churchgate station on Mondays, Borivli station on Wednesdays and Bandra station on Fridays from 9 am to 11am and 5 pm to 8 pm. NSPA chooses its locations with care, ensuring that the site would be frequented by large numbers of people but in a spot that doesn’t cause any trouble or inconvenience to commuters.

With a small team of eight members, each a passionate lover of art and performance, NSPA manages to pull off successful events each time and the response from the general public only acts as good encouragement. “The response has been encouraging, proving to both us and the artists that the city of Mumbai is receptive and open to an initiative such as this. We hope to continue the performances at the railway stations and soon expand to parks, gardens and bandstands in the city and across the country, thus weaving art into the very fabric of the city and making performances as regular an occurrence as the trains , the buses and the commuters,” says Shrishti Iyer, Performance Co-ordinator at NSPA.

Apart from the regular performances at Western Railway stations, the NSPA has been collaborating with major art festivals in the city like the Indikaleido Festival, Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, the BMW-Guggenheim Lab etc.

Encouraged by their initial success, the NSPA is now seeking to expand to Central railway Stations, Horniman Circle Gardens and bandstands across the city, apart from other public spaces.

If you want to keep track of their performance so you can catch the next one, all you have to do is ‘like’ their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nspa.streets for regular updates and notifications.

Categories
Wellness

Government jobs are better for health

A new survey reveals that those having private sector jobs have unhealthier lives than those holding government jobs. Read on.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

For long now, Indians have been content to spend their lives working for the Government, since these jobs come with that wonderful word – ‘security’. However, a lot of youngsters have rebelled against this mindset for a long time now, choosing jobs in private firms or even branching out into business.

Now it turns out that working in the private sector or for yourself can have a bad effect on your health: a recent survey released by the Associated Chambers of Commerce (ASSOCHAM) says that “due to demanding schedules, high stress levels and performance linked perks in private sectors, nearly 85 per cent of employees in private sectors are afflicted to lifestyle and chronic diseases, apart fro acute ailments, as compared to government employees ranging below 8 per cent.”

As per the survey, which was conducted in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh and Dehradun and included a little over 200 employees from each city, showed that 42 per cent people identified themselves as afflicted to lifestyle diseases, followed by 38 per cent suffering from chronic diseases,while the rest, 15 per cent, had an acute ailment. All of them worked in the private sector. Mumbai ranked first for the numbers of people afflicted due to high levels of stress in the private sector, followed by Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai.

Said Dr DS Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM, “There is due compensation for increased inflation by way of dearness allowance (DA) to government employees whereas, the private sector is by and large out of this facility. The findings on the government employees reveal very positive features ranging from reasonably good health, family stability, cordial relationship etc. The survey further points out there are many schemes in healthcare for government employees in addition to pension, which reflects better health standards in government jobs.”

The survey findings:

– Around 55 per cent of the survey respondents fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26 per cent), 40-49 years (16 per cent), 50-59 years (2 per cent) and 60-69 years (approximately 1 per cent).

– The survey targetted private employees from 18 broad sectors, with maximum share contributed by employees from IT/ITes sector (17 per cent).
– Increasingly demanding schedules and high stress levels are leading to sleep disorders in the private sector. Loss of sleep has wide ranging effects including daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration, low pain threshold and increase absenteeism.
– Nearly 45 per cent of corporate employees in private sector sleep less than six hours on a daily basis due to work related pressure.
– Around 58 per cent of corporate employees in private sector are deeply concerned about their future health, 38 per cent are fearful regarding their future health conditions and 4 per cent are not at all fearful about their future health, finds the survey.
(Picture courtesy thedailymind.com)
Categories
Big story

Golibar agitation hots up

Activist Medha Patkar goes on indefinite hunger strike, while affected citizens demand urgent action from the State Government and MHADA.

It happens all the time, but in a city teeming with millions, news of the poor losing their homes always slips through the cracks.

Inaction and lack of media coverage notwithstanding, the people of Golibar Maidan are up in arms against the Government and the builder lobby to protest against the demolition of their homes. They allege that the demolitions are illegal, and are knocking on the doors of the Government for justice.” Agitated at the lack of response by the State, activist Medha Patkar started an indefinite hunger strike four days ago, while hundreds ghearoed the office of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority yesterday and demanded a joint interaction with the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Housing), Joint Commissioner of Police, CEO of SRA, Chairman of MHADA, Additional Collector and other concerned officials,” said an activist. He added that “hundreds of urban poor from various bastis are constantly joining the agitation.”

The agitation has been launched also to protest the “injustices and atrocities being meted out in the name of ‘slum rehabilitation’, the anger against the ruling establishment that is hand-in-glove with the profit mongering builders.”

The agitation, which triggered off due to the demolition of 48 houses at Golibar and also many houses at Chandivali, “reflects the sentiments of thousands of poor across the city, who clean, run and build Mumbai, but still have to wage a war for their basic right to shelter, food, education and other civic amenities.” The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), which is spearheading the agitation, alleges that not just at Golibar, corruption to the tune of hundreds of crores is rampant across Mumbai in various projects in the garb of ‘slum rehabilitation’. “Land and resource grab is the only motive with which the builders operate, aided actively by the State machinery. The demolitions at Golibar, despite the ongoing inquiry against Shivalik Ventures (which is set to undertake the Golibar SRA project) only goes on to prove the high-handedness of the builder lobby in the state,” Patkar said yesterday.

(Pictures courtesy thealternative.in, thehindu.com)

Categories
Big story

Governor receives 60 representations on Sanjay Dutt pardon

Individuals and organisations have written to the Maharashtra State Governor for or against a pardon for convicted actor Sanjay Dutt. 25 petitions oppose pardon.

While there’s been a bit of a brouhaha over whether actor Sanjay Dutt should be pardoned for his role in the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Bombay, even as his jail stint of a little over three years comes up as decreed by the Supreme Court, the Governor of Maharashtra’s received and sent representations in the matter to the State Government for review.

As per a press release issued by the Raj Bhavan, the Governor K Sankaranarayanan’s official residence in Mumbai, the Governor has received and now sent 60 representations and petitions received by him from various individuals and organisations both seeking and opposing clemency for Sanjay Dutt. The petitions and representations have been sent for review to the State Home Department.

In a letter dated April 4, 2013 addressed to the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra, Home Department, the Secretary to the Governor Vikas Chandra Rastogi has sent copies of all the representations received by the Governor during the last few days to the State Government.

The Governor had received representations on this issue from citizens and organisations from all parts of the country. These include those sent by Justice (retd) Markandeya Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India, and others. Earlier the Governor had sent the petition received from politicians Amar Singh and Jaya Prada, MP, to the State Home Department on March 28, 2013.

Interestingly, at least 25 individuals and organisations from out of the 60 petitioners have opposed pardon for Sanjay Dutt.

What’s your opinion on the matter? Do you think Sanjay Dutt deserves a pardon?

 (Picture courtesy timesofindia.com)

 

Categories
Hum log

‘The only obligation you should have is to your craft’

SA artist William Kentridge’s mantra is amazingly simple: he believes that to appreciate art, one just needs an open mind.
by Salil Jayakar

On a visit to India, South African artist William Kentridge and his wife were taking a walk through the lanes of Colaba, Mumbai. His wife saw a sign pointing to Tushar Jiwarajka’s Volte Art Gallery, where the artist and the gallery owner had a chance encounter. Jiwarajka expressed his desire to exhibit Kentridge’s work and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

‘Poems I used to know’, Kentridge’s first solo India exhibition was showcased at Volte for nearly two months from February to March this year. It included ‘I am not me, the horse is not mine’, an installation of eight projected film fragments, a series of flipbook films, two large drawings over multiple book pages, fragmented sculptures, a large tapestry, and several prints.

Now back home in South Africa, Kentridge expressed his “delight” to have an exhibition in Mumbai. “I was curious to see how my work would be received in a post colonial country other than South Africa, outside the periphery of Europe or America where I usually showcase my work,” he says.  According to him, the reality of atrocities isn’t native only to South Africa or India. “Every country has had its fair share of demons to deal with. The core theme of many of my works wishes to drive home the unifying point of finding that elusive form of optimism amidst the disparaging gloom surrounding us.”

An artist, painter, sculptor and theatre and opera director, Kentridge’s work has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Louvre and the Jeu de Paume in Paris, the Albertina Museum in Vienna and La Scala in Milan. He received the Kyoto Prize in 2010. Yet, for all his work with different mediums and formats, charcoal paintings are a favourite. “All my work is rooted in drawing, as a primary medium. I guess charcoal paintings would be a personal favourite,” he says.

Kentridge confessed that he has a limited understanding of the art in India and knows very little about India’s art world. At the same time he saw a lot of similarities between the work done here and in his home country of South Africa. As he puts it, “I am astonished at the range of work and the ambition of scale that is being done here. Having seen work by a few well-known Indian artists, I look forward to discovering more in my subsequent visits to the country.”

For artists worldwide who are constantly in conflict with people and religions for offending sensibilities or hurting religious sentiments, Kentridge firmly believes that an artist has no obligation to either. “Your art is your own and the only obligation you should have is to your craft.”

Finally, for the layman who has no knowledge of art, Kentridge has these words of advice, “Anybody can appreciate art. You don’t have to be an art aficionado. All you need is an open mind to embrace creativity.”

(Pictures courtesy William Kentridge)

Categories
Do

This Bulb has some bright ideas

Blue Bulb acquaints you with fun, sometimes OTT things to do. If you’re a Mumbaikar, you can de-stress with them.
by Medha Kulkarni

“Malls, cafes and bars. Meh. What else is there to do in Mumbai on weekends?”

An oft-heard lament of most of the regular office-going crowd who are too busy to do anything during the week, weekends become repetitive after a while. Joining structured classes, say for dance or art etc. is out of the question for mumbaikers, as work hours are long and erratic. This is precisely the problem that the founders of Blue Bulb saw and sought to fix it.

This is precisely the gap that Blue Bulb seeks to fill. Started in 2011 by Mumbai-based Regan Rodricks, Blue Bulb is a company that offers people in the city a plethora of things to do. They organise sessions for everything from hula hooping to Parkour to pottery and beyond. Most of these sessions are spread over a weekend, lasting from a few hours to an entire day, depending on the activity, and are designed to be taster or introductory sessions that give you the chance to try something new. Blue Bulb organises special activities for children and even has packages for couples. The best part about it? They’re all totally affordable!

“We look out for people doing interesting things and then try to see if more people would be interested in doing something like this. For example, I was introduced to a professional fire breather at a party. We got talking and before I knew it, I was on the terrace with fuel in my mouth about to breathe fire. And that’s how the Fire Breathing Experience became part of Blue Bulb. We also get contacted by instructors wanting to be part of Blue Bulb. But every experience and instructor is first tried by us to ensure quality. Our experience partners are individual instructors, clubs and professional performers who do this activity for a living,” Regan explains.

With over 50+ activities on at the moment (excluding a dozen-odd that they have as one-offs, such as the Hula hoop workshop) what is the most popular activity offered? “One of the most interesting experiences is the 1 Day Paragliding Training. We take absolute beginners, people who have never seen a paraglider before, and by 3 pm, they are flying on their own at 800 feet!” Regan says.

However, sometimes it can get difficult dealing with demanding customers. He recollects a parent who wanted to enrol their 10-year-old child for fire spinning. “We politely refused,” says he. “We get the most outrageous demands from parents, especially in the summer vacations. “

Priced in an affordable range, the rates vary depending on the activity. “But as a rule, we say ‘How much would you spend on a Saturday evening?’ and try to keep the price in that range. Ordinarily, a movie, popcorn and dinner would set you back by Rs 1,500/-. But most of our experiences cost less than that. And honestly, you will forget what you ordered for dinner a month ago. But you won’t forget the day you made your first clay pot or learnt to drive a bullock cart.”

For kids, they have a number of interesting sports like rock climbing, archery, and golf, and experiences like the cupcake workshop, doughnut baker experience, pottery, etc. One of Blue Bulb’s new experiences is the Pilot Simulator, where kids learn to fly a jet plane in an actual plane simulator. The simulator is a stationary cockpit which pilots use for training.

Each session is conducted by a trained professional and the team at Blue Bulb is very thorough and ensures that your experience lacks nothing. What I liked best about the way Blue Bulb organises these sessions is that they are never overbooked. Despite the steadily increasing demand, Blue bulb continues to retain its ‘First come, first serve’ policy and stick to their cutoff. This is good because a limited number of people per class means more personalised attention from the instructor and puts lesser pressure on resources.

Book an activity or experience with Blue Bulb here.

(Pictures courtesy Blue Bulb)

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