Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts

The Art of Public Speaking

 I am amazed at how many people find it difficult to speak to a large audience, and don't know it! Maybe I have attended too many seminars, conferences and so forth, and I should stop..

Maybe I sound as boring to those who are forced to listen to me, but maybe not.

I try-

to keep it brief. That is a relief for most :) Most people can't hold an audience for more than 10-12 minutes.

to keep audience level in mind. I must admit I was out of my depth when addressing school students once or twice.

to use everyday stuff like films, or film songs to make it more palatable. 

to talk about the topic/event as far as possible, but use humour or analogy if I can.

to prepare if I have the time to do so, and write points down on a piece of paper, even if I don't look at it.

Not sure I always succeed, but sometimes, I think I do.

What Plays Can Teach Us

 Why is Shakespeare famous? Due to his plays. And why are plays important, especially today where everything seems screen-based- so much that you sometimes wonder if you are really alive, and pinch yourself to be sure.

I would think that plays are a unique art form. Film of course is easier to do and store, and distribute. And it has an important role to play in entertainment and education. But there is an immediate connect with the characters in a well-enacted play, that is magnetic, and irreplaceable. 


Pic above- a wonderful play I saw at Pune recently, called The Greatest Show on Earth. 

Last three or four years, I saw many plays. In Bangalore, I was lucky to have watched Naseeruddin Shah in two (he was mesmerising), and Vinay Pathak in one (funnily, called The Last Lear, after Shakespeare's King Lear). In Pune, I saw a few Marathi plays, with some good actors and directors- both male and female. 

Some classic Marathi plays were remade into films as well. I liked Natasamrat with Nana Patekar in it, and Katyar Kaaljaat Ghusli with Shankar Mahadevan and Sachin playing the major roles. 

I think the subject comes through more forcefully in a play than in a film. I would strongly recommend that you try them out, if you haven't. You won't regret it.


Getting and Giving Compliments

 I got a few this last week or two. From different people, the common thing being that they were doctoral students, and faculty. One was a total stranger, Ananya Ghosh, and I had met her for the first time at a Doctoral Consortium-Colloquium- at XLRI. Anyway, the point is it felt good. 

Some of the actors involved- Prachi Jain, Akansh Khandelwal and Vartika Varyani with hubby in the second pic





At XLRI, Anjana Dharmani, who exchanged some compliments with me- she's a Ph.D. student in Marketing-above, second from right. 

Below, Ananya Ghosh, from St. Xavier's university Kolkata.



Giving compliments is an art, I think. Not everyone can do it. I try, and succeed at times in getting the message across. I enjoy giving them too. Usually brings a smile to the face of the recipient, and I like smiling faces much better than grumpy ones. That was my major complaint against denizens of Kerala when I lived there. They seemed unnecessarily grumpy! No idea why. Not so the Mallus I know from all my places of work, though. Many had a great smile too! I remember Sandhya Sajeev and Pooja Daniel from KIAMS, Harihar, for example. And  Vidya T.C. and Smita Mohan.

Whisky, Wine and Cognac

 Drinks are much-maligned, but they have a few pluses too.

They loosen inhibitions, among those who may otherwise be tongue-tied. Up to a point, this is good.

They are a conversation opener. I have unexpectedly found Single Malt or wine enthusiasts while talking about these.

I also think appreciating a good drink or making one, like a cocktail, is an art, like any other.

My current interests are Single Malts and Cognac. Wines, beer and cocktails, occasionally.

Had a master class on Malts in person from Krishna Nukala in 2018, at Hyderabad. He's a Malt Maniac, part of a worldwide group.

Recently, started following Sonal Holland, a Wine Master. Thanks to Prabhakar, a friend, I have tasted many great wines from around the world.

Cheers, to those who drink responsibly, and enjoy their drink.

Analyzing Art

 Seems paradoxical, at first sight. Art is about imagination, possibilities..

Should anyone be analyzing it at all? And what is the analysis worth, if done?

Not all art can and should be, is my view. Some of it is beyond analysis, or liable to misrepresentation through wrong analysis. Unless the artist concurs with the interpretation, that is.

But then, interpretation is something that will happen, regardless. Even among the people who appreciate your art, some will interpret it differently from what you intended it to be. For example, the same film that is liked by many people, could be differently interpreted. The story goes that R.K. Narayan, the author of Guide, based on which Vijay Anand directed the film, did not like the film. Nevertheless, the majority of viewers did, and it is considered a classic today.

I liked the jokes in the film Quick Gun Murugan, and some of the names of characters, like Rice Plate Reddy. The deadpan humour too. Not everyone's cup of tea, maybe, like the TV parody Lola Kutty. I thought it was brilliant (will all my Mallu friends beat me up, I wonder!).

My take is- enjoy it, rather than analyse it. 

The Art of Writing a Blog

 I have seen a lot of ads on my social media pages that offer training on making films, giving speeches, and the like. This is not an attempt to enter into that territory, but just to make some confessions. I used to read a lot of blogs, regularly. Now, that regularity is reduced. No wonder, because anyone reading anything regularly is now an exception more than a rule. But I wanted to simply share my thoughts about writing. A blog is only one part of it. If you think you have something to say, you say it. Not always true. You may be an introvert, wonder if the boss (or anyone else) will like what you are going to say, and NOT say it.

But social media in general, and blogs in particular, allow you to write down your thoughts about various things. In my case, my thoughts about books, films (when I was still watching), people (students, colleagues, bosses!), TV anchors, Air hostesses, and of course, management education. And, of course, funny stuff, witticisms, or PJs included-that, some say, is my forte. Well, it's a natural talent, so I won't deny it. 

But my point was this..that you can pretty much write in any style (it's the closest thing to a democracy), and about what pleases you most. I have always admired those who can write long pieces, for example. Mostly, I cannot. Some are good with words, some others with visuals, and some equally facile with both. I use visuals to enhance the written word, if at all. Many of my posts are all-text. 

Readership, you can let it build naturally, and also help people find you through promotion on other media that you use. People can subscribe to your blog if you use a mainline blogging platform, and write regularly. 

The Art of Getting Offended

Of all the skills needed to survive today (2020), the one of paramount importance is knowing how to get offended. You don't always have to lead a riot, though that can grab headlines in national media for a few hours to a few days. But you must do it right, and therefore, there is a market for Skill-building courses involving this skill. Entrepreneurship, e-commerce and food delivery are passe.

There is no need to impress upon you why this skill is important. If you don't get offended these days, you are a nobody. You may think you are something great like a Social Media Influencer with thousands of followers, but if you don't get offended regularly, you will lose all those followers. The only other way to get loyal followers is to get into scandals regularly. But getting offended is easier. Let me explain.

You can get offended by almost anything. That's a huge advantage. If the name of a new film is not to your liking, you can get offended. If the film shows your profession in a bad light (even if fictionally), you can still get offended. If the director does not apologise for the imaginary slights, you can get offended. Even if he does, you can get offended by his insincerity in apologising. You get the point?

If someone tells a joke involving gender, ethnicity, nationality, eating habits, accent, what-have-you, you can get offended. Humorists and cartoonists (the ones that are out of jail) will have a tough time because of you too- an added plus for getting offended.

If you are offended by this blog post, it would have served a purpose-of educating you as to the importance of the whole thing.


Cheffing It

Cheffing is fun, if it's not a chore. Also, if you have domestic help to clean up afterwards. This luxury one did not have when cheffing first happened in my US stay, so we did the dish-washing too. A US stay is good for the ego-to bring it down. The blessing in India is we still have maids around who do some valuable work-either the cooking, or at least the washing up- Maid in India, zindabad!.

Anyway, I tried my hand at some cooking (home-style chicken curry) after quite some time, and am happy that the result turned out pretty edible-yeah, I could eat it, and so did my family members. Some other regular summer treats like Ice Apple (palm fruit/Taadgola in Marathi) and mangoes from the coastal region of Maharashtra (Ratnagiri, Devgad) also add to the charm of being in Pune during the hot, hot days-this year has been just a bit hotter, with little rain. Solkadhi is now available in packaged form, and I am a big fan of the kokum+coconut drink-good for the soul!!

Also started on The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee, which describes the process of how genes were discovered and DNA was photographed and identified. 





Lanka Images 2- Craft Shopping

Or should I call it crafty shopping? Any which way, it was interesting to visit this showroom, Laksala, which calls itself Sri Lanka in a Shop. Located on Baudhaloka Mawatha off Galle Road in Colombo, it is a beautiful store to visit, even if you don't want to buy.

 At the entrance.
 Store window displays that welcome you..

 Fascinating variety of masks.
..and a pic from inside the store, which reminds you of Cauvery Handicrafts in Bangalore. It has a lot of good stuff made by Lankan craftsmen in a wide price range.

Lanka Images-1

 On the rocks.
 This was a comedy act at the dinner hosted by the conference organisers. Yours truly also participated in the proceedings, by singing a song.
 On a track, by the sea..
 Losing yourself in the loo?
 Live action of Fanni Wong presenting, Jayasimha chairing.
And to unwind from the strain, we went shopping..towards the showroom called Laksala. More on that in the next episode..see you soon.

Airport Art

Airports generally have a lot of advertising- for tourism, or cosmetics, or for their own duty-free shops if international. But depicting your culture through airport art is an art..and Mumbai airport Terminal 2 seems to have done a lot of it right. The murals on its walls are good at showing Indian motifs - sample these.






Is More IQ Necessarily Better?

I think we prefer uni-dimensional brilliance out here, to the exclusion of other qualities.

For instance, we want kids to score 99.99 percent in all subjects. It is not Ok to be good in one or two or three of them, and below average in all others.

What good is a person who has a very high intelligence (measured academically in the usual way), but has not learnt to co-exist peacefully with others, or to follow the law, or his conscience, or respect humans (and other forms of life)?

Do we want a cynical, mind-numbingly intelligent being? Wouldn't you rather be/have a guy/gal with just enough intelligence of the kind we adore, but an Emotional Quotient that is reasonably high or higher?

There are other forms of intelligence that don't even get measured. Aptitude for art, sport and so on, that someone may have, gets side-lined in the world of uni-dimensional worship that we are all so used to. Could be one reason why the arts in general are seeing a decline. With respect to one art form that I am familiar with, Hindi films, I can vouch for a decline in many areas-writing, lyrics and music. Humour in written form-books, and mainstream films-both Indian and foreign-also has declined in quality.

Hope we take time out and see if we can set our priorities right.

The Art of Holidaying

I don't claim to be an expert, nor am I prescribing ten best ways to holiday. I am just listing out different ways to do it- a Holiday Sutra, if you will.

1. Do nothing most of the time. Great for relaxing the grey cells that are taxed more than any IT dept will ever tax you.

2. Play Golf and don't look at the scores at the end, especially your scores. The second part increases happiness hundred-fold. Ask me!

3. Drive somewhere-anywhere. It can be a liberating experience. A Flight would do the exact opposite, with too many restrictions. Even a lovely smile from the stewardess can't compensate.

4. Eat well and often. Try local stuff too. At least you'll find out how bad it is-or not.

5. Do one unusual thing-whatever it might be. In a trip to Leh, we went to a local unbranded coffee store cum library that was educational.

6. Window-shop to find out what locals buy- it's cheaper than shopping, and has all the fun minus the expense!

7. Don't answer mails for a few days. No one will die, unless the mail is from a war-zone.

8. Do write about your experience, but only if you are the writing type- at least a few lines.

9. Take good pics, but don't die taking them- recent spine-chilling examples of selfie-martyrs are crazy!

10. Take a boat ride or a train ride if it is available. It brings out the child in you-in me, at least.

11. Try a new route to reach the same place.

But first and very important-take a holiday, as often as you can afford to.


Udaipur Musings

It's fashionable to muse these days. And I can't afford not keeping up. So here goes, after the trip into Udaipur.

Why is the whole city white? And Jaipur pink? Was it through an order from the respective kings?

Such lovely art that shows up wherever you go- on the ceilings, walls, and anyplace you can draw. Why is it that we have lost the art of 'the everyday art'? Rembrandt and so on are fine as creators of the masterpieces, but we need more daily doses of it from being creative ourselves.

How did these guys actually fight wars riding horses wearing 20 kilos of armour and holding shields that remind you of that of Chief Vitalstatistix? I find it difficult to go to work if my shoe feels heavier than usual. Brave!

Why do they allow cars in the city? It's such a pity. It messes up the otherwise beautiful place.

Why don't we operate more ropeways in our towns and cities? They might boost tourism in lots of places that have a view to offer.

Lakes add a lovely touch to any place. How many new lakes have we built in urban areas in the last sixty years?

Maybe more thoughts will occur; maybe not.






Great Art and Money - An Inverse Relationship?

Not too sure if this hypothesis holds, but it's worth hypothesising. Is there an inverse relationship between good/great art and money? Is the penniless artist struggling for survival just a stereotype? Is tragedy a part of an artist's life, mostly?

The hypothesis is inspired by a movie I saw on TV after maybe two decades. The movie is Rajnigandha. It was made by Basu Chatterjee in the early seventies and remains one of my favourite films. The budget would have been modest, no big stars, sets or ostentation of any sort. It had lovely music, good technique (Vidya Sinha speaking with herself often, imagining or re-imagining herself alternately with the two men in her life, symbolism through the bouquet of flowers) and a simple, riveting story. If you compare it with expensive, crass extravaganzas churned out by the dozen, this one warms your heart (at least mine) any day.

Another movie made in the same period was Anand, by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Rajesh Khanna was paid a limited amount though he was a star of sorts, and the tight screenplay, wonderful dialogue, great acting from all the actors (I remember Ramesh Deo and Seema speaking some homely Marathi-mixed dialogue, Lalita Pawar in the role of a lifetime, Johny Walker likewise). Absolutely brilliant!

A third example, and I will rest my case. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro from the eighties. Ravi Baswani and Naseeruddin Shah, Satish Shah and Om Puri, Bhakti Barve or any of the other characters, they all were just right, Neena Gupta added the oomph without any effort, and it made for wonderful viewing. A top-class comedy. Kundan Shah never directed anything better.

Now I will await your views.

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