Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Parsi gara
The sari I liked cost about 100,000 Rupees so I didn't buy any from this line. The grace and movement of ‘gara’ Our handcrafted products may be unusual, original, colourful, and wildly creative. But they lack finish E-mailPrint Shoba Narayan Mail Me Ashdeen Lilaowala creates ‘gara’ saris It is fashionable amongst engineers and systemic solution experts to talk about India’s last mile problem. It applies to roads, power plants, and pretty much any type of construction, they will say. Indian workmen will work diligently and dutifully through the project. At the last mile, when things are to be smoothened and [...]
The world’s got ‘talent’
Opinion Comment If the world’s got talent, how come all of us aren’t famous? Shoba Narayan February 4, 2014 Updated: February 4, 2014 18:51:00 The whole world, it seems, has got “talent” – or at least they have, if the slew of TV shows that use the word in their title are to be believed. But how do you acquire it, or are you born with talent? There are books and essays by Malcolm Gladwell, among others, that talk about the “10,000 hour rule”, and suggest you can be talented if you practise any particular discipline for more than 10,000 [...]
For The National Abu Dhabi on Oman Shopping
About incense, frankincense, perfumes, dishdashas and things to buy in Oman
Emotional ecstasy: painter V. Ramesh
The painter, V. Ramesh, is sitting cross-legged on the floor of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Bangalore, talking about four female poets and their experience of mysticism. All around us are Ramesh’s large canvases, depicting these four women poets who have been a source of inspiration for his recent work. Ramesh discovered them in the library of the Ramana ashram in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu.
About Subodh Gupta for The National Abu Dhabi
The NGMA Delhi has this retrospective. Would be great to visit if you are in Delhi. Arts & Culture Art Subodh Gupta the Damien Hirst of New Delhi Shoba Narayan February 1, 2014 Updated: February 2, 2014 11:46:00 Famously dubbed the “Damien Hirst of New Delhi” by The Guardian, Subodh Gupta is arguably the subcontinent’s most celebrated contemporary artist. The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in New Delhi opened a retrospective of Subodh Gupta’s works this month, curated by Germano Celant. It is Gupta’s most comprehensive exhibition in India to date and the biggest exhibition the NGMA has ever [...]
For British Airways magazine on Chennai
Chennai's culture, beaches, food, museums, temples. A survey
Singing Carnatic Music
Even if practice doesn’t make perfect, I will keep singing Music and dance are the keys to success, writes Shoba Narayan. Shoba Narayan Jan 26, 2014 Listen In English Listen in Arabic Powered by automated translation There has been much chatter recently linking success with performance art: music and dance. The logic is that working with creative teams, be it in an orchestra or dance troupe, is great for your development. In her talks and articles, author Joanne Lipman, author of Strings Attached: One Tough Teacher and the Gift of Great Expectations, suggests that music is the “key to [...]
Drama Therapy
FIRST PUBLISHED: SAT, JAN 25 2014. 12 57 AM ISTHOME» LEISURE» THE GOOD LIFE Experiencing the power of theatre as therapy A drama therapy workshop which lets the author dip her feet into the field of psychology without having her family write her off as a nutcase E-mailPrint Shoba Narayan Mail Me Therapy as the road to self-improvement? Photo: Thinkstock We are sitting in a circle on the floor: 10 women and two men. It is the morning of the second day of the two-day drama therapy workshop I am attending. By now, we are all quite comfortable with each [...]
Carnatic Music vs. Harry Potter
Like jazz, Carnatic music allows for a lot of improvisation. Most concerts begin with improvisation. We call it alapana. And like jazz riffs, you can traverse the musical universe with your imaginative singing and then return to the base, in time with the beat, of course. It is this bit that I cannot do. I can learn and render countless straightforward compositions, but I don’t have the imagination and confidence for improvisation.
Song from the navel
Song from the navel One of the tough things about writing is that the piece that you think is great will not resonate with readers and the piece that you think is so-so will elicit unusual responses. FIRST PUBLISHED: SAT, JAN 11 2014. 12 50 AM ISTHOME» LEISURE» THE GOOD LIFE Music should begin at the ‘nabi’ or navel, move to the ‘hrud’ or heart, then ‘kanta’ or throat, and give the ‘rasa’ or emotion Shoba Narayan A song from the navel Narayan’s teacher prefers that she practise before dawn. Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint My music practice always begins with [...]