Jai Telangana మంగళవారం, అక్టో 6 2009

BOOK WATCH
By Anita Joshua

Jai Telangana

Telangana: The State of Affairs, M. Bharath Bhushan and N. Venugopal, AdEd Value Ventures, Rs. 250.

Ever a festering issue in Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana question assumed national significance after a three-decade hiatus since the Jai Telangana Movement in the wake of the 2004 electoral alliance between the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Sensing the widespread ignorance outside the State about the Telangana issue, M. Bharath Bhushan and N. Venugopal have sought to explain the rationale for the demand for separate Statehood in this collection of research articles on the region and literature from the area. Through these varied approaches, the attempt is to explain the reasons for the sense of alienation felt by the people of Telangana; traced in a 1969 vintage article by Duncan B. Forrester to the region being under Nizam’s rule for 200 years, cut away from the “rest of the Telugu country”.

Given that Telangana has become a major election issue in the State, the book examines whether polls foster separatism and uses government data to show how the region is lagging behind the coastal and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh to make out a case for a separate identity. Also thrown in are two short stories in translation — the delightful “Golla Ramavva” by former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and “Bhoomi” by the doyen of Telugu short stories, Allam Rajayya.

Source: Literary Review, The Hindu, Oct 4, 2009 http://www.hindu.com/lr/2009/10/04/stories/2009100450060200.htm

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City that grew on love- Hyderabad శనివారం, జన 24 2009

When love is lost in the city of bridges

 

G S Vasu, the Indian Express

 

Puraana Pool is not just a mediaeval physical structure of stones and plaster across river Musi. It bridged many a gulf. Between a man and a woman. A prince and a pauper. A future king of a rich dominion and a dancing girl. A Muslim and a Hindu. Capital city Golconda and a small hamlet Chichlam.

 

However, in the four centuries that followed, the Musi has seen at least seven more physical structures, in the course of time erasing most of, if not all, emotional bridges.

 

The present day Hyderabad saw its foundation stone laid, in 1591, by Muhammad Quli (1566–1612), the fifth ruler of Qutb dynasty. Though it was true that the then capital Golconda was unable to cater to the emerging modern requirements and building a new capital was much in order, the choice of place has a legend behind it.

 

Quli, as a young prince, fell in love with a dancing girl Bhagmati, who used to live in Chichlam, a small hamlet near present day Shah –Ali – Banda. (The Deccani coinage Chichlam might be a distorted form of Chenchulagudem, similar to Chanchalguda now). The young prince was so enamoured by the dancing girl that he used to cross the Musi, even when it was in full spate, to meet his beloved.

 

Quli’s father and the then king Ibrahim ordered building the first bridge on the Musi, Puraana Pool in 1578. However, Quli has not lost the charm of the place of his first love and wanted to make that place eternal by setting up his new capital in 1581. One of the finest Urdu poets in his own right Quli wrote a couplet to celebrate the new city:

 

Mera shahar logan soon mamoor kar,

Rakhya joon toon darya mein

min ya sami

(Fill up my city with people,

My God, just as you have filled the river with fish).

 

Of course, Hyderabad over the years was filled with people, as the founder wished. But the bridges started getting destroyed and the river became uninhabitable for fish. The city is now seen as a fertile ground for communal divide. Refer to any communal tension and violence in the country, the needle of suspicion, sometimes with evidence, but most of the times as a ‘manufacturing doubt’, points to this city.

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Hyderabad Heritage శుక్రవారం , నవం 21 2008

Charting digital history

 

Personality – A historian turns to digital avenues to reach the audience

 

LEGATEE HISTORY Mohammed Khalidi clicked this image of Mozzam Jahi market in the 1930s

 

A few days back, there was a buzz in the Urdu Hall in Himayatnagar as a historian took the audience down a path of Hyderabad they thought they were vaguely familiar. A building here, a monument there, a bit of biographical information later were unveiled through a power point presentation.

 

Historian and a power point presentation and not a tome? But then Omar Khalidi is not your everyday historian willing to follow the beaten path. A Hyderabadi, who now works as a librarian at the MIT, he posits the contrarian view and succeeds in being heard. Years after he wrote Hyderabad After The Fall and then the controversial Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India, he is now exploring the digital avenues of spreading a word about history. “Printing books has become very expensive, distribution is also a problem and digital publishing is the future and is the path to follow. Physical libraries are passé,” he says.

 

In June this year he posted his collection of photographs on the MIT website showing the Hyderabadi architectural heritage (which formed a part of the PPP in Hyderabad).

 

Among the photographs and the text is one showing the Mozzam Jahi market frontage with wide open spaces, credited to Mohammed Khalidi. “That was clicked by my father. Many of the photographs are inherited but a number of people helped me put together the collection including Hans Winterberg, Anuradha Reddy and M. A. Nayeem,” says Omar.

 

Perhaps leading to a book or a research paper, Omar’s historical journey is not without heartaches that Hyderabadis have when they see history disappear in front of their eyes.

 

“It kills you when you see such disregard for heritage. It is a shame and awful shame. The Badshahi Ashur Khana ought to be an international heritage site and is now occupied by auto drivers, mechanics whose lame excuse for overrunning the place is that they have been living there for a long time. They should be provided alternative housing sites. We should keep our historical record for the future,” he says.

 

S.N

 

Source: The Hindu, Metro Plus Hyderabad, Tuesday November 11, 2008

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Hunger for Color- Live Art of Chiluveru Manohar మంగళవారం, ఆగ 5 2008

Art mart warms up to consultants

 

Debasmita Ghosh | TNN 

Akhadi kurta, a long sling bag and a miserably pensive face peeping out of an overgrown beard – is this the stereotyped image that springs to your mind when you think of an artist? Well, that may have been true some five years back, when the word ‘struggle’ was an accepted part of life for those who dared tread this path. Fortunately the scene now is far brighter, thanks to the increasing popularity of the Indian art. As the world opens up lucrative avenues in the form of art auctions and investments apart from extravagant art fairs, things are hotting up at the art mart. Considering the amount of money that is flowing into this field today, it’s just a matter of strategising to grab a share of this large pie. 

Claiming a stake in this are not just artists but also art galleries, promoters and the latest addition in the area – art management and consulting firms. Even as Hyderabad, with its myriad galleries, artists, curators and promoters, is gradually growing into a hub of art, there seems to be a battle brewing among the stake-holders. The artists who once struggled to put on display their works are now reaping the rewards of the competition between the galleries and the promoters to ‘market’ their works. 

 

 

 

However this sector still remains highly unorganised in India. In the absence of any monitoring authority or art council. Art consulting and management firms capitalise on this gap and apply management principles to give this industry a professional makeover. Gallery owners on the other hand are tagging such practices as nothing but “a mode of fooling people and making a fast buck”. They say that art consultation by managers, instead of trained artists, will only lead to promotion of undeserving artwork. “Earlier artists were aware of struggle but the fresh breed wants quick success. Art consultants would only focus on business aspects and would not hesitate to promote even junk,” says the owner of a prominent art gallery. Others, however, are maintaining a neutral approach to the whole affair. Nemiraj Shetty, owner of Hasta Art Gallery, says that a decade ago not all art shows were handled by curators but now curators have become indispensable partners. “Similarly, now art management and consulting firms are trying to get a foothold by being intermediaries between artists and galleries and other operations that involve a lot of money. Artists have to understand that while curation is an aesthetically designed activity, consultation is just a business,” he adds. 

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