Migration has become a mere money play. If you’ve an urge to migrate to the best college, then be prepared to have fortunes in your arms. There are many students who wish to migrate to the best college, but, very fairly they could find one, though they deserve. This is has become an increasing concern for the students.

As a student, I’m also planning to migrate to the best college for my course, aspiring to have the North Campus, University of Delhi degree. Few years back, based on my academic record, I thought that I’d be able to get admission in the North Campus. However, watching the current scenario I’m forced me to revise my dreams and aspirations. This is not the case with me only; there are hundreds of students who either compromise with the course or the college and in most cases, students have to kill their ambitions of getting the high-demand courses like B.Com (H) and Eco (H). The cut-offs for these two courses follow a neck-to-neck pattern and is enough to divert the minds of students.

Therefore, it is just a matter of chance that the students could reserve a seat for themselves for the general quota. Hence, mission migration is left unaccomplished for those who deserve.

Words, promises and actions were supposed to follow the massacre. People spoke sense, politics took a back stage and conspiracies let aside for a while. The question here is for how long, how long could we hold on to the same old nerve?
Media shows, reality shows, gossips, suggestions, live coverage and pages of powerful vocabulary and thoughts. Anything converted into execution? Yes, not the actions demanded by our very own fellow-Mumbaikars, but an action enough to hit the headline of the daily leading newspapers scripting words that strike a debate regarding the country owning Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist alive, under custody. A debate that again brainstorms highest level of cross-geographical and foreign affairs ministry, enough again to keep us frowned and glued on to the television and newspapers as something must be happening around, apparently, not knowing what though.

The final word of action was diplomacy again, meted out towards the compensation of the lives lost. Not an immediate revamped thought of government and security policies, strengthening and educating militia, emergency enforcement of laws, an attempt to implement civilian intelligence and not a nation as a single kin of suffering and trauma.

Years through the time I have taken to grow from a child to an adult, our torch-bearers still call for media conferences, disclosing strategies in the making and waiting, which has never been executed. Time and again there have been strategy layouts, and cannibals have barged into the nation every time to prove that we fear, we fear Death. And who does not, it is just a matter of metamorphosis of words into actions.

Strengthening accountability at prestigious landmarks, enhancing security measures across prominent places and institutions (not just another scanner or CCTV installed), probing into loopholes on every fateful day that makes headlines, and as mentioned earlier, educating and arming citizens though civilian implementation of police intelligence, slaughtering and not debating any conspiracy involved in any massacre can help build our nation stronger and fight terror better.

Above all, by miles, are the gallant efforts of our brave army personnel who have, time and again proved we should re-think our rights to vote and set the nation on army rule so that political powerhouses do not engage in nail-biting combat for roles, roles that are supposed to safeguard the nation, and often fail as most of the time fades by witnessing a crowd of leaders voicing their opinion out, sadly every individual’s different from the other. At least a team of commandos know they wear the same uniform and would fight the odds, the same way, come what may!

With raising economy and governments modern ‘public-friendly’ budgets, Bengaluru was looked upon as the land of “achievers” with the early influx of Technology companies Bengaluru slowly made its mark on the world map and then there was no looking back for the city, one after other companies made their grand entry into “Namma” Bengaluru” and with that began the raise of Support and service companies. From Hostels to PG’s educational institutions to private coaching centres, canteens to hotels Bengaluru slowly began to grow. People realised that the city had enough money to be exploited, with more number of inhabitants Bengaluru’s tourism department rose to glory. Private transports were now more, auto rickshaws were the only king on the roads; communication, be it public or private increased, cell phones slowly became a part of every one’ life et all. It was a new wave and Bengaluru was not too slow to catch this wave, Bengaluru had something in store for every one.

With increasing number of workaholics Bengaluru’s attention slowly shifted towards entertainment industry, Pubs, week end bars, disco’s night clubs made their way in-between the hectic schedule of Bengaluru, week ends were more glorified and Saturday night fever was spread all over. Alcohol was easily available and Dj’s were introduced to get that extra kick. Bengaluru wore a modern outfit and the hand of Law was too short to control or cut down on any un-wanted activities. 24/7 restaurants were introduced, the menu card now had more than our ‘Masala dosa’s’, ‘idli’s’ burgers were the need of the hour and pizza was the staple food. Bengaluru was a new platform for all restaurants and food chains to make their mark in business, people of Bengaluru with diverse backgrounds welcomed any food of any kind of any rate.

Bengaluru even acted as a host to many other artistic fields like theatre, painting, and music. With hectic schedules and boring week ends always at pubs people now wanted something different, something artistic and thus the “Art life of Bengaluru” was started. Theatre made its early mark with some major theatre groups camping permanently in Bengaluru, music was part and parcel of every Bengalurian, the city gave innumerable opportunities to young talents to showcase their creativity and grow to new heights. Bengaluru accepted every play with warm heart, every painting with caring eyes and every music with encouraging ears, Bengaluru also became a destination for artistic people and very aptly called “the arts paradise”

Call it a boon or bane, Bengaluru has given every body its piece of success, people have walked in made merry and walked out but the city as such has been kind enough to accommodate any one of any kind anytime. Life at Bengaluru never stops; the city never sleeps and success is always in store for you in Bengaluru.

“No child is entitled as an employee until he/she reaches 14” was the law and accordingly all over the world people stopped recruiting children below and bingo! The government got its share of vote bank and public support but think again? There are loads of children in every traffic signal begging for a single pie the moment you stop your vehicle!! Considering mendicancy as one of biggest profession, these children are forced into without any choice and why not?? The law never defines that “children below 14 should not beg”. Sputtering in all weathers these children try to impress every motorist with their self made tricks and performance be it a singing, dancing or even walking on a rope. Every signal is a piece of bread for these young hearts and every vehicle is their future. Life at 10 for these children is a living inferno; painting themselves, the characters from greatest epics such as “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” these children try to spread a new “dharma” among the people.

“Dreams unlimited” and their vision determined, these children are totally inconspicuous from the long hands of ‘law’ and the advantage goes to their poor helpless nurtures. When I dared to question one of the children about his future, his reply was simple “I know what I am doing and I am doing it for my family”; believe me; he still hopes of a day where he sees himself uniformed and sitting in a school.

“Every child is special” and so is there future and carrier. Every child’s future is any countries’ developing step, even though many voluntary organizations have taken up a step in picking up street children and educating them, there are loads of them in every signal and on every road.

What sounds more ridiculous is when these kids sell goods of MNC companies, just turn round that packet and you see the MNC granting some part of money to some voluntary organization in support of street children.

Well it’s time for us to realize the thin line between employment and beggary and in both cases it is just the children at the age of 10 being used?

For those who do not know, I hope to be in Mumbai (Bombay) towards the end of July. This will be my very first trip during the monsoons, many years after I left the country to do what most others do when they leave their country of birth. Prior to this, I have returned only during November-December when the weather has been bearable for most NRIs (non-resident Indians).

Getting to the Indian monsoons. As I do on most mornings, I made a concerted effort to get away from my computer and race outdoors before I get side-tracked with communicating. However, this morning the sky looked pregnant, more so than yesterday. But still I went out, “got to get at least 30 minutes of exercise, or else I’ll become a computer potato,” I thought.

Just as I was heading back home, rain drops as big as frogs jumped out of the sky without any warning, though not unexpected. Still it felt as if a switch had been suddenly turned on. But with the same suddenness, the frogs changed to tadpoles, and then to a faint drizzle, and then no rain at all. Yes of course I was soaked, since I cannot run. But it was fun! Fun because it was as if the heavens were playing with me, warning me, warming me, reminding me of what it used to be like before I became more of who I have become.

“Preparing for the Indian monsoons,” I mused. It had been many months, even years, since I had walked back home in the rain.

Heading back to computer, guess what I came across? A Sepia Mutiny blog entry titled, “Mumbai sensitive about its manholes.” The entry warns American citizens of the open drains in Mumbai, warns them that they could one minute be on ground and next underground since there are no markers or warning signs of the open human and animal engulfing holes. Only the occasional tree branches cover the holes, as if everyone is supposed to know what that means and can see them during the low visibility periods.

Here I had been going back in my mind to the good old days when I occasionally walked back home in Pune (Poona) during the monsoons, looking forward to perhaps doing the same in Mumbai. “Perhaps that will wash off some of the cynicism accumulated over the years through experience, of course,” I day-dreamed.

Just yesterday one of my new friends wrote to me, requesting that I should be careful walking over drains in India.

“Of course, I’ll be careful,” I thought. “It’s not as if I was going to the moon. Its only India,” I thought. Though nothing “only,” about the country whose economy is growing leaps and bounds, at least 8 to 9 percent per year, if not more.

“Needlessly worrying, how sweet though,” I happily thought. “How kind of someone I met this past weekend to be concerned about my safety in our mutual country of birth” I pondered.
Others have told, “take an umbrella, its your shoes and pants that get ruined,” Minor details I thought.

But reading the blog article has made me think this whole thing over. In the US, it is I who typically warns my friends, “Be careful, don’t walk on drains, as if the inevitable is waiting to become the evitable. One never knows.”

“Don’t be so paranoid,” is the look I mostly receive. But my friends know that I am the cautious sort, for the most part.

Turns out such things do happen, perhaps more so back in Mumbai. So if I do not blog towards the end of July, or ever again, please do not assume that I have been swallowed by one of those holes in the ground in India. But then again, you are most certainly free to think as you wish.

With more than 1000 vehicles plying on these roads at any time, leading to all kinds of misery for the people driving, the road has now become a graveyard for street dogs. Approximately 20 dogs are crashed under the magnanimous wheels of heavy vehicles. The very sight of dead dog bodies with their body parts shattered all over the road makes anyone un-comfortable, and the very smell of it induces many dangerous diseases but the real point is, “are we doing justice by murdering these harmless and innocent animals? Do they deserve such kind of punishment?” As we move ahead with 60 years of independence, with technology rising; has the country’s law failed to protect and shelter these animals?

Recently an Indian film actor was convicted for 5 years for killing endangered species which leaves us with one important fact that there are laws to protect animals, but is these laws confined only to endangered species or is it only a celebrity weightage that adds on these laws?

Bangalore recently witnessed a mass obliterating of dogs for which the local authorities framed a reason but do we have a reason for this kind of killing? PETA, the authorized animal activist organization is completely blind about this; the local authorities are least to be concerned about this. All this leaves us with more and more questions with no answers in sight; what is the reason for such indifference to this slaughter? Who is responsible? The truck drivers who ram their vehicles during midnight or the local authorities who haven’t provided sufficient lighting for the country’s busiest roads or PETA who are so ignorant about this entire issue that they have not even tried to rescue these innocent dogs.

The blame game starts and keeps circling around with no results. ‘INDIA POISED’ is a popular phrase, but are we really there to poise ourselves. The country today has thousands of voluntary organizations which fight for animal protection and especially endangered animals, the very fact that ridicules anyone is, if we protect our existing animals in a right way, then the question of “ENDANGERED SPECIES” automatically fades away.

Time is running out and with that an entire breed of animals, it’s high time for local authorities to look into the matter or at least bring such incidents into limelight so that any NGO can pick up the task of rehabilitating these animals elsewhere, the solution is simple and it only requires dedicated work.

Let’s analyze the country India, with more than 25 states and population of over a billion, India is now widely open to western trade and culture. With IT hubs like Bangalore and Pune becoming more significant on the world map, India is slowly emerging as 21st century’s most influential country but what’s going on inside the country is staggering. Recently the commercial capital of India, Mumbai was tattered into pieces when one of their leaders raised voice against increasing number of people from the neighbouring states thus slenderizing the space for native residents. Cities like Bangalore have increasing number of outside population with only 30% of original inhabitants according to the latest census. Riots erupted across India over the issue of increasing population of north Indians in the state of Maharastra. Is this a political game to gain mileage or a frustration of locals; the reason is still unknown.

When asked; the locals say that they need more space in their own territory where as on the other side the immigrants claim that they relocate just to earn their daily bread. Countries like United States of America who were more open to accept people from all over the world are now slowly turning towards the alarming level of immigration.

A survey of New York City households taken by the US Census Bureau in 1999 has revealed that 40 percent of the city’s 7.4 million people are now foreign-born. This figure quantifies and confirms what is apparent on the city’s streets, subways and in other public places. Roughly 100,000 immigrants have been arriving and making New York City their home each year for the past decade. One million have come since 1990. This has meant an almost incredible jump in the percentage of foreign-born New Yorkers, from 28 to 40 percent, in less than ten years. Immigration has of course been a widespread phenomenon in the past 50 years. Canada and Australia, with major metropolises such as Toronto and Sydney, have been greatly changed by this process.

Most major cities in the US have also seen their share of immigration. It all boils to one question finally; that between this race of “SPACE” and “BREAD” who should be protected by the government? The locals want more space, the immigrants want more money, is it a crime to relocate? Or is it a crime not to adapt to that particular region?

“Who’s city is it anyway?” does it belong to the native residents or the occupants who work day in and day out and in that process making the city more prosperous.

There are many questions unanswered and the only sufferer is yet again the common man.

The origin of theatre in ancient India or rather folk theatre and dramatics can be traced to the religious ritualism of the Vedic Aryans. This folk theatre of the misty past was mixed with dance, food, ritualism, plus a depiction of events from daily life. It was the last element which made it the origin of the classical theatre of later times. Many historians, notably D. D. Kosambi, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Adya Rangacharaya, etc. have referred to the prevalence of ritualism amongst Indo-Aryan tribes in which some members of the tribe acted as if they were wild animals and some others were the hunters. Those who acted as mammals like goats, buffaloes, reindeer, monkeys, etc. were chased by those playing the role of hunters.

In such a simple and crude manner did the theatre originate in India about 3500 years back in the Indo-Aryan states of Rig Vedic times. There also must have existed a theatrical tradition in the Harappan cities (civilizations).

Natya Shastra

Indian history about theatre cannot be explained without taking the name of Bharat Muni . Bharata Muni (2nd century BC) was an ancient Indian writer best known for writing the Natya Sastra of Bharatha, a theoretical treatise on Indian performing arts, including Theatre, dance, acting, and music, which has been compared to Aristotle’s poetics.

Bharata is often known as the father of Indian theatrical arts. His Natya Shastra seems to be the first attempt to develop the technique or rather art, of drama in a systematic manner. The Natya Shastra tells us not only what is to be portrayed in a drama, but how the portrayal is to be done. Drama, as Bharata Muni says, is the imitation of men and their doings (loka-vritti). As men and their doings have to be respected on the stage, so drama in Sanskrit is also known by the term roopaka which means portrayal.

The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope. It consists of minutely detailed precepts for both playwrights and actors. Bharata describes ten types of drama ranging from one to ten acts. In addition, he lays down principles for stage design, makeup ,costume , dance (various movements and gestures), a theory of Aesthetics (rasas and Bhavas),Acting , Directing and Music each in individual chapters.

Bharata sets out a detailed theory of drama comparable to the poetics of Aristotle. He refers to bhavas(feelings), the imitations of emotions that the actors perform, and the rasas (emotional responses) that they inspire in the audience. He argues that there are eight principal rasas: love, pity, anger, disgust, heroism, awe, terror and comedy, and that plays should mix different
rasas but be dominated by one.

According to the Natya Shastra, all the modes of expression employed by an individual through his speech, gestures, movements and intonation must be used. The representation of these expressions can have different modes, according to the predominance and emphasis on one mode or another. Bharatamuni recognises four main modes: speech and poetry (bharati vritti), dance and music (kaishiki vritti), action (arabhatti vritti) and emotions (sattvatti vritti).

Classical Indian Theatre

The Ramayana and Mahabaratha can be considered as the first recognized plays that originated in India. These epics provided the inspiration to the earliest Indian dramatists and they do even today. Indian dramatists such as Bhasa (c.2nd century BC) wrote plays that were heavily inspired by the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Kalidasa (1st century BC) is arguably considered to be ancient India’s greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist. Three famous romantic plays written by Kalidasa are the MALAVIKAGNIMITRAM and ABHIGNANA SHAKUNTALAM (The Recognition of Shakuntala), it was the first to be translated into English and German.