Vol.16 No. 2 February - 2016

BOOK POST

BVB TO SHOW CASE INFOSYS FOUNDATION’SLAKSHMESHWARA SANGEETHA-NRITYA UTSAV

Renovated Someshwara temple at Lakshmeshwara, Gadag Distrist, Karnataka by Infosys Foundation

What usually happens to

ancient, excavated temples is thatthey remain relics, telling anenchanting tale of a glorious past.

Rarely do they come alive topresent times.

The recently archeologicallyrenovated 11th century

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Someshwara temple atLakshmeshawara in GadagDistrict, by Infosys Foundation,is setting an inspiringprecedence—not only are nityapoojas already on, a grand musicand dance festival is on theanvil in March 2016.

The three-day “InfosysFoundation LakshmeshwaraUtsav” from March 12, againstthe backdrop of the architecturalmarvel, will present top rankingand young musicians and dancers,besides a colourful medley of folkarts, with the temple resounding todaily rituals and prayers.

The festival promises toenhance the already rich culturalheritage of the Hubli-Dharwad-Gadag region by ushering in amega cultural event likenone other.

Got up by Infosys Foundationin association with BharatiyaVidya Bhavan, Bengaluru,Lakshmeshwar Utsav is a festivalof local art and artistes with anational flavor and standing.

A MEDLEY OFFOLK ANDCLASSICALARTS

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Crafted as a people’s festival,it has several windows of culturalshows to give it a special flavor,because, lets not forget that theentire belt is home to some of themost famous national musicalfestivals.

Tailored to make it a uniquefestival, the Utsav will present ‘SurPrabhat’ (‘Udaya ragas’) everymorning, when the long-forgottenSomeshwara temple complex willusher in the dawn with apt ragas,creating the mood for the eveningconcerts, which will feature musicand dance revolving around thetheme of Shiva.

The entire temple and itssurroundings will be beautifully lit,enhancing the appeal of the show.Yet another highlight of the festivalwill be a colourful procession ofthe presiding deities of the temple,which will go around the peripheryof the complex, to theaccompaniment of traditional“mangala vaadya”, folk dances.

A 11TH CENTURYARCHITECTURALMARVEL

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A large ensemble of folkperformers have been roped in topresent popular arts such as dollukunita and kolaata. Artistesperforming for the festival havebeen drawn exclusively from theregion, to make it a core festivalof art and artistes from the region,and for its people, yet with anational flavour.

A little about Someshwaratemple itself. A marvellousreflection of Chalukyanarchitecture, the temple complexhouses many smaller temples,mainly dedicated to Shiva.The garbha griha, a navaranga,mukha mantapa and ardhamantapa are a few of thestructures restored to their fullbeauty. Lakshmeshwara has acultural and literary history,and was a centre of Jainism.

All these aspects, nowculminating in a classical musicand dance festival, with agamut of folk performances,should be reason enough tomake it to Infosys FoundationLakshmewhwara Utsav, the venuebeing just 50 km from Hubballi.

For more details contact :Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,Race Course Road, Bengaluru.

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A thinking bird, a smiling

flower, a calm and peacefulhorse… These startling and rareimages which Anu Jain depicts inher paintings, are her way ofcommunicating with the worldaround her.

Anu, 32, wonders whydisabled persons are stigmatized ,when no one is perfect in thisimperfect world. Born withoutlegs and rudimentary elbows. Anupaints, photographs and designsartwork. She is no amateur either,having cleared Chitra BhaskarPart –II from Prachin KalaKendra, Chandigarh.

DISABILITYIS NOT ADETERRENTFOR ARTIST

Anu may not have fingers,but plays the piano. An avidreader of Sudha Murty’s books,she recently painted Murty’sportrait and presented it to her.A surprised Sudha wrote toBharatiya Vidya Bhavan toorganize an exhibition of paintingsof a rare artist. The exhibitionsponsored by Infosys Foundation,

Artist Anu Jain and H.N. Suresh, Director, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,lighting the lamp at the inaugural of the exhibition

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opened on Saturday 16 and wason till January 23.

Her family is her backbone.While elder sister Abha andyounger brother Trilok help herupdate her website, her parentsKiranprabha and Vinay Kumar

Jain stand as her pillars.Abha says Anu is a vibrant,self-motivated, resourceful personand the family is only supportingher interests. “One day, mymother gave me a brush and paintand asked me to draw on whitecanvas. I gradually felt interested

Peeyush Jain, Hon. Treasurer, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan andDr. Vijaya, Veteran Journalist, honouring artist Anu.

Anu

painting

at

work.

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and explored. I was home trained.My paintings are reflections of mythoughts .

Most of my paintings haveflowers, birds, the sunset andsunrise. No flower is dull in mywork, they are bright and cheerful.Pink is the colour of hope, loveand happiness and you can seemany pink flowers in my work.All that art requires is focus andpatience” says.

Painting on discardedX-ray sheets are another interest.Her ‘Ganesha on X-Ray’ caughtmany eyes at the exhibition.Currently settled in Bengaluru,

she conducted the Art Workshopfor the children of Bhavan-BBMPschool at Srirampuram.

“Her interaction with studentscan make a tremendous impactboth in their sense of art andtheir attitude towards life” saysH.N. Suresh, Director, BharatiyaVidya Bhavan.

What disappoints Anu is thelack of ramps and lifts in publicspaces across India. “We do nothave enough special school,disabled – friendly roads andfootpaths. Treat us like normalpeople” she says.

(Courtesy - Times of India)

Visitors admiring Anu’s paintings

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programme conducted byBrindavan Education Trust.

This enrichment programmeaims at teachers acquiring skillsand strategies to teach earlyliteracy, facilitate holisticdevelopment, and becomeaware of informal screening fordevelopmental delays.

Sri H.N.Suresh presidedover the function. Smt. VijayaMahadevan, Smt. JanakiNarendra, Dr. Gayatri Kiran andcourse coordinator Smt. ShwetaChandrashekar of Brindavan Trustwere present on the occasion.

Colours of India

BVB-Bangalore Press

School celebrated its annual dayfor two days from Dec. 22, underthe theme, “Colours of India”,representing the culture, traditions,festivals, places of interest,

GITA JAYANTIANDANNUAL DAYCELEBRATION

folk arts, dances, crops, cuisines,and topography of the country,depicted through stage

performances, which wereas vibrant as the theme itself.

Children from nursery to9th standard participated in thecelebrations, enacting the themesthat could be understood andinterpreted by them.

Gita Jayanti

The annual day was precededby Gita Jayanti on Dec 21,

Sri. Ajeeth Prasad Jain, Senior Principal, Rajaji Vidyashram, Chennai, lighting thelamp to inaugurate the Gita Jayanthi celebrations. Also seen from the left are

H N Suresh , Director, BVB, Manjula, Principal, Bhavan’s Bangalore Press School,H.R. Ananth, Chairman, Bhavan’s Bangalore Press School.

COLOURSOF INDIA

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a special aspect of it beingthe recitation of 2nd and12th chapter of Bhagavad Gita,in Gamaka, complete withmeaning and commentary,by students drawn from 1st

standard to 9th standard.Rasleela and Mohiniattamfollowed the recitation.

Dance by 9th std students.

H.N. Suresh felicitates Ajeeth Prasad Jain

while Manjula and H.R. Ananth, joins

The school auditoriumwas inaugurated on theoccasion. Ajeeth Prasad Jain,Senior Principal, RajajiVidyashram, Chennai, waschief guest. ChairmanH R Ananth, presided.H N Suresh, Director, BVBBengaluru Kendra, was guest ofhonour.

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Awesome Kamsale dance by 8th std boys

Scintillating Goan dance by 7th std students

Gangam dance by nursery children

BVB-BANGALORE PRESS SCHOOLANNUAL DAY PICTURES - 2016

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Feb. 6: Dance & Drama bykids

The Bhavan-BBMP

Public School, althougheducating underprivilegedchildren, is shaping up as aneducational institution that bringsto fore the dormant talents of itswards through extracurricularactivities. What is heartening isthat many of the children findopportunities to showcase theirtalents, with a variety of activitiesto choose from, depending upontheir interest. It is not just a fewchildren hand-picked byteachers who have access tosuch activities, making the schoolan equal-opportunity academy oflearning beyond the prescribedschool curriculum.

An extension of the non-academic activities of the schoolis a dance recital and a Kannadaplay, Kindara Jogi, being put upby the children of the school atKhincha Hall of Bhavan,on Feb. 6, at 10.30 am,organized by NarenFoundation.

WATCH OUT FOR

FEB 6, 12, 13, 20, 27,2016.

Feb. 12: Mysore L Leela’sveena solo

Veena artiste Mysore L Leelais a soloist who is identified withher outings in “Pancha Veena”as well. She has taught veena at

various institutions in Mysuru,Sringeri, and Shivamogga. Leelaperforms at the Indian Instituteof World Culture for InfosysFoundation on Feb.12, at 6 pm.

Feb. 13: Kathak byHari & Chethana

The zeal of young dancecouple Hari and Chethana ofNoopur Performing Art Centre is

Mysore L.Leela

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literally palpable on stage as asurge of energy that envelopes theaudience into its fold right from theword go. A popular dance couplewhose vivacity need really beexperienced, their show is surenot to disappoint. Be at theKhincha Hall on Feb. 13,to watch their zestful recital at6.30 pm. The programme ispart of the Horizon series ofICCR in association withBhavan.

Principal, Investigation E-PGPatashala Project. His list ofachievements, awards garnered,technical papers presented,and works published areremarkably solid.

Presently working on theproject, “Development of aSanskrit Authoring System”involving Samavedic accent-marking scheme, renderingvedic databases into computer-analysable form, and analysisof compound words in theMahabharata by enhancingDESIKA software on MS-WINDOWS, among others,Dr Ramanujam will speak on“Contributions of Dr Anantha

Feb. 13: Dr P Ramanujamtalks on Vedic Literature

From having studied in theGurukula system in subjects suchas Vishishtadvaita, Vedanta,and Taitreeya Krishna Yajur Vedaamong others, to become anace in computers sounds animpossible achievement. Well,East and West have blendedvery well in Dr P Ramanujam, Dr. P. Ramanujam

Hari & Chetana

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Rangachar for vedic literature”under the Dr N S AnanthaRangachar Memorial EndowmentLecture at ESV Hall on Feb. 13,at 6pm. It is not often that onegets to hear such men of lettersspeak in lucid tongue, so don’tmiss this talk.

Feb. 20 : Neela Ramgopalis one of those rare artisteswho have succeeded both as aperforming musician and ateacher. She continues to straddleboth streams, being one of theaccomplished Carnatic vocalistsKarnataka can proudly flaunt.Aspiring musicians yearn tobecome her wards, and amongCarnatic vocalists, she is a topnotch singer.

“Neelambari” is a groupof four performing Carnaticvocalists—Usha Kesari, GeethaMurthy, Bhargavi Manjunath and

Rema Ramaiah— all B High andA grade artistes of AIR. As wardsof Neela, they have made theirmark individually as well.They are regular performers atclassical music events, focussingon thematic concerts, which is awelcome change from routineconcerts.

Such theme-based concertsinitiate the audience into aspectsof music hitherto unknown tothem such as compositions oncertain deities, on composersthemselves, etc, which can proveto be one of the first steps increating a better-educatedaudience vis a vis music, which inturn can lift the standard of musicby generating more informed anddemanding listeners. Neelambarineeds to be appreciated for this,although to them, theme-basedconcerts might mean more achallenge than being looked atas a service to the music field.

Neelambari, lead by Neela,will present Daasa compositionsstressing on “Dina Nithya JeevanaThathva” at Khincha Hall onFeb. 20, at 6pm. The pithyphilosophy of Daasapadas iscentral to their musical value.Be there.

Usha Kesari, Geetha Murthy,Bhargavi Manjunath and

Rema Ramaiah

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Feb 27: Rangapraveshaby Lasya Priya

Every classical dancer inKarnataka needs to be gratefulto Guru H R Keshavamurthy,because he was one of theearliest practitioners andproponents of classical dancein the State. What Rukmini DeviArundale did in Chennai,Keshavamurthy did in Karnataka,not on that scale or focus,but he certainly was one ofthose responsible for accruingrespectability to classical dance,and many young girls fromconservative Brahmin familiestaking to dance at his KeshavaNritya Shala in conservativeMalleshwaram.

What Keshavamurthyhas given to the culture field inKarnataka has in fact gone

unsung and unrecognised, becausehe not only belonged to an era ofhumble beginning and growth, buthe was not a savvy marketer.Even today there is none toparallel him in his depth ofknowledge on varied subjects thatgo to make an artiste complete,such as Samskritam, Kannadaliterature—modernand ancient, folk arts, forms andmusic, Carnatic classical music,and Kathak and Bharatanatya.

VasanthalakshmiVenkataram and B K ShyamPrasad are two of his childrenwho are long-standing danceteachers in Bengaluru, withShyam Prakash even havingestablished the Keshava Collegeof Dance and Music , which isaffiliated to the University ofBangalore. Shyam Prasad’s andVasanthalaskhmi’s families arealso into the arts field. The latestthird generation dancer to enterthe fray is Lasya Priya,Keshavamurthy’s youngest son,Ravishankar’s daughter.The Rangapravesha of LasyaPriya is at Khincha Hall onFeb. 27, at 11am.

Lasya Priya

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Students of Bhavan’s

M.P. Birla Institute ofManagement in associationwith BBMP and BMRC-organised a programme toplant 3000 saplings along the

BHAVAN’S M.P. BIRLA STUDENTS

PLANT 3000 SAPLINGS

metro medians in Bengaluruon January 9.

The programme wasinaugurated by ManjunathReddy, Bengaluru city Mayor.

Manjunath Reddy inaugurating the programme

Students planting saplings

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Veena-Venu-Violin Concert :

Artiste : Venu : Vidwan. L.V. Mukund, Veena : Vidwan. V. Gopal,

Violin : Vidwan. J.K. Sridhar, Mridanga : Vidwan. Renuka Prasad,

Khanjeera : Vidwan. A.S.N. Swamy, Ghata : Vidwan. Narayana Murthy.

BHAVAN-INFOSYS FOUNDATIONCULTURAL OUTREACH PROGRAMME AT

INDIRANAGAR SANGEETHA SABHA,

PURANDARA BHAVAN, BENGALURU ON NOV 28, 2015

BHAVAN-INFOSYS FOUNDATIONCULTURAL OUTREACH PROGRAMME AT

PROF. B.R. SUBBA RAO COLLEGE, VIDYARANYAPURA,

BENGALURU ON DEC 19, 2015

Saxophone : Vidwan. Sridhar Sagar, Violin : Vidwan S. Shashidar

Mridanga : Vidwan. R. Ganesh, Tabla : Vidwan Nagabhushan

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BHAVAN-INFOSYS FOUNDATIONCULTURAL OUTREACH PROGRAMME :BIRTH CENTENARY OF SWARAMURTHY

V.N.RAO AT NEW CONFERENCE HALL, MES COLLEGE,MALLESHWARAM, BENGALURU ON DEC 19, 2015.

Instrumental music Veena : Vidwan. Ramana Balachandra,Mridanga : Vidwan. C. Cheluvaraj, Ghata : Vidwan. N. Gurumurthy

Lecture programme

Topic : “Life and Works of

Swaramurthy V.N. Rao”

Speaker : Sri. M.A. Jayarama Rao

Carnatic Music : Vocal : Vidwan. S. Shankar, Violin : Vidwan Achuta Rao

Mridanga : Vidwan B.R. Srinivas

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BHAVAN-INFOSYS FOUNDATIONPROGRAMME ATINDIAN INSTITUTE OF WORLD CULTURE,

BASAVANAGUDI, BENGALURU ON JAN 8, 2016

Sugama Sangeetha by Geetha Deepika Alura

SugamaSangeetha

by Savitha

andRajeevAnand

NANJANGUD SRIKANTAIAH JANAKAMMAMEMORIAL ENDOWMENT

MUSIC PROGRAMME AT BHAVAN’S ESV HALL,ON JAN 2, 2015

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PROGRAMME :FEBRUARY - 2016

Sat 10.30 a.m. - Khincha Hall

06. Bhavan-BBMP Public SchoolDance Drama Kannada PlayKindari Jogi.

(This programme is brought to you byNaren Foundation)

Fri 6.00 p.m. - Veena Recital

12. Artiste : Vidushi Mysore L. Leela

(in association with InfosysFoundation)

Venue : Indian Institute of WorldCulture, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru

Fri 11.15 a.m.

12. BVB Infosys Foundationand Ananya Outreach programme :Dance duet : Kathak : Ms. Mrudula Rao

Kuchipudi : Ms. Agara Srividya

Venue : Vidyavardaka PU College,Basaveshwara Nagar, Bengaluru

Sat 6.30 p.m. - Khincha Hall

13. Horizon series -

Kathak Dance by Hari and Chetan

(in association with IndianCouncil for Cultural Relations)

Sat 6.00 p.m. - Khincha Hall20 BVB -Infosys Foundationand Ananya Cultural Outreachprogramme : Artist :Neela Ramgopal, Geetha Murthy,Rema Ramaiah, Usha Kesari,Bhargavi Manjunath.

Dasara Compositions with Emphasis on‘Dina Nithya Jeevana Thathva’

Sat 11.00 a.m. - ESV Hall27. Bhavan’s Gandhi Centre forFree Computer Education supportedby Rotary Indiranagar and SuprajithFoundation.

Convocation of 9th Batch.

Sat 11.00 a.m. - Khincha Hall27. Bharathanatya Dance -Arrangetram - Lasya PriyaDisciple of GuruMalini Ravi Shankar

Sat - Sun 6.00 p.m.27 - 28 BVB -Infosys Foundationand Ananya Cultural Outreachprogramme : NRITHYOLLASA

at 6.00 pm on Saturday 27.Bharatanatya : Sukruti AnanthKathak : Poorna AcharyaBharathanatya : Raghunandan

at 6.00 pm on Sundary 28.Bharatanatyam : Ritwika GhoshBharatanatyam : Aparna Menon,Odissi : VandanaVenue: Sevasadana, 14th Cross,

Malleswaram, Bangalore - 560 003

Sat 6.00 p.m. - ESV Hall

13. Dr. N.S. AnanthaRangachar Memorial EndowmentLecture

Topic : Contributions for Vedicleterature of Dr. Anantha Rangachar

Speaker : Dr. P. Ramanujan, Principal,Investigation E-PG Patashala Project.

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February - 2016