art focus – a terrible beauty – meera devidayal

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Rama Arya

Where is the lake?

I was first introduced to video art in Cape Town, South Africa, at the National Art Gallery.

The video art of South Africa, as most of the country’s other modern art, finds itself emanating from the turmoil of its apartheid era, leaving the viewer ripped apart and then brought together into some semblance of wholeness. Video art, I learnt, was not meant as a once off viewing. Every time one watches it, a layer gets peeled, both in the narrative and in oneself, and the journey of exploration thus continues. Continue reading →

the road to haji ali

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Rama Arya

“When I was at my barest, my ugliest, my weakest, you took me out to the open square, to be pelted upon with stones by yours. My tears cloaked me – buffered the pain – for in the tears, my God was crying along with me. And flowers grew over my wounds instead.”

The road to the Haji Ali dargah is paved with sweet offerings to a beloved saint, doorways to zakat, human suffering, and faith. Continue reading →

art focus – metal and brush – swagata bose

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Rama Arya

“‘Nude’ is to me the most glorious subject for the artist’s brush and, hence, the most challenging. The tension between the prestigious position of the nude, and the anxieties caused by sexual overtones implicit in the portrayal and observation of the nude female body, is at the core of the challenge.” ~ Swagata Bose Continue reading →

giving back: the lifeline express

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Rama Arya

The Operation Theater on the Lifeline Express

Most of us live most of our lives cocooned from the realities of this world. And when we do venture onto the other side, it is armed with abstract theories and falsified charitable notions about ourselves. Some however, become a part of it, and through their efforts, lessen the pain in it. Continue reading →

photo essay: the ‘un’hidden graffiti of bandra

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Rama Arya

i want to infest
the city with
trees.
free all the horses.
lay down
on the floor and
lick it.
cigarettes keep
burning.
so disturbing.
flames are
for candles only
he told me
let the grime exist
in my mind
~ TCC

A poem that recurs amongst the graffiti on Chapel Road… Continue reading →

churches of bandra

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Rama Arya

5:30 a.m. and the Mount Mary Basilica opens its doors to the world with bells ringing from its grey stone clad towering twin towers. It’s a beautiful wake up call. Beats any alarm clock any day. 🙂

Bandra’s soul lies in its centuries-old Portuguese churches dotted around its four square kilometers. In the 16th Century, the Portuguese Jesuits were given ownership of Bandora, as it was then known, leading to six parish churches working zealously, right up to present times, towards meeting the spiritual and communal needs of its inhabitants. Continue reading →

photo essay: the hidden graffiti of bandra

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Rama Arya

213

The contemplating sage at Nagrana Lane

I moved to Bombay, sorry Mumbai, this February. And I chose Bandra as my home. It was one of those ‘destined’ moves as I like to term it. 🙂

Bandra grows on you. It slowly becomes the center of your life, and you start believing that there is no other world outside of it; an aberration one slowly and gleefully slips into. Continue reading →

medieval squares of eastern europe

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Rama Arya

On my way to Český Krumlov – South Bohemian folk Baroque architecture (18th-19th Century) around the village green of Holašovice

The fairy tale continued as I traveled deeper into Eastern Europe, the castles becoming more romantic, the squares prettier and the churches more quaint. Meandering cobbled streets worn over the centuries, red tiled roofs competing with the surrounding green hills, and the lone church spire characterize these pockets of history frozen in time, many of them today UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Continue reading →

hiking in the tatra mountains

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Rama Arya

Last year I traveled through Eastern Europe, through fairy tales, castles, medieval squares, expressionless communism, and the other side of Eastern Europe – the mighty High Tatra Mountain range with its granite bulk towering over the skyline of Slovakia and Poland, as I drove through gentle undulating hills to reach its midst. Continue reading →