ಕ್ಷಣಪ್ರಭಾ - Kshanaprabhaa

Earlier this year, on my Twitter timeline, I came across this remarkable painting from the year 1891 , titled “The Doctor” , by Sir Luke Fildes , currently kept on display at the Tate Gallery, London. It was a moving painting, and the first thoughts that occurred to me were about how a poet would interpret it. With that in mind, I requested Dr. Chandana Sri to let her thoughts flow on this one, and sure enough, what came about was a beautiful moving poem. Later on, I ended up translating it to Kannada too. Those two poems are featured below:   The poem Dr. Chandana wrote with that painting as the subject:   For the want of but one meagre cot On a makeshift bed of rags and chairs Motionless she lies, the tiny tot 'neath the table-lamp's lopsided gaze   Hearing not her mommy's muffled cries Smelling not the porridge in the urns Seeing not her daddy's watchful eyes Crestfallen and stoic all at once   Like her pillow- squalid, limp and pale Holding out to him, her little...

Last weekend, 13th and 14th of October 2012, was a treat for the followers of fine arts, with a " Pratimala " program (Antyakshari in Sanskrit, which involves reciting verses from well known literary works) on the 13th at Seva Sadana at Malleshwaram, and a " Kavyachitra " program on the 14th at Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs at Basavanagudi. Pratimala was a lively competition between two teams of three each, the participants being great scholars of Sanskrit. Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh, Prof. S. Ranganath and Dr. Shankar on one side, and Prof. K. S. Kannan, Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Ramachandra Sharma on the other, entertaining the audience with stunning exchange of great verses, in a nine round two hour affair. Two out of those nine rounds were swift exchange of verse after verse, while in the other 7 rounds, the scholars chose to also explain the meaning of the verses, to keep the audience involved and entertained. In all, 54 verses were recited, ranging f...

Continuing from Part 1 , here is more from the cultural programmes that happened on the sidelines of the World Samskrit Book Fair . On Saturday, 8th January, 2011, 1003rd edition of "Kavyachitra" was conducted at the Kuvempu Kalakshetra, Bangalore, in association with Samskara Bharati and Abhinaya Bharati. Kavyachitra refers to a cultural entertainment model where a poet and an artist take up challenges from each other, audience, and experts to create poetry and paintings on the spot. Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh was in charge of the "Kavya" part with Artist B. K. S. Varma took up "Chitra". Varma is credited with making painting, a form of "performing art". Some pictures (click on them for larger versions) and videos from the mesmerizing two hour event are below: Pictures: 1. Varma drawing Sarswati using colour soaked thread: 2. R. Ganesh concentrating on Varma's masterly work: 3. Flautist Venugopal also forgets to play his flute, enchanted...