Kusum Choppra

The music channels are full of the  “Deewani Mastani” song. It takes one back Madhuri Dixit’s so many kg ghagra kothawali dance in Devdas.  Pet obsession? Chitpavan women would never be caught in public watching such a performance, as Priyanka Chopra is seen, with perhaps the most authentic expressions crossing her face as she looks on at the interplay between Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. Deepika, in   her pale gold avatar in a net outfit reminiscent of flamenco dancers, with many   co-dancers, seems to inhabit the same Madhuri  space.   She dances in a huge ornate space, more European than Peshwai in design.    Peshwai architecture was noted for its long, perhaps narrow halls and tall distinctively fluted and carved wooden columns based on stone to prevent damp and   insect damage --- all topped with intricately carved wood ceilings and all polished black in color.   Noted examples are the Mastani resurrected palace at ...

One morning, after innumerable years, I watched the entire gamut of a sun rise over the hills… That awesome sight of a a still, chilled night Sprinkled with the glitterati of the night stars Never visible in polluted Ahmedabad. The rising of a slow glimmer of light Accompanied by the plaintive cry of a loudspeaker fed azaan. Atop the sky sparkled two stars One atop the other Way above the dark horizon. Then a glimmer of a pale copper, or was it saffron or orange Varying shades rose in strings and strips. At times eerily resembling the Rings of Saturn Straddling the guardian peaks of Abu. It was a long way to sunrise Abu’s Rings of Saturn changed color and shape Now ring formations;   now climbing Sirius ones and others As the morning mist enveloped the entire city down below. We waited.   My daughter and I Taking deep breaths of the clear cold mountain air Looking around   as dark shapes around came alive Into rocks surr...

Tell me, how are literary writers expected to register their protest on mind bans? =        a Pens Down Strike? Aah, wouldn’t the powers-that-be just love that one?   =        a thali-belan   or slate-pen rally to generate noise pollution? =        a quiet withdrawal all their work from the public domain?   Perumal did it last year. Remember him? What did it get him?   Yes, it  did  leave the field clear for all the Trolls and the Roadies and mass productions. Where are the Writer former chief minister of a southern state and his thought provoking poetess MP daughter?                 Ultimately, an 88 year old writer, acknowledged for her generation of ideas and leading thoughts, took  a lead in pointing to the degeneration of thinking in a fast slipping culture and the ongoing esasure of  a cultural herit...

Kusum Choppra: A DARE

He had dared to ride a horse for his wedding. Challenged the age old rites of Rajputism. Punishment instant by a kangaroo court. His feet  shod with hooves held with nails through his soles. left to die. They took him to the big Dilli hospital. Recovery would take weeks, they were told. They left him at the mercy of hospital staff n well wishers. Returned to a threat .... don't ever see him again or else... Dilli worked its own magic. An NGO filed a suit; media picked up the issue. "India wants to know" bellowed TV screens. Donations poured in. Infections held up recovery. From the little screen on his mobile he watched Police rounded up those who had gored him. The battle will be long. He was told. Witnesses threatened, bought or bumped off. Judges selected for bias. Will you n your village last the war? Years later the verdict came in. A prematurely aged groom, ...