Friday 20 February 2009

Dance Troop at Victoria Memorial, Kolkata




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Dance Troop at Victoria Memorial, Kolkata


It is winter in Kolkata. I go for morning walk during my short stay there.

Air is misty, pleasantly cool.

A dance troop is practicing on a street opposite Victoria Memorial.



Looking at the two snaps,

one in action,

the coming to halt,

caught on a camera,

I recall and fill the gap between the two snaps;

I enact the steps of the dancers,

Music in mind,

after a decade.



Could a video shoot enhance the perception of the event? Perhaps. May be not.

Even a video shoot wouldn’t be complete

without the perception of

the spirit of the place, and

the spirit of the dance,

here,

the “City of Joy” – Kolkata.



I recall an anecdote about Kolkata, a Bengali friend told me about the situation there during 1960s, when there was unrest.

If two groups are fighting on a street of Kolkata (a street is an obvious public place for public functions – weather pooja or riot – in any Indian city or town), and if an artist carrying musical instrument is approaching, they would spontaneously stop the riot/ fight to give a safe way to the artist, and later start the fight again.



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© Remigius de Souza, all rights reserved.

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