nightlifemumbai

- by Deepa Krishnan Yesterday at The Magic Room, I attended a marvellous session organized by Expansions (curated by Sarayu Kamat). We listened to the very erudite scholar Dr. Harsha Dehejia speak on the many moods of Krishna Kavya. I do not reside in Vaikuntha,  nor in the hearts of yogis. Where my Bhaktas sing my songs,  there I reside, O Narada! The invitation for the event said: "Krishna’s romantic presence is best understood as kavya and not as a katha, and that too as muktak, or fragmented moment of romantic pleasure. While enjoying the sensuality of Krishna’s shringara, a committed Rasika will endeavour to move it to shringar bhakti. Krishna shringara ultimately should lead to brahma jnana and therefore ananda" It was a pleasure listening to Dr. Dehejia, as he led us through the history of Indian Aesthetics, from the Vedas and the Upanishads, down to Brathrhari (Vakyapadiya, Sphota theory), Bharatamuni (Natyashastra, rasa theory), and Abhinavagupta (commenta...

In May 2015, I went to a tribal area, about 4hrs drive from Mumbai. Since then, I have been working on a series of water projects there. Along with my friend Malathi, we have been building checkdams, ponds, wells, and rainwater harvesting structures. This is our latest project in the village of Aptale. It is a Thakar village. This area gets a lot of rainfall in the monsoons, but goes dry after the rains. Already you can see how the countryside has turned brown. The water is from a perennial source which is a small trickle that gets lost in a muddy slush. In fact, the mud blocks the trickle and it stops flowing after a while. So now the mud has been removed and put in recycled gunny bags. It forms an impenetrable layer and the water will fill up the available stony basin in the coming months. We normally use boulders with a plastic lining but this is faster and less expensive. And it uses second-hand bags which are easily available in the local market in Jawhar. This time we have experi...

- by Deepa Krishnan Today I am waiting for a guy named Rajnikanth to come home. No woman ever waited for a man so much :) He was supposed to come yesterday but did not. I have been trying to entice him to my house for 2 years now. Who is Rajnikanth? He is a 5ft tall adivasi man who is going to paint a traditional Warli mural on my wall. He lives 4hrs away from Mumbai, in a small hamlet. Each time I visit the village, I ask him "ghari yeta ka?". Will you come home? Each time he looks down and smiles and says nothing. He has a smile that lights up his face. What he will earn from one city visit is more than his annual income. I have explained that. But the adivasi mind is a strange thing. It works in its own way. Everything cannot be bought by money. He is willing to do carpentry work in nearby town but not come to Mumbai. But finally he seems to be relenting...after multiple visits and relationship building and egging on by the headmaster of the school. Yesterday he went to th...