World Theatre Day: Remembering the NSDF and Ebrahim Alkaji

 

 

27th March is commemorated as the World Theatre Day, ever since it was first celebrated by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) on 27 March, 1961. Theatre is one of the effective ways of communicating science to the people and that too in an entertaining way. Theatre in India, is one of the oldest art forms, alongside music and dance that continue to thrive in modern days. Theatrical performances of mythological stories like Ramayana and Mahabharata and, the most renowned of all the plays, Shakuntala provide us an insight to the rich historical traditions of theatre in India.  Indian Drama, over the years, beginning from the ancient Vedic Age, has moved on to the classical theatre traditions, influencing the modern theatre. Looking back in time, the historicity of theatre in India is evidenced in the Rig Veda. The epics of Ramayana, Mahabharata and Artha Shastra are instilled with specific techniques of dramas. Sages Valmiki and Vyas and Panini have shed decisive light on theatre and Patanjali has heartily contributed in his Mahabhashya that there existed two dramas, namely - Kamsa Vadha and Vali Vadha. Actors not only served as dancers but also as musicians.  Bharata Muni, is acknowledged to be a legendary author of the Natyashastra, the very first Sanskrit work on dramaturgy. The treatise says that Bharata was the one who popularised the Natyaveda, created by Brahma, on the Earth. He is also said to have collected all the material of earlier acharyas like Tumburu, Narada and Nandi and gave the Nayashastra a complete coherence by making additions, alterations and adaptations according to the requirements of time and space.

 

 British cultural anthropologist, Victor Turner, has said; “for cultures to survive and grow, we need exploratory moments when we can step out of the routines of our busy life into a selective, dramatic re-enactment to express public opinion and sentiments on key issues of our communities. We become so narrowly focused on every day, pragmatic efforts to make our communities and societies ‘work’ that we forget where we are going in life”. This is why we need a cultural space which is midway between the utopian, mythic aspirations of our communities and the daily struggle to survive. Theatre provides this cultural space in which actors symbolically represent the struggle of the community, but in a frame of plot resolution that points to the searching debates to possible idealized goals.

 

Theatre is as old as human community, which has emerged as religious-civic ritual, lyric poetry, and popular entertainment and as political protest in virtually every culture across the world and so has it been for India. No essay on theatre in India will be complete without remembering Ebrahim Alkaji. a doyen of Indian theatre who founded the National School of Drama. I had the honour while serving as the Director of NGMA Mumbai to host an exhibition of Ebrahim Alkazi and I also had paid my tribute to him when he bid adieu to this world. Those who are interested may like to read my tribute on my blog whose link is appended below.

https://khened.blogspot.com/2020/08/eulogy-for-ebrahim-alkazi-doyen-of.html

 This essay of mine, however, is confined to Science Theatre (Drama) and how this medium was effectively used for science communication by Science Museums in India under the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM). Theatre can combine elements of art, music and sport, and develop students’ creativity and so also their fitness and their emotional and aesthetic awareness. As team activities, theatre promotes communication and co-operation among young learners.  Theatre can be used as an effective medium of learning while being entertained. It can convey, with a substantial dose of theatricality, important and socially relevant information generally not available on the stage in to the minds of general public. 

Science theatre is increasingly staged across the globe because it can play an important role in science communication while also effectively addressing social, ethical and moral issues that stem from rapid developments in science and technology in the current era, which is inextricably linked to S&T. Science Centres in India including the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, have used this medium effectively in science communication. National Science Drama Festival (NSDF), which is one of most effective programmes of NCSM, is an ongoing annual creative event for the school students. The World Theatre Day is celebrated to create an awareness on the significance of theatre.

 Modern science has dramatically changed the world around us and is affecting all our lives in many ways. We hear buzz words like global warming, gene therapy, stem-cell research, nanotechnology, radiation, etc. every day. Moreover, we begin to realize that beyond dealing with intriguing discoveries and technical problems, scientific progress has social and ethical implications that should be addressed by the society. In contemporary theatre this is reflected by an increasing number of ’science plays'. Theatre can play an important role in effective science communication and also help in removing superstition and blind beliefs. Science Plays or Theatre are now increasingly focusing their attention on societal and ethical issues and creating awareness on socially relevant scientific issues that are so essential for the modern world.  Theatre has been used as one of the effective ways of communication in driving home the message of the efficacy of vaccines in India and perhaps this is one reason why vaccine hesitancy in India is much less than in most of the western countries. The theatre and so also art in its various forms, help in communicating science to the masses.

NCSM started using theatre as a medium to engage school students in researching on scientific and technological subjects and in scripting, directing and enacting plays to express their opinion on diverse scientific and technological issues. Students who perform in these plays as directors and actors are not renowned artists, yet their performance and their approach in addressing scientific issues with ethical and social aspects have been truly praiseworthy. Over the years the National Science Drama Festival (NSDF), organised every year by the NCSM, which, starts at the block level and progresses to the District to the State to the Zonal and finally to the National level, has become one of the most popular science communication medium of the Council. Ten teams, two respective winner teams from the five zones; North, South, East, West and North East, are selected to participate at the National Science Drama Festival. Leading theatre personalities and scientists who have witnessed the dramas at different levels, especially the ones that are selected to participate at the National Level, have showered high praises and commended the thoughtful thinking of the students in presenting their plays in the most professional way.

The students who take part in the NSDF carry out extensive research on their chosen subjects and prepare their script and enact their plays in a most effective manner to try and address the social and ethical issues that come with the cutting edge research on scientific and technological developments while highlighting their benefits. 

Theatrical actions link education and entertainment, consequently becoming a highly effective didactic instrument. Science museums across the world are using this medium as an interpretative technique to communicate science from the point of view of the goals pursued by museums, of epistemology and of theatrical research. Hopefully, theatrical communication of science will become common practice among practitioners of public understanding of science. Science and theatre, two different human activities, each with their own historical background and specific features, began to interact in the past, and today they are “strangely” linked. There is a real interaction, starting from theatre and ending with science or, vice versa, starting in a scientific setting and developing theatrical features. Or, again, new relations are the fruit of meetings between researchers, actors, directors, philosophers and scientific communicators.

The phrase “scientific theatre” has been coined only recently, but it has immediately produced a lot of heated debate and questions. Providing a definition of scientific theatre is no easy task: the relationship between science and theatre is so variegated as to defy any precise expression. The definition would in any case remain ambiguous, as it indicates an extremely wide range of experiences. Theatre, contemporary or not, has often drawn on the world of science and has often expressed its conceptions about it. The union between theatre and science exists also in other domains, pertaining neither to criticism nor to rational reflections: the universe of human passions. Science activity is a particular way of making sense of the world that mankind has created, which is not only a cognitive process but is also characterised by passion, it is a story of passions. So the main goal of scientific theatre is to come into contact with these passions, to understand those who have felt them and to put these passions on stage. In this way theatre offers an original and riveting way to deal with the greatest questions about the sense of the world, life and science, questions which, on the contrary, would risk remaining abstract and vague.

Scientific theatre teaches scientific facts and concepts at the same time as it entertains the public. The elaboration and production of “ideal” scientific theatre performances seem to require, however, a close cooperation between scientists, researchers, scientific philosophers, playwrights, directors, actors, scientific communicators and animators: only in this way can service quality be guaranteed, with regard to the educational content, the communicative effectiveness and the epistemological awareness. When using theatre as a means to communicate science and ideas, epistemological problems immediately arise, since a debate on science cannot be conducted without giving (and having, more or less consciously) an image of it. So what is the image of science emerging from such shows is of paramount importance.

 Some of the recent science dramas which have received international acclaim include the plays “Oxygen” by Carl Djcrassi. This play tries to answer the question, “Who discovered oxygen?” The setting for Oxygen is based on a fictional encounter between Lavoisier, Priestley, Sheele and their wives, at the invitation of King Gustav III.  The place of the discussion is Stockholm, in the year 1777.  The Central question is, “Who discovered oxygen?” The play is also about doing science, politics and ambitions.  There are other plays on science by Michael Frayn which suggest a wide public interest in the history of science as well as in science itself. This play is based on the meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg in 1941 in German-occupied Denmark where they discussed the possibility and consequences of harnessing nuclear power.  The play is also about loyalty, suspicion and friendship.  The setting for Copenhagen is more modest: Heisenberg is in the home of the Bohrs, with Mrs. Bohr as an important participant.  Here the central question is, “Why did Heisenberg come to Copenhagen?”  Both plays have been praised for the excellence of their dramatic design as well as for the correctness of their historical and scientific content.  They received high acclaim from historians of science and scientists alike.  What is important is that both plays have elicited much public and academic discussion.

 Science Museums and Centres across the globe have now started using science dramas as an effective medium of science communication. London Science Museum, for instance, engaged an actor in 1987, and has now an entire theatre company with a repertoire of more than forty performances ranging from real plays on stage to character monologues presented in the halls of the museum. Theatrical performances vary: there may be single actors presenting themselves as renowned scientists of the past, or even groups of actors representing chemical elements like hydrogen atoms or even biological cells.

Science Plays on biographies of scientists have been phenomenally successful. Ramanujan’s life story is so awe inspiring that movies and plays about him have been and are being produced. The first was a superb documentary about Ramanujan in the famous Nova series of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) on television, which described some of his most appealing mathematical contributions in lay terms and some of the most startling aspects of his life, such as the episode of the taxi cab number 1729. In 2007 a play entitled   A Disappearing Number was conceived and directed by the English playwright Simon McBurney for the Theatre Complicite Company. It first played at the Theater Royal in Plymouth, England, and won three very prestigious awards in England in 2007. This play was also performed at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Hyderabad, India, in August 2010. The latest theatrical production on Ramanujan is a movie that is now being produced in India based on Kanigel’s book The Man Who Knew Infinity.

 Many of the science plays, including some described above are examples of the theatre being inspired by the exciting and often mind-blowing stories of science. But it is intriguing that the traffic has not been one way. Increasingly science is exploiting the vehicle of theatre to communicate its ideas. London Science Museum has created a piece of narrative theatre called the Energy Show to teach kids about energy.  

Ever since NCSM started the National Science Drama Festival there are countless such examples where message of science, ethical and social messages, the concepts on science and biographical portrayal of life and works of scientists have been very effectively portrayed. This year will be no exception. However, what is needed is a close cooperation between scientists, researchers, scientific philosophers, playwrights, directors, actors, scientific communicators and other professionals only in this way can service quality be guaranteed, with regard to the educational content, the communicative effectiveness and the epistemological awareness, which it is hoped will happen sooner than later.  

Wishing you all a very happy World Theatre Day.

Images - Courtesy - Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai and BITM, Kolkata

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International Women’s Day: Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow.

Since historic times, women in India have found a prominent place in society as evidenced in the artistic expressions depicted through paintings, murals, art, culture, iconography and so also in scriptures, which depict women’s power, importance, and reverence that Indian society has bestowed on women.

One of the oldest reference, which advances women’s position in Indian society can be traced back to the iconic dancing girl cast in bronze, which was sculpted at Mohenjo-Daro during the Harappa period. Harappa civilisation has also revealed many more evidence that has represented women in paintings, terracotta figurines, sculptures, gold figurines etc. These material evidence indicate that women had a life beyond the confines of the four walls of their home and they enjoyed a social status. It is also believed that the Mother Goddess - from the findings of Harappa - is an ancient version of Devi Lakshmi from Hindu religious beliefs. This tradition of representation of women and their reverence in society has continued for centuries from the Harappa times, which is evidenced all across India in temple art, architecture and iconography.

A shloka from the Manusmriti, exemplifies the reverence that women enjoyed in Indian society; “Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata, yatraitaastu na pujyante sarvaastatrafalaah - meaning where Women are honoured, divinity blossoms, and where women are dishonoured, all action, no matter how noble, remain unfruitful. Unfortunately, although there is so much of a material evidence to suggest high stature of women in Indian society, yet it is paradoxical that women continue to face discrimination in our modern society. The situation so grim that even in the third decade of the twenty first century (2022) women have to demand for gender equality, which should have been a given by now, but unfortunately it is not. Notwithstanding the legal provisions, preference for a boy child is rampant in India, which also leads to female foeticide and discrimination by family members. It is in this context that commemorating the International Women’s Day makes sense and reinforces the need for introspection.

International Women’s Day (IWD), commemorated globally on this day- 8^th March -  is an important occasion for the global community to commit towards attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, in which gender equality is one of the important goals. Therefore, it is no wonder that the theme for this year’s IWD is “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”. This year the IWD is celebrated with a beautiful universal campaign ‘Break The Bias’, which reminds me of a similar highly successful all India campaign, which was launched on August 15, 1988. After the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, finished his address to the nation from the Red Fort, a soulful melody took the nation by storm. For most Indians who watched the broadcast on Doordarshan, the opening lines of “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, Sur bane Humhara” sung by the legendary Hindustani classical vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi continue to stand the test of time. Hopefully, this year’s IWD and the theme and its slogan touch the same chord that the Pundit Bhimsen Joshi’s eponymous “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” touched us all in the years ahead and help in advancing the rights of the women’s issues for a gender-equal world: a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.

The genesis for the struggle for equal rights by women began in the early 1900s. The oppression and inequality were pushing women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Looking back in history, it was on this very day – 8^th March - in 1908 that the women labours movement started as a united march in which some 15000 women marched in an organised way through the New York City demanding shorter working hours and better pay and right to vote for women, who until then were treated unequally not just in US, but globally.  Encouraged by the response that the women’s march received, the Socialist Party of America joined hands and demanded for declaring the day as the National Woman's Day. The idea to convert this day into an international women’s day came from Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, who tabled the idea of an International Women's Day during the International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen in 1910. She proposed that every year in every country, there should be a celebration on the same day to press for change. The conference was attended by more than 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties and working women’s clubs and thus was born the International Women's Day was born.

In the very next year, 1911, this day was celebrated as the Women’s day in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. However, it was only in 1975 that the United Nations (UN) acknowledged and started celebrating this day as International Women’s Day. Unfortunately, women have always faced discrimination through centuries and the discrimination has spanned all areas of women’s lives and that includes my own field - science, as well. The women, through the centuries, have been afraid of social stigma in case they complained of discrimination or harassment and therefore they have preferred to remain silent both at home and in workplace. The social fabric of many countries, including India, have been biased against women.  Notwithstanding this inequality there are many exemplary women who have made profound contributions in every field - sports, science and technology, art, defence, medical, engineering, social sciences, political and what not. For increasing the participation of women it is incumbent that on we all join hands to promote education of girls and create that indomitable spirit in them to succeed in the field that they chose to pursue and help them in making themselves a priority of their own lives. We must create an ambience where women will learn to say No to all that is unfavourable to them and boldly face the challenges of life.

Today as we celebrate the International Women’s Day it is time to recall those extraordinary women of substance and indomitable spirit who have made their mark and have distinguished themselves admirably. Take for example Marie Curie, one of the greatest of scientists who has won two Nobel Prizes - one in Physics which she shared with her husband and one in Chemistry. She should be one of the icons whose trials and tribulations, before attaining her extraordinary achievements, even in times of extreme gender insensitivity, must become an inspiration to our youngsters. The COVID 19 pandemic has impacted the world and even in these trying times the medical doctors and health workers have played a stellar role in saving millions of lives. Speaking of health workers one must not forget the Nurses (Sisters) whose selfless service has been exemplary. The year 2020, when the COVID pandemic started, was the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the par excellence nurse. On the occasion of her the bicentennial birth anniversary, the year 2020 was befittingly declared as the ‘International Year of the Nurse and Midwife’ by the World Health Organisation. There are innumerable other women who have made such extraordinary contributions to human society.

In the field of sciences FRS is a coveted fellowship, which has 400 plus years of history and some of the greatest of scientists - Newton, Einstein, Darwin, CV Raman, Srinivas Ramanujan etc are all FRS. A couple of years ago Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of the leading microbiologist of India, was elected to this coveted fellowship. Prof. Kang is a physician scientist, who for many years worked as a Professor of Microbiology and Head of the Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences and the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory at the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore. Prof. Kang has made pivotal contributions to understanding the natural history of rotavirus infections as well as other enteric infections, which are important causes of mortality and morbidity in India. She was also involved in the development of vaccines. Similarly, we have many more examples of extraordinary women achiever’s in India in almost all the fields. Women in India have donned almost all the key positions Prime Minister, and President included. Women have excelled in sports, particularly in Olympics where they have won many medals for India. We now have women who are heading Space missions as project directors and are involved in satellite launches and so also in missile launches. Women are now flying the fighter planes and are excelling in every field that men have had their dominance for centuries.

Does this mean that it is an equal world that offers equal opportunities for women, unfortunately not, rather it is far from it. Yet, women have achieved excellence and for this they have had to perform many times more efficiently than men, which is a hard reality in many parts of the world - India included, where women play multiple roles, as home makers, mother, wife and as a successful professional and that too in an unequal society. Women have made profound contributions in social, economic, cultural and political life of the country and today as we celebrate the IWD it is time to salute women who are contributing to the society in equal measures and remember some of distinguished women like Madam Curie, Sarojini Naidu, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Kalpana Chawla and many more including the unsung heroes like Roslyn Franklin, Margret Hutchinson and many more whose extraordinary contributions have gone unheralded.

This is the day to salute womanhood and propagate against gender discrimination, domestic violence and to empower them to excel in all walks of life. It is also the day we must reverentially remember that women have been bestowed with that God gifted power of motherhood, a natural gift of multitasking and consensus building, which have enabled women to become transformational leaders in their own right.  

On this occasion, I would like to appeal to all young girls to persevere to excel and look up to those innumerable women achiever’s as your role model and demand and command respect in an unequal society and hope that the theme for the IWD - Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow will truly be a reality sooner than later. Jai Nari Shakti Jai Hind.

Wishing you all a very happy IWD.

Lata Mangeshkar – Goddess Sarasvati Gifted Legendary Breathes her Last

 

The day started with the obituary messages pouring in the groups on WhatsApp, for the one and only nightingale of India, Bharat Ratna, Lata Mangeshkar, the legendary singer, who was blessed with Goddess Sarasvati gifted voice, which became a house hold name not just in India but globally. In her demise the nation has lost a voice, headlined many channels. Lata Mangeshkar, the cultural icon and a national treasure and her Goddess gifted, once in several centuries, melodious voice will continue to remain immortal and be etched in the golden letters in the history of India. Gulzar, prophetically and befittingly scripted a song for the film Kinara, which was sung by Lata Mangeshkar that read नाम गुम जायेगा, चेहरा ये बदल जायेगा मेरी आवाज़ ही, पहचान है गर याद रहे. So true it is today. The mortal remains of Lata Mangeshkar will soon be confined to the holy fire on the cremation grounds at the Shivaji Park in front of ocean of grieving people but her voice will ever remain immortal. For generations to come she will be remembered through her 30000 plus songs and her melodious voice will get eternally etched in the annals of Indian history and her voice will continue to be heard across the nation for decades to come. The legendary Lata Tai, Lata Didi, as she was fondly referred to, died this morning at the age of 92 years after a prolonged illness at the Breach Candy Hospital, where she was admitted, on January 8 after she was diagnosed with Covid-19 and pneumonia.

Yesterday the medical bulletin of the hospital did sound pessimistic about her medical condition but the statement from Lata Mangeshkar family that she is endearing her treatment and is recovering had created a hope in the hundreds of millions of her fans across the nation and abroad who were all praying for that miracle, which could save her. But then destiny had different plans for her and unfortunately even after recovering from COVID, Lata Didi had to be put on a ventilator support when her condition worsened on Saturday and she breathed her last this morning. Leaders and prominent people from across the nation, cutting across political and other ideological lines, film, theatre and other fields, have all joined in paying their respect to the legendary singer and as a befitting tribute, the government has decided to cremate her with full state honours in Mumbai's Shivaji park and in attendance will be the honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and innumerable other dignitaries, film personalities and tens of thousands of her admirers, who accompanied her last journey from her home in Peddar Road to Shivaji Park in Dadar.

The best nostalgic tribute to Lata ji - in our Sainik School group - came from the America settled Madan Kulkarni - our school Buddy - a diehard art and culture aficionado who promotes Indian art and culture in US and has organised unending performances from many of the artists from India. He posted his remembrance of Lata Didi who he had hosted her on her 70th birthday in Chicago. He wrote that he had driven her all through the city of Chicago post her dinner till 3 AM and posted a photograph remembering this incident, which I have shared. Every one of us, the school buddies of Sainik School Bijapur, reminisced listening to her songs in some of the best of films that were shown to us during our school days. She is befittingly described as the nightingale of India, whose mesmerising voice had the power to put to tears the Prime Minister of India late Pandit Nehru, when she sang that soulful melody’ यें मेरे वतन पे लोगों ज़रा आँख में भर लो पानी …. a tribute that she paid to the fallen soldiers who had made that supreme sacrifice in service of our nation during the 1962 China war. This is one song which continues to inspire millions of Indians to be reverential in their respect to the Indian soldiers, and every Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations across the country witness this song being played across the nation, bringing in tears even today. Lata Didi enthralled her listeners with her Sarasvati gifted melodious voice for over seven decades.

The “nightingale of Bollywood" remained the most sought after play back singer, which every top actress wanted her to be their play back singer. From yesteryears heroine, Madhu Bala in the 1940s to Kajol in the 1990s, she sang for all the leading heroines for nearly five decades and her duets with celebrated play back singers like Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and others continue to be played across households in India. She also worked with almost every leading Bollywood director, starting from the legendary Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt to Modern day Mani Ratnam, Karan Johar and others. Tens of thousands of her songs have been sold across the country and she has to her credit singing in 36 languages spanning numerous genres. In my mother tongue – Kannada - she sang for the film Kranti Veer Sangolli Rayanna way back in 1967. Lata Mangeshkar will continue to be an Indian cultural icon and national treasure for generations to come.

The divinity of Lata’s voice can best be seen in the famed story of a letter, which is believed to have been received in the All India Radio office in Delhi from Lahore. The letter written by a Pakistani fan of Lata Didi read ‘India could have Kashmir if they could give Lata Mangeshkar to Pakistan’. There are several such other apocryphal stories of her legions of fans from Pakistan, who were in love with the magic of Lata Mangeshkar’s voice.

Lata Didi was an ardent cricket fan and there are several anecdotal stories which reveal that she often took breaks from recordings to watch Test matches. She was very proud that she owned a signed photograph of Don Bradman. She was all in awe of Sachin Tendulkar with whom she had very close relation and Sachin was in reverence of Lata Didi. She also was very fond of Sunny Gavaskar. It was this admiration that Sachin and Lata Didi had for each other that prompted me to use Lata Mangeshkar and her connect with Cricket, Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar to weave a story of how Cricket connects us all Indians, while curating an exhibition Cricket Connects - India - Australia. In the section - The God and the Gods God (Bradman and Sachin) I used the connect that Lata Didi had for the legendary Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar. It is therefore no wonder that the Indian Cricket Team, who had the honour to be always followed and blessed by Lata Didi, is wearing black armbands today, while playing their historic 1000^th ODI, to pay their respects to Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar.

Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on 28 September 1929. She was raised in Kolhapur in the family which was grounded in music. Her father, Master Dinanath Mangeshkar, was a musician from Gwalior gharana who ran a drama company that produced Marathi plays. Lata Mangeshkar was the eldest of five children, with her siblings. Her father was her first guru. She was unschooled in the formal sense. In one of her interviews Lata Didi has stated that she went to school only for a day, when she was five. She had taken her younger sister, Asha Mangeshkar (later Asha Bhosle) along with her. However, the school did not allow Asha to attend the school hence Lata decided never to go back to school. She remained home schooled and listen to her father teaching his students and learnt her first music lessons in this indirect way. It was only after her father noticed Lata correcting one of his students that he realised how gifted she was with music that he decided to teach her the nuance of classical music. Most unfortunately, Lata Didi lost her father at a very young age. The untimely death of her father, overnight turned young Lata - the eldest child of the family - to start working at age 14.

In those trying times when Lata was passing through trials and tribulations, she was helped by Master Vinayak, her family’s close friend and owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company, who took care of the family and helped Lata to become an actor and singer. Lata’’s first song was Vasant Joglekar’s Marathi film Kiti Hasaal (1942), although it never saw the light of the day. Lata continued to sing some more songs for some Marathi films and even acted in the films before deciding to move to Mumbai in 1945. In Mumbai too she passed through trying times and could not succeed, She was even rejected by Filmistan Studio citing her voice to be too thin to appeal to the audience. However, her mentor – Haider – was undeterred to proclaim, “Music composers would beg Lata to sing for them.” Haider gave Mangeshkar her first significant break in the film Majboor in 1948 in which Lata tried singing this song in Noor Jehan’s nasal style. This song remained unheralded.

Her first tryst with success came with the song “Aayega aanewala…” which she sang for the film Mahal (1949). This song established her and sealed her supremacy in the Indian film industry for decades to come. This was the time when Radio Ceylon was the leading radio channel which appealed to most Indians. Lata’s song broke all records at Radio Ceylon. There has never been a looking back for her for all of seven decades. All through the day every single channel has been playing Lata Mangeshkar songs which have entertained the nation that we have heard all through our living.

Interestingly despite her Indian grounding, Lata Didi also enjoyed listening to the western music, particularly Mozart and Beethoven. She also loved seeing Hollywood movies, particularly the James Bond films and her favourite James bonds were Sean Connery and Roger Moore. She also loved cars and many of her dogs, which she proudly owned.

Lata Didi had a fan following cutting across party lines and every single leaders of the political party be it Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi, the Thackeray Family, Pawar family, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi and innumerable others had the highest regard for Lata Didi. She was a great patriot whose patriotism is seen in her song “ye mere watan pe logo”. She also supported Marathi theatre and films and sang many songs for Marathi films at almost no cost. She also produced some films and it is said that she was too good to be a producer since she was indulgent for every single demand of the stakeholders of her film, which no producer can ever follow. She endeared through difficult times, when play back singers were not recognised and they were even not considered for the Film Fare Award nor was their names included in the credits. She changed all this and ensured that all play back singers are given their dues. She was also the first Indian to perform with the Wren Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1979.

Lata ji was forthright in expressing her opinion and was not a hypocrite and was not afraid to take sides with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for whom she had highest respect and admiration, which was mutual. There were many in the film industry, media and political leaders who not only did not endorse her admiration for Mr Narendra Modi, but were also critical of her praise for the Prime Minister, but then she never was apologetic nor was a hypocrite, an attribute which is dime a dozen in the industry, particularly when it comes to endorsing any of the leaders who are from the ruling dispensation - BJP party, more particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 
She was very fond of cooking and her penchant for red chillies is legendary. She also had passion for photography. She had great sense of humour and regaled her guests with unending jokes. She loved taking photographs and possessed quite a number of camera. Rolleiflex camera was her first camera, which she used for clicking photographs. Wherever she travelled, she made it a point to click pictures. Interestingly she even enjoyed playing in the Casinos in Las Vegas while holidaying in the US.

In her death she has brought together all the warring sections of the political leaders who were seen so very well knit, expressing bonhomie in paying their homage to Lata Didi at the historic Shivaji Park, where her mortal remains will soon be confined to the holy fire.
Lata ji true to the slogans that were continuously chanted all through your final rites, “ jab tak suraj chand rahega, Lata ji aap Amar rahenge”. Rest in peace Lata ji in the heavenly abode which will ever be your home.

Long Live Lata Didi

 

25 January, National Voters Day – Hailing the Great Indian Democracy.

The Miraculously Successful Indian Democracy owes its genesis to the Voters, let us hail them all on the National Voters Day today. Today as we celebrate the 12^th National Voters Day, which is commemorated every year on January 25 – the foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on January 25 1950 - to encourage the voters to participate in the electoral process, it is time to look back and commend ourselves – the voters – who have helped make Indian democracy a celebrated global success and may the national voters day help in continuing to keep the Indian democracy thriving with more and more people going out to exercise their all-important voting rights.

The success of the Indian democracy owes its genesis to we the people of India, particularly the main stakeholders of Indian democracy – the electorates, political parties, election commission of India, and everyone else. If we look back in time and see what our status was when we attained our independence, not many would have predicted – including the optimists - that India as a democracy would survive for more than few decades or so. The position in which we were left behind, when we attained our independence, after centuries of colonial rule and exploitation by the British is best articulated, so thought provokingly, by Shashi Tharoor in his famous book “The Era of Darkness –The British Empire in India”. Therefore, it was no wonder that there was no optimism in the future for Indian democracy when we attained independence.  

What the odds were for India succeeding as a thriving democracy, when we attained independence, can best be seen when we juxtapose Indian democracy as a start-up company in 1947. Not even the most adventurous and risk taking venture capitalists would have considered investing in the Indian democracy. More so since there were many dooms day predictions made by the British, an evidence of which can be best seen from the last British commander in chief of the Indian Army, Gen. Claude Auchinleck. He wrote “The Sikhs may try to set up a separate regime. I think they probably will and that will be only a start of a general decentralization and break-up of the idea that India is a country, whereas it is a subcontinent as varied as Europe. The Punjabi is as different from a Madrassi as a Scot is from an Italian. The British tried to consolidate it but achieved nothing permanent. No one can make a nation out of a continent of many nations.”

 

Gen. Claude Auchinleck was not the sole voice to make such dooms day prediction for India, which was a nation within nations with as many as 565 princely states and many more divisions when we attained Independence. Helped by Sardar Patel India was united to carve out its geographical and political map that we see today. Dooms day predictions for India and Indian democracy were dime a dozen in the early years of independence. India could not survive as a single nation, was one common observations by most western observers, let alone becoming a successful democracy. One of the former British official, who witnessed the first general elections in India in 1952 wrote “a future and more enlightened age will view with astonishment the absurd farce of recording the votes of millions of illiterate people.” From such negativity and dooms day predictions, Indian democracy has passed through periods of trials and tribulations to emerge triumphant and today when India is commemorating the 12^th National Voters Day, while commending ourselves and patting us on our back, we must resolve to spread the message of the importance of voting in a democracy and each of us must go out to exercise our democratic rights without fear or favour.

The forthcoming state elections including the elections in the most important state of Uttar Pradesh and that too during the Covid times is a time for us to pay respect to the people’s mandate and hail the electorates, the Election Commission and its paraphernalia that include the faceless hundreds of thousands of foot soldiers of the Election Commission who work tirelessly making the Himalayan task of conducting the elections in India a grand success, time after time and election after elections. Democracy in India has gained from strength to strength and has made much progress over the decades. When we attained independence and declared ourselves Republic in 1950, our erstwhile rulers the British and the rest of the world were highly cynical about our survival, let alone our democracy. From the first elections in 1951-52 to the 17th general elections held in 2019, we have come a long way and our democracy has grown from strength and the world now treats Indian democracy as a triumphant role model. Let us cherish this.

The continuing success of the Indian democracy is borne out from the statement made by our former President Dr Pranab Mukherjee, who praised the voters and the Election Commission for conducting the 17th Lok Sabha polls in a “perfect” manner. He went on to say “If we want to strengthen institutions, we have to keep in mind that institutions are serving well in this country, and if democracy has succeeded, it’s largely due to the perfect conduct of elections by all Election Commissioners starting from Sukumar Sen to the present Election Commissioners”. So irrespective of who wins the coming state elections, we must all collectively respect the result as a true mandate of the voters, who must go in large numbers to exercise their voting rights.

Ever since the era of TN Seshan, in the early 1990s, the EC, like the Indian Army, has arguably become our most respected institution. The respectability of the EC can further be appreciated when we realise that the EC has helped several other nations run their elections better. EVMs have played a significant role in this transition, which has seen a drastic reduction in voting malpractices.

Central to the beauty and vibrancy of the Indian democracy are the Indian electorates - the rich and mighty, the powerful and powerless, the poor and the insignificant, the lettered and unlettered, sheltered and unsheltered, the males, females and the trans gender’s, the believers and non-believers, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, religious and non-religious, young, middle aged, old and the very old - all standing as equals, each rubbing shoulders with one another, in the true spirit of equality and humanity first, who make our democracy thrive. While we celebrate the National Voters day today, let us reemphasise the significance of voters for the success of the Indian democracy.

A look back on the percentage of voters who exercised their franchise during the general elections reveal that in the very first general elections conducted in 1952, India recorded an impressive 61.2% of votes and this number continued to be quite impressive hovering around 60% or so (62.2% in 1957, 55.42 in 1962, 61.33 in 1967, 55.29 in 1971, 60.49 in 1977, 56.92 in 1980, 63.56 in 1984, 61.95 in 1989, 56.93 in 1991, 57.94 in 1996, 61.97 in 1998, 59.99 in 1999). The voting percentage fell abruptly to below 50% for the first time in the fourteenth general election held in 2004, to 48.74%.  This was the time when it was realised that efforts are needed to create an awareness among visitors about the importance of voting.  

The first-ever National Voters’ Day was celebrated on January 25, 2011, to encourage more young voters to take part in the electoral process. The then Union government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a proposal of the law ministry to declare a National Voters Day. The then information and broadcasting minister, Ms. Ambika Soni pointed observed that new voters, who attained the age of 18, were showing less interest in getting enrolled in the electoral rolls. To address this issue, the Election Commission decided to launch a nationwide effort to identify all eligible voters who reach the age of 18 on January 1 of each year in all polling stations across India. All such new voters were to be enrolled and given the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) on January 25 every year.

 

The National Voters Day seem to have had some positive impact. The 16^th general election held in 2014 witnessed 66.40% voting and in the 19^th general election, held in 2019, the voting percentage witnessed a record 66.40%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections. The theme for this year’s National Voters' Day is ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’. I earnestly hope that the National Voters day helps in continuing to increase voter’s participation in the Indian democracy.

 Jai Hind, Jai Indian Democracy and Jai Indian Voters. 

 

National Science Centre, New Delhi turns Thirty - Recalling My Tryst with this Centre

It was on this day 9th January, 1992, 30 years ago,  that the National Science Centre, Delhi (NSCD) was dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister of India, Shri PV Narsimha Rao. While wishing the Centre all the very best, I am inclined to recall my close association with the NSCD, where I worked in two innings for nearly 17 years ( August 1988- April 2001 and March 2007 to December 2010) and narrate two interesting  anecdotes that I had the honour to experience. 

The first incident of course relates to the inauguration and its arrangements. The NSCD was successfully opened on 9th January, 1992, by the then Prime Minster Shri Narasimha Rao in the presence of a galaxy of dignitaries including the then HRD Minister Mr Arjun Singh, Prof HY Mohan Ram, Dr AP Mitra, Dr Saroj Ghose and all the founder Directors of the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).

A couple of days before the NSCD was to be opened, a major goof up had happened at the Siri Fort Auditorium, where the public address system had failed when the Honourable President of India was addressing the gathering. This was all over the news and had caught the attention of Dr Saroj Ghose, the then Director General, NCSM.  Dr Ghose had therefore camped himself in Delhi and was personally overseeing all arrangements for the PM Visit to the NSCD and its inauguration. He had tasked key officers with specific duties and responsibilities and that included yours truly as well. I was tasked with the arrangements of all audio visuals and PA system arrangements inside the auditorium, where the inauguration was to take place. Besides me he had also tasked other key officers with different responsibilities. All of us had burnt our mid night oil and had put in all possible efforts to make the opening a grand success. Dr Ghose was privy to the hard work we had all put in. On 8th January late evening around 8 PM or so Dr Ghose called us to take final stock of the arrangements for the opening of the NSCD by the Prime Minister next morning. 

After all briefing was done with and when we were about to break for the day, Dr Ghose showed a small piece of white paper and asked us if any one could guess what is written on the paper. No one hazarded a guess. Dr Ghose was such a towering personality that even senior Directors and officers like, Mr RM Chakraborty, G Nagarajan, IK Mukherjee, PK Bhaumik, S Goswami , TK Ganguly, Amit Sarkar etc. hardly ever ventured into such acts, so how could the junior mortals do so. When the silence was getting eerie, he announced in his inimitable commanding voice, it is his resignation, which is dated 10th January, 1992. When we were trying to come to terms with the situation, he told us that he is very confident that everyone of us has worked very hard to make the event a grand success and so will it be. However, he said, if anything untowardly happens and some thing or the other fails, he would own up the entire responsibility of the failure and would submit his resignation, which he had prepared and brought to show it to us. He asked us do you want that to happen? We unitedly and with one voice shouted no Sir. Dr Ghose jokingly said, if so keep all your resignations in your pocket ready like what he has done. He then created a relaxed situation for all of us by sharing light hearted moments in the making of the centre including showing that rare face of his to crack jokes to ease our tensions. He left us all by telling that tomorrow’s program will definitely be a great success. We went completely motivated and geared up for the opening. Here I learnt my first lessons in leadership at NCSM - to lead from the front.

The second experience that I wish to share is something which I called ‘ From Denial to Discovery’. Incidentally I presented a paper on this subject to other fellow museum professionals in a workshop presenting a case study of the NSCD and how it managed to double its visitors in the year 2007-08.  

Ever since the opening of the NSCD on 9th January 1992, barring one year, the average visitors to the centre had hovered around 2 Lacs per year until the year 2007-08. In fact the visitors had gone far below 2,00,000, from the year 1999 or so onwards primarily because the backside entry to the centre from the Trade Fare exhibition from Pragati Maidan had closed down. The only time the visitors to the NSCD had come close to 4,00,000 was in the financial year was in 1996-97, when we had organised that famous ‘Dinosaur Alive exhibition’, which was a roaring success and in just 45 days we had receive more than 2 lac visitors and tonnes of gate entry. 

I was posted back to NSCD from Mumbai in  March 2007 and this time I was tasked to be the Director of the Centre. Since I had worked in Delhi before and had also known all the curators and other officers of the centre, I was expecting a smooth run and so it was. Immediately on my taking charge I organised a officers meeting to brain storm on various issues, which could benefit making the centre more popular and  how we could increase the foot falls. I took the liberty that I knew all of them for many years, and announced to them a challenge that I had tasked ourselves with - to double the visitors to NSCD in the financial year 2007-08 and make it 3,50,000.

Little did I realise that being a colleague is completely different than holding a post of a Director to the colleagues. I was in an illusion that my challenge and the brain storming meeting that I had with my colleagues, would have energised them. But then, contrarily, I learnt that there were discussion among the officers that how Tughalaqi and stupid was my target. I got this feedback from those channels, which are dime a dozen in most government offices, who are always there to report such matters, whether you want or not, to scurry favours. I overlooked the feedback and kept speaking again and again about the target and held innumerable brain storming meetings to find ways and means to meet this target. The education officers and curators concerned worked very hard on whatever we discussed to try and translate that into visitors. One such non visitors were students from the Madrassas who came in large numbers, besides of course many others. We had organised meetings with the Maulvis of these Madrassas and highlighted the role played by great Arabian scholars like Alkhworizmi, Al Jebr and others in the field of science and how the Arabs translated many of the Indian works into Arabic and took them to the Europeans. Though the task was quite tough the Maulvis over a couple of meetings found sense in what we were suggesting and ensured that their students visited the NSCD. 

We organised many Principals meet, teachers meet, NGOs meet and also met the top people in the Delhi Government, including the the then CM of Delhi, Mrs Sheila Dixit, and things started falling  in place and the visitors gradually started increasing. The first quarter showed increased numbers which further motivated the team. By the time we ended the third quarter in December,2007  the foot fall had touched 3,00,000. By early February, 2008, we had achieved the target of 3,75000 and when we crossed 4,00,000 by end of February the very officers who had clubbed my vision as tughalaqi, joined hands and made personal contributions to purchase sweets from the market for distribution to all staff members when the visitors to the centre had crossed 4 Lacs. I called this moment a moment of ‘denial to discovery’, a great learning lesson ‘that together we can achieve’ an impossible. The target to double the visitors to the centre was not only achieved but it was surpassed by more than 50,000 as we ended the year 2007-08 with an annual visitors of 4,28,000 visitors. The success was truly and befittingly that of the team and I was just incidental to this achievement.

Ever since that year the NSCD has never looked back ( barring the current Covid times) and has consistently crossed foot falls of 5 Lac every year and even touched a magical figure of 7 Lacs before the pandemic set in. I am so very honoured to have played an incremental role in this spectacular achievement.

So very proud of you all my dear colleagues at NSCD, both past and present.  Wishing the National Science Centre Delhi  a very happy birthday and may the NSCD continue to scale newer and newer heights and be etched  in the hearts and minds of all the people of Delhi, who truly are it’s stakeholders.

Images - Courtesy Biswarup Ganguly and Wiki Commons.

Jai Hind

Jai Vigyan Jai