Sunday, December 06, 2009



She danced like a fairy and she is physically challenged

I had a most interesting 'Friday, the 4th of December':
In the morning I was invited to SEC celebrating 50 years...What is SEC? It is the Society for the Education for the Crippled...Are they really crippled? You should have seen them dance and praise the Nation and Thank the Lord...Makes one feel embarassed to complain when you see the less priviledged so joyful! I believe that some of them were trained by Shiamak Daver, God bless his soul!
Actually I was invited by my cousin sister Manju who is also challenged, but what a useful life she has led...I love her and I am sure those who know her are inspired by her life!

In the afternoon I attended a session of Celebrating Life where we were taught a Dance Movement Therapy by Dilshaad Patel...We were asked to think and Dance 'Water' I imagined the Ganga flowing from the tresses of Lord Shiva...and then felt beautiful Ganga tripping on pebbles and bypassing boulders, just like you do in Life...

In the evening was invited to the Prince of Wales Museum(Is it also called Chhatrapati Shivaji?) by Vimla Patil ...I listened enthralled to Mr McGill who showed us slides of paintings/photographs/artifacts that proved that the Ramayana was an intrinsic part of the life and culture of the people of Rangoon...and Vimla Patil adds that:

Indian religion and culture
influenced all Asian countries for centuries and
Ramayana was a major vehicle. Thoug many of the
countries are now Islamic states (Indonesia, Malaysia)
these countries under the Asean Group meet every so
often and the entertainment on this occasion is the
performance of Ramakien or Ramayan irrespective of the
religion
of the participants. It is therefore sad that the
people of India, irrespective of our religious
background, cannot venerate this epic which is the
heritage of all Indians.

'The lecture-slide show was
presented by Mr. Forrest McGill, curator of the Museum
of Asian Art, San Francisco, USA. It was on the theme
of how Hinduism, Buddhism and other Indic religions had
influenced the Siam and Burmese culture with motifs and
sculptural styles repeating themselves in the
construction of temples, in creating art objects and in
the art of music and drama. The Ramayana is one of the
major influences on many Asian countries which have
their own versions of this epic. For instance Thailand
(Siam) has Ramakien which is also done as a dance
drama'

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