Ideas & Views

Event: Dance Performance "about Her" Artiste: Dancer Anita Ratnam Venue: Lincoln Theater, Washington, DC Date: Oct 27, 2007 7:30pm Hosted by: Dakshina Dance Company It has been a long desire to see the performance of dancer Smt . Anita Ratnam in person. Have been tracking her schedule quite sincerely from the time I first heard about the artiste. My first acquaintance with her was her rave reviews in The Hindu Friday Review when I was in Pilani . I was very keen on hosting a dance show in Pilani through Spicmacay and contacted Smt .Anita by email while she was in Delhi, conducting a dance movement workshop for The Hindu Youngworld . We were out of funds that semester and the opportunity slipped out. Then, I read her interview with The Times Sunday Magazine while I was in Mathura , UP, India. My reverence for Anita grew leaps and bounds. I got more interested in meeting her and have a chat with her about the various art forms she is trying. At that time, she had not come

Event: Soorasamharam Harikatha Artiste: Sri.T.N.Seshagopalan Venue: Sri Siva Vishnu Temple , Maryland Date: Nov 11, 2007, 3pm Someone had told me that the maestro's voice is fading these days and that's why he is performing harikathas instead of kutcheris . I thought this could be the last opportunity for me to listen to my most favorite artiste, for the venue is close and I have time to attend too. I was very angry at myself when I got stuck in the Walmart queue. I didn't know whether to go or not. Jay somehow convinced and took me to the temple. We reached there at 3:30pm while the concert was scheduled for 3pm. We went straight to the sannidhanam instead of the auditorium and I had decided that there is no point going so late, having to pay $15. Jay went downstairs and forced me to go down with him to auditorium. The concert hadn't begun yet!!!! There was the artiste standing in the stage in his harikatha costumes and someone expressing apologies for the dela