Warrier's Collage 24082020 : Lockdown

Warrier's Collage 24082020 : Advantage Lockdown Subject courtesy : Indu Balachandran See links under D. M G Warrier Vatapi Ganapatim*...By Shankar Mahadevan https://youtu.be/PWimwVqaqTA *Link forwarded to Collage by T R S Iyer A Interaction 1) Vathsala Jayaraman " A great article on koodiyaattam and chakiyar kooththu about which we have just heard.The essay is elaborate with information not known earlier.Very many thanks to Shri. Babusenan" (Please see the YouTube and Coca-Cola links under B today-Collage) 2) R Jayakumar See under B (b) AA Current Affairs Bandhan Bank https://youtu.be/e6gswlIVkB0 Excellent "Report Card https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/after-micro-loans-housing-finance-to-be-next-key-focus-for-bandhan-bank-md-chandra-shekhar-ghosh-5745221.html Bandhan Bank's future plans B Readers Write Chakyar Koothu* a) V Babusenan In the Collage of the 23rd inst. we saw that Chakyar Koothu has a special feature, namely that the performing artist should not be questioned by anyone in the audience during the performance. No one will say that such a rule is unnecessary as long as the Chakyar is given the freedom to make any listener part of the story to enliven his performance. There were several occasions when this privilege was put to good and bad use by clever performers. In some temples in Kerala, Koothu is performed continuously for many days. It is said that Koothu is performed during all days in a particular month in a certain temple in the Kannur district. In one such temple, the Vazhunnor (chieftain)'s wife used to occupy a special seat in front of the front row of women. She considered herself as a great enthusiast of Chakyar Koothu and would rock and roll her ungainly and mountainous body and make loud and vulgar noices during the performance. Her utter lack of decorum disturbed the audience very much, but none had the courage to mention this to her. Some among them approached the Chakyar who assured them that he would take care of it. The next day's story was from Ramayana-the destruction of Lanka. Hanuman jumped the ocean and reached Lankapuri. When he was about to enter the city, Lankasree, who was guarding the gate, came and sat before him, preventing his entry. Chakyar, all on a sudden, assumed the roll of Hanuman. Looking fiercely at the Vazhunnor's wife, he roared: "You Rakshasi, get out of here". Several invectives followed in a gush.The woman quietly left the koothambalam, never to return! Take another case: One Chakyar did not like another whose name was Rama Chakyar-a case of professional jealousy. The latter was in the audience when the former was performing. That day's story was Rugmineeswayamvaram .During the course of story telling, the Chakyar assumed the roll of an officer deputed to inspect the store where materials for the marriage sadya were stored. After inspecting one by one, he reached the spot where vetiver (the fragrant roots)to be used to boil with drinking water was kept in gunny sacks. [Vetiver in Malayalam is 'raamatcham'and gunny sack 'chaakku'. So, a gunny sack filled with vetiver is a 'raamatchachaakku ' in Malayalam.] Now please read on. He examined the gunny sacks closely.Having discovered that one sack was open and part of its contents missing,he called the store keeper.Looking at Rama Chakyar sitting among the audience, he shouted : " Ee raamatchachaakkil aaraa kaiyittu vaariyathu?"("Who has put his hand inside this sack and pulled out raamatcham?)" After clearly saying this, he repeated the question in the local tongue : "Raamachaakyaraa kaiyittu variyathu?" Now it has become clear to everyone that his target was the other Chakyar. Raising his tone gradually, he repeated the question, each time adding an invective as prefix. See how cleverly he manipulated the story to get an occasion to hurl abuses at his professional rival! In the Ambalappuzha Sreekrishna temple, another Chakyar played this trick and another more popular performing art was born!" (Earlier the dress code of Chakyar was discussed here. This link will give a fair idea. https://youtu.be/dCJrT-AvvgA *Also have a glimpse of the ancient Indian art form "Koodiyattam", which received International recognition recently: https://youtu.be/6QqhCDW0epw https://www.coca-colaindia.com/stories/lbr-2019-koodiyattam-first-dance-theatre-form-recognized-by-unesco#ath b) M G Warrier Lockdown : A contrarion view Life outside is not as scary as 24x7 news channels are telling us. Watching the news, one gets a feeling that we are living in the midst of bad people. Looking around, I find, most of the people are good, helpful, friendly and harmless. Lockdown has restricted my movements. But I am lucky to have the facilities to live my life almost the same way I lived last year this time. This is how: 1) I used to walk for an hour every day this period last year. Now I walk inside the house for 30 minutes each in the morning and in the evening. 2) I used to go out once or twice every day. Now I am using that time for doing Yoga with the teacher at home and doing any household chores assigned to me. 3) About one hour, I used to spend with friends and elderly people. That much time I spend now communicating/interacting with more people. 4) Staying on the 20th floor, through my window, I'm able to get a view of the expanse of the skye, many buildings, a suburban Railway Station, a riverlet, trees, vast greenery and allow my thoughts to wander free. 5) Farmers, workers and service providers are working despite threats. I'm getting goods and services. How many people are lucky to own this much sky, fields, a college, rail line, greenery and trees which can be viewed at any time of the day ? I'm happy. M G Warrier" R Jayakumar's response : " You are really so lucky to have such a beautiful view from your room. The clouds are still threatening to devastate the life in Mumbai. Like the IMD you can also predict, sitting in your room, many things about the city, about its daily weather, the disruption or otherwise of Central Railway, one of the lifelines of Mumbai, the vast open space still available in Bhandup to exploited by builders ...... It is true that people outside are very good and not scary as made out by the media. After six months of Lockdown I have a feeling that the life outside is not as dangerous as we are made to believe. For all these six months the same men are selling vegetables and fruits, the same men are handling the grocery and dairy shops. Working in the medical shops are the same. Slowly and steadily all shops are opening. Contactless deliveries of Newspaper, milk and foodies are in full swing. People are also happily preparing for Ganapati Festival. So, where is the impact of Corona virus ! But what is frightening is the alarming daily increase of new cases of the pandemic all over India and the worrying deaths among healthcare providers, police men, BEST drivers/conductors." (Very true. Situation is not as simple as we perceive also-Warrier) C Post-Lockdown world https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-does-life-in-a-post-lockdown-world-look-like Interesting information D Blogs and Links 1) Indu Balachandran https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/gaming-the-lockdown-fads/article32362344.ece Behind the comfort of "MASK" and the certainty of not having to face the other person face to face in the near future, as mentioned in this article, I have been enjoying what I call "the trollers' freedom" while boasting about my own activities and while commenting on other people's affairs. 2) Forbes Blog https://www.forbesindia.com/blog/life-in-the-lockdown/sunanda-bai-the-real-inspiration-in-my-life/ People who really matter 3) Positive environment https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/readtwice/how-positive-environment-can-impact-human-behaviour-even-in-times-of-pandemic-24951/ Personal experience of a bank employee. E The Hindu Faith Column : Mukthi https://www.thehindu.com/society/faith/experience-of-mukti/article32416137.ece