Comments for SAST Wingees

Comment on Anglos in the wind: The dance of a beautiful people by Arun

Arun — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:44:48 +0000

Made for a nice read and many nostalgic comments and some interesting observations by Senthil.

Thanks Abdul.

Comment on IVC Symbology – Bangles & Marital Status by Arvind

Arvind — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:56:17 +0000

Great discussions, Sukumar..going through all the links here….The last time i read so much about IVC was in school; this makes a really great read!

Once again congratulations on your paper getting selected for the classical Tamil conference, pls do share more details!

Comment on The Plight of the Invisible by Rani

Rani — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:24:56 +0000

I think Mother Teresa’s Little Sisters of the Poor cares for people like him.

Comment on Is the Learning Experience Different in Arts and Aesthetics vis-à-vis Formal Education? by Abdul

Abdul — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:31:44 +0000

Thanks Revathi. I could not agree with you more about the commercialization of arts.

It has also taken on some very unfortunate dimensions in the form of reality TV programming which is bad enough for adults but putting children through that experience is giving them a wrong message about what they are expected to do with their lives.

As someone was saying recently, the message that we are giving to the children and youth of our nation is that unless you are a “celebrity” you are a nobody ! That is the pathology of “visibility” everywhere around us carried too far !

Being and becoming child prodigies in the natural performance of the child at ease with him/herself and his/her craft is fine. We have seen so many examples before the advent of reality TV. This is a new kind of TV performance forced on children that in yesteryears we only used to hear about greedy star parents.

Parents egging the children on in this is pathetic when I saw a case of a girl collapsing in the studio, taken to the hospital for neurological treatment which the doctors maintained would take some time for the child to recover. Whats the point about subsequent blame game between the program producers and the parents when the damage has already been done.

Let a thousand flowers bloom among the children but let not a single one feel the burden of the ill-conceived route map for him/her.

Sure Revathi, you are speaking about the context in which this learning takes place. Both for formal and aesthetics-oriented it could be commercialised and non-commercialised. Regardless of that, i.e., in either context, my post was about the method, the approach and the epistemology within such learning is driven.

Comment on Anglos in the wind: The dance of a beautiful people by Abdul

Abdul — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:07:45 +0000

Thanks Revathi. The London allegory must be referring to days of yore when they were associated with the British presence in the country. Now as mentioned in the post, they have travelled far and wide all over the world in search of jobs and homes for themselves.

For those still remaining in the country, its very much the Indian way of life for them including some very interesting and lively taste and practice in music handed down from generation to generation which too if you come to think of it has a resonance with several of their other compatriots. One specific genre of music which you dont hear others listening to much which the Anglos do a lot is Western country music which has a special appeal in itself.