Giving shape to imagination

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Vinod Rajput [email protected] Sector 39, Gurgaon resident Nikki Anand, 45, known for her abstract and figurative style of paintings is excited about her latest works that will be exhib- ited at India Habitat Centre, Delhi, from March 2 to 4. The series has 24 paintings that include landscapes, figu- rative and abstract artworks. “My work depicts the different layers of the soul and how pos- itive energy enriches us,” said Anand, who started painting at the age of 5. “My principal encouraged me when I painted for the first time in kindergarten,” said she. Born in Sonipat (Haryana), Anand was brought up in Delhi. “I studied fashion designing at the South Delhi Polytechnic for Women in Lajpat Nagar because my parents wanted me to pursue a profession- al course,” said she. “While I was pursu- ing the course, I tried my hand at painting and discovered that I could do it pretty well. I felt like painting more and more. I decided to take it up seriously. So, after my course in fashion designing, I did a five- year course in fine arts from the Jamshedpur College of Art. I have been painting every day for the last two decades,” said she. Anand has had four solos and participated in 15 group shows in Delhi, Chandigarh and abroad. Painting is like a therapy for her. “Painting heals me and cleanses my soul. It calms me down. Painting is not a job for me. I do not paint like a factory that manufactures something. I enjoy the process thoroughly,” said she. Anand also likes to listen to Sufi music and do yoga regu- larly. “Painting is to me what a poem is to a poet,” said she. Her businessman husband, Rohit Anand, is her inspiration. “My husband appreciates my work and encourages me to do better. That is something which motivates me to be more cre- ative," she adds. She uses acrylic, oil and charcoal in her works. PEOPLE 02 HT Live Ghaziabad, Friday, March 02, 2012 www.hindustantimes.com THE POLICE HAVE LAUNCHED AN INTENSIVE DRIVE AGAINST EVE TEASING IN THE CITY. THE ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN ON THE COMPLAINTS OF THE RESIDENTS. ht classifieds BEST BARGAINS Rajkumari Tankha [email protected] Noida is all set to become dis- abled-friendly. To begin with, the Sector 50 traders association is making a ramp to make the mar- ket accessible to the disabled. The Sector 18 commercial com- plex will come a close second. But it is not the district admin- istration or the Noida Authority that is working towards this. This is because of the hard work of a lone woman who, forced by cir- cumstances, decided to do some- thing. “I am so happy that Sector 50 will be the first wheelchair accessible market in the city,” says Priyanka Malhotra. “The architects are presently work- ing on the designs of the ramp,” she adds. Malhotra is trying to build public awareness by enrolling the government admin- istration. “We want to make movie theatres, schools, market places and other public facilities wheel- chair accessible,” she says. This resident of Sector 51, Noida, is a mother of two, the elder of whom, son Nipun is wheel- chair bound. Throughout his growing up years, it was a chal- lenge for Malhotra to assimilate him in society. Finding an acces- sible school, disabled-friendly buses, entertainment places and college were always her major concerns. She had found this amiss in all areas of life of the physically challenged, and it great- ly bothered her. “I could make my son’s life comfortable because we are well off. But there are many others who are not financially sound,” says Malhotra. So in 2006, she joined the NGO, Samarthyam National Centre for Accessible Environment and trained as an accessibility audi- tor. She later started working with Samarthyam in an honorary capacity. She was also a part of the Samarthyam team that did accessibility audits for Janpath and the Garden of Five Senses in Delhi. “Working in association with the government through Samarthyam I realised that one can get results if the intention is good. People by far are willing to help, they are sensitive to these issues, the only thing lacking is awareness,” she says. In 2008, she led a team to Mumbai to ensure that election booths there were disabled-friend- ly. She presented a report to the then Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla with her rec- ommendations. Last month, Malhotra decid- ed to branch out of Samarthyam and start her own foundation, Nipman. The three focus areas of Nipman are health, dignity and happiness for the disabled. The auto expo goodwill day on January 5, 2012, was coordi- nated by the Nipman team where 50 wheelchair users attended the Auto Expo and were given an opportunity to interact with car manufacturers to express their requirements. Throughout the Auto Expo the Nipman Foundation, in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), put up booths at the gates at Pragati Maidan to provide wheelchairs to the physically challenged and elderly. “The response was so good that CII wants to partner with Nipman Foundation to provide these facilities at the regional expos in other parts of the coun- try,” she says. “I started alone in January, and within a month I have got two volunteers, Veena Mathur and Gauri Aggarwal, both resi- dents of Sector 50, Noida. I wish more people become sensitive about these issues,” she says. “Nearly 10% of India’s popu- lation is disabled. We want to make all public facilities acces- sible to this population, so that they live with dignity and hap- piness,” adds Malhotra. Apart from this, Malhotra is also work- ing to develop a website that will cater specifically to the disabled. Lone ranger Through her NGO, Priyanka Malhotra is trying to give health. dignity and happiness to the disabled Garima Vohra [email protected] Though she always had a cre- ative bent of mind, making sculp- tures happened by chance for Kumud Grover. Her latest exhi- bition was held at the Triveni Kala Sangam. But the day when she made her first sculpture is still etched in her memory. That was in 1999, when Grover attend- ed a month-long workshop on ceramics organised by the National Small Industries Corporation. Recalls the Gulmohar Park resident (in neighbouring Delhi), “One day, we were being taught to make sculptures. Each one of us was given some clay and space to mould the sculpture of our own choice. I made a mother with a child wrapped in her saree. The teacher, who was supervising the work, saw my piece and was surprised. She advised me to take class- es in sculpture making as she thought it was my forte.” The very next day, Grover enrolled in a sculpture course at Triveni Kala Sangam. “My first exhibition was held in 2004 at Shridharani Gallery. My sculptures talked about the three stages of life. I was appre- hensive but my first experience did not let me down. Instead, it pushed me to make more sculp- tures,” says Grover. Being a nature lover, most of her pieces revolve around nature and reality. The things that she observes might include the ges- tures people make when they are talking, the flying birds that she observes while sitting in her lawn. “Over the years, I have exper- imented with the five elements. For me, space defines the aspi- ration towards infinity, air is essential for movement, earth denotes life, water is the origin of life and fire means destruc- tion, purification and rejuve- nation,” says Grover. Her work talks about reali- ty that reflects truth that one imagines. And she loves this process of giving shape to her imagination in the form of sculp- tures. Many of Grover’s pieces have been selected by AIFACS, Sahitya Kala Parishad and Lalit Kala Akademi. She clearly remembers her sculpture called Rising Above that was in bronze and had human figures climb- ing towards their own goal. It was selected by AIFACS in 2005. In 2006, AIFACS again select- ed one of her pieces called Unnati that had the form of a fish. “Introspection was another piece selected by Sahitya Kala Parishad. I had made a bird on one side that was thinking and introspecting while the other side looked like a dolphin in its playfulness and ready to take the plunge. I have worked a lot with fishes and birds,” says Grover. She adds, “For me, cre- ativity needs to be explored and experimented with. It enables one to think about things or sit- uations that seem to be impos- sible in the real world. It is like flying high in a world of one’s own and reaching there too.” Giving shape to imagination Grover has experimented with the elements. WASEEM GASHROO / HT PHOTO Creativity needs to be explored and experimented with. It enables one to think about things that seem impossible in the world. KUMUD GROVER Painting to cleanse soul Artist Nikki Anand uses acrylic, oil and charcoal in her works. MANOJ KUMAR / HT PHOTO Priyanka Malhotra wants all public areas to have facilities for the disabled. SUNIL GHOSH / HT PHOTO Rajkumari Tankha [email protected] Though there are many ardent admirers of dance and music in his family, he is the only one who has made it his profession. “Even today, a male classical dancer evokes curious glances. We have evolved so much but haven’t understood that clas- sical dance and music is our heritage, our tradition which we must not forget,” says Kathak exponent Sadanand Biswas, 32. He is just back from Tamil Nadu where he presented Rudra Ragaa Red at the Natyanjali Festival and is already busy with his next performance, Rain Storm and Autumn Leaf to be held in Chennai later this month. Rain Storm and Autumn Leaf is based on the works of Tagore and Shelley and will be chore- ographed by Sharmishtha Mukherjee. “Kathak is a part of me, with- out it I am meaningless. I have this constant need to perform,” he says. A resident of Laxmi Nagar, in neighbouring Delhi. Biswas was born and brought up in Durgapur, where his father was working at the steel plant. Since both his parents were art lovers, Biswas began learning Kathak at the age of three from Nirmal Nag. Later he also learnt the creative dance style of Rabindra Nath Tagore (Rabindra Nritya) from Kartik Saha. He was five when he gave his first public performance. The loud claps left a deep impact on his young mind. So, after completing his Class 12, Biswas expressed his incli- nation towards studying dance and music and making a career of it. His parents, Birendra Biswas and Anita Devi, were too happy on hearing this as none of their other children had spoken about pursuing dance and music as a vocation. Biswas was then enrolled at the Nikhil Bharat Sangeet Samiti from where he did his Sangeet Visharad in 1997. The next year, his parents packed him off to Delhi, where he joined the National Institute of Kathak (Kathak Kendra) and trained under Pandit Rajendra Kumar Gangani. Simultaneously, he also joined Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad, and completed Nritya Visharad in 2002. “At Kathak Kendra I got an opportunity to learn from var- ious gurus like Irin Roychoudhary (vocal classical), Pandit Ram Kishore Das (pakhavaj) and Nisha Mahajan and Shankar Apte from whom I learnt yoga. All this helped me master my dance movements and abhinaya,” he says. Seeing him perform at Kathak Kendra, noted danseuse Shovana Narayan was so impressed that she picked him up for her troupe. For eight years, Biswas performed with Narayan in her troupe. He also worked on some productions with Uma Sharma and Sonal Mansingh. “These are all big names in the field, and I am happy to have got a chance to work with them. And I learnt immensely from each of them,” he says. “From Shovana Narayan I learnt how to tackle difficult situations and how to give pleas- ure to the audience, from Uma Sharma I learnt that first and foremost one has to be good human being while the sense of discipline and punctuality I imbibed from Sonal Mansingh,” he adds. Five years back, Biswas formed his own troupe, Kathak Dharohar, with seven other dancers. The troupe has so far performed more than 50 shows all over the country. Most of his productions are based on social and religious issues, climate change, effect of sun and the planets on life, etc. “I want every child to learn some form of classical music or dance. It is our tradition, our culture. We have our roots in this. I want the government to make learning this compulso- ry,” he says. So much so that Sadanand Biswas has this constant need to perform Sadanand Biswas is busy with his next performance to be held in Chennai later this month. WASEEM GASHROO / HT PHOTO Ardent dancer Painting heals me and calms me down. I do not paint like a factory that manufactures something. I enjoy the process thoroughly. NIKKI ANAND SINCE BOTH HIS PARENTS WERE ART LOVERS, BISWAS BEGAN LEARNING KATHAK FROM THE AGE OF THREE ITSELF. I am so happy that Sector 50 will be the first wheelchair accessible market in Noida. PRIYANKA MALHOTRA

description

Though she always had a creative bent of mind, making sculptures happened by chance for Kumud Grover. Her latest exhibition was held at the Triveni Kala Sangam. But the day when she made her first sculpture is still etched in her memory. That was in 1999, when Grover attended a month-long workshop on ceramics organised by the National Small Industries Corporation.

Transcript of Giving shape to imagination

Page 1: Giving shape to imagination

Vinod Rajput■ [email protected]

Sector 39, Gurgaon residentNikki Anand, 45, known for herabstract and figurative style ofpaintings is excited about herlatest works that will be exhib-ited at India Habitat Centre,Delhi, from March 2 to 4.

The series has 24 paintingsthat include landscapes, figu-

rative and abstract artworks.“My work depicts the differentlayers of the soul and how pos-itive energy enriches us,” saidAnand, who started painting atthe age of 5.

“My principal encouragedme when I painted for the firsttime in kindergarten,” said she.Born in Sonipat (Haryana),Anand was brought up in Delhi.“I studied fashion designing

at the South DelhiPolytechnic for Womenin Lajpat Nagar becausemy parents wanted meto pursue a profession-al course,” said she.

“While I was pursu-ing the course, I triedmy hand at painting anddiscovered that I coulddo it pretty well. I feltlike painting more andmore. I decided to takeit up seriously. So, aftermy course in fashiondesigning, I did a five-year course in fine artsfrom the JamshedpurCollege of Art. I havebeen painting every dayfor the last two decades,”said she.

Anand has had four

solos and participated in 15group shows in Delhi,Chandigarh and abroad. Paintingis like a therapy for her. “Paintingheals me and cleanses my soul.It calms me down. Painting isnot a job for me. I do not paintlike a factory that manufacturessomething. I enjoy the processthoroughly,” said she.

Anand also likes to listen toSufi music and do yoga regu-larly.

“Painting is to me what apoem is to a poet,” said she. Herbusinessman husband, RohitAnand, is her inspiration.

“My husband appreciates mywork and encourages me to dobetter. That is something whichmotivates me to be more cre-ative," she adds. She uses acrylic,oil and charcoal in her works.

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THE POLICE HAVE LAUNCHED AN INTENSIVE DRIVE AGAINST EVETEASING IN THE CITY. THE ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN ON THE

COMPLAINTS OF THE RESIDENTS.

htclassifieds BEST BARGAINS

Rajkumari Tankha■ [email protected]

Noida is all set to become dis-abled-friendly. To begin with, theSector 50 traders association ismaking a ramp to make the mar-ket accessible to the disabled.The Sector 18 commercial com-plex will come a close second.

But it is not the district admin-istration or the Noida Authoritythat is working towards this. Thisis because of the hard work of alone woman who, forced by cir-cumstances, decided to do some-thing. “I am so happy that Sector50 will be the first wheelchairaccessible market in the city,”says Priyanka Malhotra. “Thearchitects are presently work-ing on the designs of the ramp,”she adds. Malhotra is trying tobuild public awareness byenrolling the government admin-istration. “We want to make movietheatres, schools, market placesand other public facilities wheel-chair accessible,” she says.

This resident of Sector 51,Noida, is a mother of two, theelder of whom, son Nipun is wheel-chair bound. Throughout hisgrowing up years, it was a chal-lenge for Malhotra to assimilatehim in society. Finding an acces-sible school, disabled-friendlybuses, entertainment places andcollege were always her majorconcerns. She had found thisamiss in all areas of life of thephysically challenged, and it great-ly bothered her.

“I could make my son’s lifecomfortable because we are welloff. But there are many otherswho are not financially sound,”says Malhotra.

So in 2006, she joined the NGO,Samarthyam National Centrefor Accessible Environment andtrained as an accessibility audi-tor. She later started workingwith Samarthyam in an honorarycapacity. She was also a part ofthe Samarthyam team that didaccessibility audits for Janpathand the Garden of Five Senses

in Delhi. “Working in associationwith the government throughSamarthyam I realised that onecan get results if the intentionis good. People by far are willingto help, they are sensitive to theseissues, the only thing lacking isawareness,” she says.

In 2008, she led a team toMumbai to ensure that electionbooths there were disabled-friend-ly. She presented a report to thethen Chief Election CommissionerNaveen Chawla with her rec-ommendations.

Last month, Malhotra decid-ed to branch out of Samarthyamand start her own foundation,Nipman. The three focus areasof Nipman are health, dignityand happiness for the disabled.

The auto expo goodwill dayon January 5, 2012, was coordi-nated by the Nipman team where50 wheelchair users attendedthe Auto Expo and were givenan opportunity to interact withcar manufacturers to expresstheir requirements. Throughoutthe Auto Expo the NipmanFoundation, in partnership withConfederation of Indian Industry(CII), put up booths at the gatesat Pragati Maidan to providewheelchairs to the physicallychallenged and elderly.

“The response was so goodthat CII wants to partner withNipman Foundation to providethese facilities at the regionalexpos in other parts of the coun-try,” she says.

“I started alone in January,and within a month I have gottwo volunteers, Veena Mathurand Gauri Aggarwal, both resi-dents of Sector 50, Noida. I wishmore people become sensitiveabout these issues,” she says.

“Nearly 10% of India’s popu-lation is disabled. We want tomake all public facilities acces-sible to this population, so thatthey live with dignity and hap-piness,” adds Malhotra. Apartfrom this, Malhotra is also work-ing to develop a website that willcater specifically to the disabled.

Lone rangerThrough her NGO, PriyankaMalhotra is trying to give health.dignity and happiness to thedisabled

Garima Vohra■ [email protected]

Though she always had a cre-ative bent of mind, making sculp-tures happened by chance forKumud Grover. Her latest exhi-bition was held at the TriveniKala Sangam. But the day whenshe made her first sculpture isstill etched in her memory. Thatwas in 1999, when Grover attend-ed a month-long workshop onceramics organised by theNational Small IndustriesCorporation.

Recalls the Gulmohar Parkresident (in neighbouring Delhi),“One day, we were being taughtto make sculptures. Each oneof us was given some clay andspace to mould the sculptureof our own choice. I made amother with a child wrappedin her saree. The teacher, whowas supervising the work, sawmy piece and was surprised.She advised me to take class-es in sculpture making as shethought it was my forte.”

The very next day, Groverenrolled in a sculpture courseat Triveni Kala Sangam.

“My first exhibition was heldin 2004 at Shridharani Gallery.

My sculptures talked about thethree stages of life. I was appre-hensive but my first experiencedid not let me down. Instead, itpushed me to make more sculp-tures,” says Grover.

Being a nature lover, most ofher pieces revolve around natureand reality. The things that sheobserves might include the ges-tures people make when theyare talking, the flying birds thatshe observes while sitting inher lawn.

“Over the years, I have exper-imented with the five elements.For me, space defines the aspi-ration towards infinity, air isessential for movement, earthdenotes life, water is the originof life and fire means destruc-tion, purification and rejuve-nation,” says Grover.

Her work talks about reali-ty that reflects truth that oneimagines. And she loves thisprocess of giving shape to herimagination in the form of sculp-tures.

Many of Grover’s pieces havebeen selected by AIFACS,Sahitya Kala Parishad and LalitKala Akademi. She clearlyremembers her sculpture calledRising Above that was in bronzeand had human figures climb-ing towards their own goal. Itwas selected by AIFACS in 2005.In 2006, AIFACS again select-ed one of her pieces called Unnatithat had the form of a fish.

“Introspection was anotherpiece selected by Sahitya KalaParishad. I had made a bird onone side that was thinking andintrospecting while the otherside looked like a dolphin in itsplayfulness and ready to takethe plunge. I have worked a lotwith fishes and birds,” saysGrover. She adds, “For me, cre-ativity needs to be explored andexperimented with. It enablesone to think about things or sit-uations that seem to be impos-sible in the real world. It is likeflying high in a world of one’sown and reaching there too.”

Giving shape toimagination

■ Grover has experimented with the elements. WASEEM GASHROO / HT PHOTO

Creativity needs tobe explored and

experimented with. Itenables one to think about

things that seemimpossible in the world.

K U M U D G R O V E R

Painting to cleanse soul■ Artist Nikki Anand uses acrylic, oil and charcoal in her works. MANOJ KUMAR / HT PHOTO

■ Priyanka Malhotra wants all public areas to have facilities for the disabled. SUNIL GHOSH / HT PHOTO

Rajkumari Tankha■ [email protected]

Though there are many ardentadmirers of dance and musicin his family, he is the only onewho has made it his profession.“Even today, a male classicaldancer evokes curious glances.We have evolved so much buthaven’t understood that clas-sical dance and music is ourheritage, our tradition whichwe must not forget,” says Kathakexponent Sadanand Biswas, 32.

He is just back from TamilNadu where he presented RudraRagaa Red at the NatyanjaliFestival and is already busywith his next performance, RainStorm and Autumn Leaf to beheld in Chennai later this month.Rain Storm and Autumn Leafis based on the works of Tagoreand Shelley and will be chore-ographed by SharmishthaMukherjee.

“Kathak is a part of me, with-out it I am meaningless. I havethis constant need to perform,”he says.

A resident of Laxmi Nagar,in neighbouring Delhi. Biswaswas born and brought up inDurgapur, where his father wasworking at the steel plant. Sinceboth his parents were art lovers,Biswas began learning Kathakat the age of three from Nirmal

Nag. Later he also learnt thecreative dance style of RabindraNath Tagore (Rabindra Nritya)from Kartik Saha. He was fivewhen he gave his first publicperformance. The loud clapsleft a deep impact on his youngmind.

So, after completing his Class12, Biswas expressed his incli-nation towards studying danceand music and making a careerof it.

His parents, Birendra Biswasand Anita Devi, were too happyon hearing this as none of theirother children had spoken aboutpursuing dance and music asa vocation.

Biswas was then enrolled atthe Nikhil Bharat Sangeet Samitifrom where he did his SangeetVisharad in 1997.

The next year, his parentspacked him off to Delhi, wherehe joined the National Instituteof Kathak (Kathak Kendra) andtrained under Pandit RajendraKumar Gangani.

Simultaneously, he also joinedPrayag Sangeet Samiti,Allahabad, and completed NrityaVisharad in 2002.

“At Kathak Kendra I got anopportunity to learn from var-ious gurus like IrinRoychoudhary (vocal classical),Pandit Ram Kishore Das(pakhavaj) and Nisha Mahajanand Shankar Apte from whomI learnt yoga. All this helped memaster my dance movementsand abhinaya,” he says.

Seeing him perform at KathakKendra, noted danseuseShovana Narayan was soimpressed that she picked himup for her troupe. For eightyears, Biswas performed withNarayan in her troupe. He alsoworked on some productionswith Uma Sharma and SonalMansingh.

“These are all big names inthe field, and I am happy to havegot a chance to work with them.And I learnt immensely from

each of them,” he says. “From Shovana Narayan I

learnt how to tackle difficultsituations and how to give pleas-ure to the audience, from UmaSharma I learnt that first andforemost one has to be goodhuman being while the senseof discipline and punctuality Iimbibed from Sonal Mansingh,”he adds.

Five years back, Biswasformed his own troupe, KathakDharohar, with seven other

dancers. The troupe has so farperformed more than 50 showsall over the country. Most of hisproductions are based on socialand religious issues, climatechange, effect of sun and theplanets on life, etc.

“I want every child to learnsome form of classical musicor dance. It is our tradition, ourculture. We have our roots inthis. I want the government tomake learning this compulso-ry,” he says.

So much so that Sadanand Biswashas this constant need to perform

■ Sadanand Biswas is busy with his next performance to be held in Chennai later this month. WASEEM GASHROO / HT PHOTO

Ardent dancer

Painting heals meand calms me down. I

do not paint like afactory that manufactures

something. I enjoy theprocess thoroughly.

N I K K I A N A N D

SINCE BOTH HISPARENTS WERE ARTLOVERS, BISWAS BEGANLEARNING KATHAKFROM THE AGE OFTHREE ITSELF.

I am so happy that Sector 50 will be the first wheelchair accessible market in

Noida.P R I YA N K A M A L H O T R A