FICTION

w The BrokerJohn Grisham

w The Da Vinci CodeDan Brown

w NamesakeJumpha Lahiri

w State of Fear Michael Crichton

w Cloud At Last David Mitchell

NON-FICTION

w Maximum CitySuketu Mehta

w Bangalore - 20th CenturyJanaki Nair

w Book of Secrets Deepak Chopra

w The Monk Who Sold HisFerrari - Robin Sharma

w Blink - Malcolm Gladwell

REGIONAL

1 Apta Mitra - Kannada2 Chandramukhi -Tamil3 Nuv Vastante Nenodantana

- Telugu

HINDI

1 Lucky2 Bewafaa3 Kal Ho Naa Ho

INDI POP/GHAZAL

1 Indian Idol2 Rabbie3 DJ Hot -Vol III

INTERNATIONAL

1 Storyteller - Raghav2 Introducing - Bombay

Rockers3 Best of Blues

Courtesy: Premier, Music World

3Sunday Vijay Times, Bangalore, 20 March 2005Centrestage

Asplit is beginning to emerge at the highest levelsof the music industry. Earlier, some labels

wanted to increase wholesale prices - thereby forc-ing up prices to the end user - in order to grab agreater share of revenues from inline music storessuch as iTunes and Napster. Now, some sections ofthe industry have tentatively welcomed a suggestionthat downloads be sold for as little as five centseach. However, the general counsel of the CanadianRecording Industry Association, Richard Pfohl, dis-missed the idea, saying that it would flout every IPlaw that Canada has passed.

Three works including a version of TThhee SSccrreeaamm,, byNorwegian painter Edvard Munch, have been

stolen from a hotel in south Norway. The thieves tooka 1915 watercolour, BBlluuee DDrreessss, and two lithographs:a self-portrait, and a portrait of Swedish playwrightand novelist August Strindberg. On August 22, gun-men stole a version of Munch�s most famous mas-terpiece, TThhee SSccrreeaamm, showing a terrified waif-likefigure beneath a blood-red sky. TThhee SSccrreeaamm hasbecome a symbol of angst in a world scarred by hor-rors including the Holocaust, the atom bomb and ter-rorism.

Shanghai, China�s commercial capital, is startingto take on the chic of Paris, the sophistication of

New York and the futuristic vibes of Tokyo. Shanghaihas Xintiandi, a two-hectare (nine-acre) complex ofhip restaurants, bars and shops in an open, elegant,low-rise style and is one of the first examples ofChina preserving its own architecture. Xintiandi�shouses are traditional shikumen (literally �stonegate�) built along narrow alleys. Xintiandi architectshave spent the past seven years trying to preserveoriginal materials like Shanghai�s unique grey bricksand art deco features such as 1920s lintels andcolumns. The group also hunted down the originaldrawings to replicate structures that had decayedbeyond repair.

Best-sellers

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

MMoorree MMuunncchh ppaaiinnttiinnggss ssttoolleenn

SShhaanngghhaaii ffaacceelliifftt

SSpplliitt oovveerr oonnlliinnee pprriicciinngg

Ain't she sweet? (Harper Collins,Pages: 400, Price: Rs 207) is anapt title for the book. The pro-

tagonist of the story is Sugar BethCarey. Brought up in a parish with alavish lifestyle, Sugar Beth is the per-sonification of a perfect spoilt brat.Envied by her friends, especially byWinnie Davis who is now married toSugar Beth's dumped boyfreindRyan.

She no more enjoys the gloriousattention that she once had. All that

she now has are her friends and ene-mies whose life she has destroyed,waiting to take revenge. Colin Byne,a novelist was powerless before Bethdestroyed his career, but now heowns all that she once owned.

Through his imagination, Byne isall set to write a book describing thedownfall of Sugar Beth. But here�sthe shock, Beth has completelychanged. She is now a woman whocannot be taken for granted. DoesColin take his revenge or fall in love

with her becomes the rest of thestory.

Set in Mississippi, Aint She Sweet,authored by Susan Elizabeth Phillip,is laced with love, hatred, romanceand fun filled. There are umpteenincidents that prevent you fromkeeping the book down.

Each character is developed in away that the reader wants to knowmore about them. The character ofSugar Beth itself, portraying the hotand charming, seductive and �ditch-all-guys� kind of attitude is mindblowing. On the whole, the book isentertaining and is worth readingonce. n

MISSOULA is a small closely knit town in Montand, USA. Here every-body knows everybody, or so they think... When Wyatt Dixon, formerruthless murderer is let out of prison because of a legal technicality,

the prosecutor Billy Bob Holland and his wife, Temple Holland, must fight olddemons that threaten to tear their marriage apart.

Holland rides with a native American Red Indian, Johnny American Horse.But when Johnny gets �dreams�, he predicts the future and is caught packing afirearm that he says is to protect himself from the killers. He is vindicatedwhen the attempted murder actually takes place, but neither the killers, northeir shadowy employers take into account the fact that the �Great Earth Spirit�would warn Johnny, with disastrous conse-quences.

When the local laboratory of the MNC GlobalResearch is broken and burglarised, all suspicionrests on Johnny, who is an all out propagator of the�National Environment�. To make matters worse,Johnny is framed with the murder of an FBI agentwho was sent to investigate crimes in the area.

James Lee Burke�s crime fiction, In the Moon ofRed Ponies (Phoenix, Pages: 385, Price: Rs 251), isset in the barely tamed Wild Wild West, whereeveryone packs a firearm and the will to make it,yet he knows the restraint and makes up byindulging in the local sport - trout fishing! The plotmoves slowly, yet is never boring, with beautifulinsights into the minds and souls of a plethora ofcharacters, with an end that characterises theLand of the brave and the free. n

The land of the brave and the free

She�s the toughest

JANET Ganguli was brought upin England and soon shebecame committed to serve the

less fortunate. She grew up listeningto stories about her grandfatherwho had spent 25 years in Indiaduring the British Raj. Trained as anurse and a mid wife, she journeyedto India. She remained there for 10years, working to improve healthcare in a small village in Bihar (now

in Jharkand). Being from England,she realised this would not be aneasy task. With absolutely no med-ical facilities, she felt like a handicapand had to fight the corrupt govern-ment officials.

Under an Indian Sky (Penguin,Pages: 203, Price: Rs 250) gives anaccount of the lives of people inBihar and their ignorance towardshealth. One gets to read about the

portly money lender waiting to col-lect sacks of rice from the familyeven as the malnourished five-year-old Anil lies in death bed. Thenthere is the doctor who refuses tooperate Lilmuni because he doubtsif a Santhal can afford his fee.

The spare and lucid narrative is acelebration of courage, love anddetermination. A good book toread. n

An unflinching account of rural poverty

CMYK

SHADOW puppetry is one of those ancient artforms that will probably not make it throughmodern times. Like the remnants of other tradi-

tional forms of entertainment, leather puppets fromour region will remain ancient relics confined totourist or museum spaces unless they�re integratedinto contemporary educational or art practice.

Karnataka has its own tradition of leather puppetry,and it varies from region to region. Togalu gombeaata, as it is called, is traditionally performed by acommunity called the Killekyathas. The families ofthis community were nomadic and would, on invi-tation go to a village at harvest or festival timeand perform puppet shows. It is still a beliefthat if the puppet show is performed, the

place will get rain.Stories like

B a b r u v a h a n a ,R a m a y a n a ,K u r u k s h e t r a ,A i r a v a n a

Mairavana etcare very popu-

lar. Although most

of the stories areclassical, the con-tent of the puppetshow caters to thetastes of all vil-lagers. Humour,crass jokes, andfighting are all

part of the pack-age. Songs andmusic blend inwith the tale

being told; the music andsinging are all done by the fam-ily themselves. Musical instru-ments like the tanige shruthi (tunebox), and the pavali are used asaccompaniments.

Killekyatha means mischievous imp,and the community earns this namebecause of its ability to poke fun at people viatheir art. But the Killekayathas enjoy a specialstatus in villages; they�re allowed to enter templesalthough they do not belong to the uppercaste andare revered because they safeguard this tradition. One ofthe most famous and talented of these puppeteers wasthe late Hombayya who with his family had performednot just across the country but abroad as well.

The Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath in Bangalore hasa vast collection of leather puppets from various

provinces all over the state. Professor M S NanjundaRao, its founder and his colleagues have authored abook on the art. In Chitrakala Parishath, Janardhan Rajuwho used to assist Professor Nanjunda Rao in findingpuppeteer families says that when they arranged a pup-pet show in his native village, it actually rained.

A puppet show is no ordinary affair; it is an all nightperformance with music and drums. The tales that are

being told might be tradi-tional but do not lack in drama and make

for great entertainment. These leatherpuppets are visually stunning; on a

light yellow surface of temperedleather complex profiles of charac-

ters in action and fine costumeare drawn. These stunning pup-

pets with their complex composi-tions are works of art in themselves, but

animated by their puppeteers and by light, soundand narrative, the experience could be completelyabsorbing.

The Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Janapadalokaand the museum of crafts at Udupi have all done a con-siderable amount of work in collecting and document-ing leather puppets and identifying these families. Butthe number of families practicing the art is fast deplet-

ing. Says T N Krishnamurthi, a lecturer ofArt History at the Chitrakala Parishath,�We�ve documented and done our bit forpreserving leather puppets at the Parishathby our museum. But to sustain these fami-lies monetarily is still a big question. Andmost of them are giving up their craftbecause of a lack of patronage.�

You�ll find puppeteer families inNagamangala in Mandya district, Biddi inRamangara Taluk, and in villages borderingAndhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh�s leather

puppetry is called Bommalata and is quiteestablished and well known. The CraftsCouncil and Crafts industry have been

working with puppeteers to sell puppets attheir melas and utsavs. At such a mela, you canbuy small and big individual puppets, and evenpanels which tell traditional stories. n

TThhee ttaalleess ooff TTooggaalluu ggoommbbee aaaattaammiigghhtt bbee ttrraaddiittiioonnaall bbuutt ddoo nnoott llaacckk iinn

ddrraammaa aanndd hheennccee,, mmaakkee ffoorr ggrreeaatt eenntteerrttaaiinnmmeenntt..

RRaahhiimmaa MMaajjiidd rreeppoorrttss

�CUPID�S broken arrow� isan Indian productionthat was a medley of

scenes from Henry Ibsen�s DollHouse, August Strindberg�s FrokenJulie and Rabindranath Tagore�sChitrangada, which payed tributeto the brilliant playwrightsrecently in Rangashankara,Bangalore. It also marked theCentennial year of Norway�s inde-pendence from Sweden and wasjointly sponsored by theEmbassies of the two countries tocelebrate it with India.

But setting aside the interna-tionalism of it all, the playbrought to us three rebelliouswomen protagonists whomay well have been our con-temporaries. Women�s libera-tion and their fight for anequal standing is not anineties concept as most of theyounger lot would like to believe.

Changing social parameters is a con-tinuous process in the society and every gen-eration brings in its own perception of whatthey think is necessary. The most commonfolly is that every generation believes thatthey instigated the change.

Prasanna�s latest experiment on stageintroduced us to the original rebels. HenryIbsen gave us Nora Helmer in his 1879 cre-ation The Doll House. His contemporary,August Strindberg called her Julie in FrokenJulie in 1888 and Rabindranath Tagore pre-sented her as Chitra in 1892. As early as that!

Nora is the wife of a prosperous gentlemanTorvald Helmerand her marriagesatisfies every pre-requisite set bysociety for a �happymarriage.� The sce-ne chosen depictedher decision toleave her husbandand her marriageand the events thatperpetuated it.

Her transformation from the fragile anddelicate beauty dressed in colours to theunrelenting and independent woman inblack was powerfully dramatic.

If Ibsen gave us the society dream in Nora,Strindberg gave us her anti-thesis in theseductive Julie. Here the protagonist is thedaughter of a Count and wields her sexualprowess over men to dominate them. How-ever, her erotic encounter with her father�sfootman Jean leaves us with a question. Inthe power struggle between a man and awoman, would sexual dominance ever bethe defining trait of a woman without herapologising for it?

Tagore on the other hand, took us back tothe era of Mahabharata and introduced usto Chitrangada, the warrior princess. Havingbeen brought up to compete with men inevery endeavour that requires brute force,she discovers her feminine side through herheart. She falls in love with Arjuna who hastaken a vow of celibacy for 12 years.

With no confidence in her ownattractions, she seeks the help

of Manmatha and Vasanthato bless her with the allur-

ing beauty that wouldbring her closer to him.Arjuna, being the man,takes fancy to beautythat is not hers. Theprincess is tornbetween the reality of

her love and the deceit ofher beauty and watches

helplessly as Arjuna forsakeshis honour to be with the lat-

ter. However, in the endshe refuses him

because she isnot the allurewho he fell inlove with.

Though theplays were a

combination ofcultures from the

West and India, theyblend in well. There was a

flavour of India in the first two playswhere a diapered cupid was cleverly substi-tuted with the coloured hues of Yakshaganacostumes for Manmatha and Vasantha. Thecostumes designed by Chandrashekarenhanced and subtly underlined the moodof the play.

The casting was perfect. M C Anand andVeena Appiah as Yakshagana costume cladManmatha and Vasantha were the perfectcultural balancers. Though Ashwini Bhatrepresented her fragile feminity through herperformance, her discomfort with the lan-guage was evident. But it was Raza Hussainand Mallika Prasad who kept the audienceenthralled.

Technically speaking, thesets were uncluttered andsufficient and though notflawless, lighting by DrParesh was ample. As forPrasanna, we certainly ho-pe to see more of him aspromised. n

PPrraassaannnnaa��ss llaatteesstt eexxppeerriimmeenntt oonn ssttaaggee iiss aasseennssiittiivvee eexxpplloorraattiioonn oofftthhrreeee rreebbeelllliioouuss wwoommeennpprroottaaggoonniissttss ooff aa ffoorrggootttteenn eerraa.. MMaannaassii PP KKuummaarr rreeppoorrttss

Bull�seye with thebroken arrow

Pics:Tanikachalam

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