Bollywood
Dance Dance Revolution
The kids went around the room and shared their favorite songs and favorite films. Some mentioned the latest Bollywood hits, while others spoke wistfully of numbers released well before their time. In the midst of the circle sat Nic and Nicole, two British singers I previously wrote about and have been working with here in Mumbai. They came to India to spread their unique English-Hindi-Punjabi sound, and I organized for them to come to the Akanksha Center and conduct song and dance workshops with the kids for the upcoming showcase. Always excited about the prospect of a little Bollywood in their lives, the kids once again gave it their all with a talent that never ceases to amaze me.
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Cricket or Controversy
Glitz and glamour is back in Mumbai as Lakme Fashion Week rolls into the season of the Indian Premier League, or the IPL. The IPL is a Twenty20 cricket competition that includes 8 teams, or franchises, consisting of the top cricket players from all over the world. The third season of the IPL started in India on 12 March 2010 and is due to last over a period of 45 days. As mostly everything else in India, the IPL is very heavily influenced by Bollywood. Bollywood actresses Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta are both co-owners of IPL Teams, and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan is the owner of the ever-popular Kolkata Knight Riders team. All 55 matches will be followed by an afterparty and fashion show, organized by Bollywood star Arjun Rampal and his wife. The IPL Opening Party included all of the main Bollywood stars, and randomly, Lionel Ritchie and Akon. I went to a match last Saturday and Bollywood music played almost the entire time as cheerleaders danced to the tunes and the crowd went wild singing the songs and cheering on their teams.
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3 Idiots
3 Idiots
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Country of Contradictions
India is the land of paradox and contradictions: ostentatious wealth and extreme poverty, deep-rooted tradition and modernity, religion and secular consumerism. Although this isn’t quite related to Bollywood, I wanted to comment on this conflict that I found omnipresent in Mumbai and around the nation. Every time I am impressed by how progressive Mumbai seems to have become, I am reminded just how much this modernity does not permeate the whole of the city and of the nation. It is still very much a country still learning how to straddle its classes and its worlds. It is common for people in Mumbai to have a daily maid who does the cleaning, cooking, washing etc. The standard monthly rate the maids charge is 1500 rupees, roughly $30. It is also common to possess a driver that can navigate the mean streets of Mumbai. He is always on call, and can work late in the night and early in the morning for hours on end. His standard monthly rate is about 7000 rupees, or $155. Then I think of the top restaurants and nightclubs in the city, where a standard drink can cost $20 and entry $60. Lakme Fashion Week draws international designers and the Indian Premier League draws international cricket stars in a nation where baby-throwing festivals still exist in the rural villages. People sleep in the streets outside of Shilpa Shetty’s new club named, unpretentiously, “Royalty,” and Fashion Week spends 10 million rupees on alcohol alone for the Grey Goose Lounge.
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What You Hear Is What You Read
I recently came across an organization called PlanetRead that completely captured my heart, and I am so excited about the work they are doing to improve literacy in India. There are 900 million illiterate people in the world, and 1/3 of those people, 300 million, live in India. According to UNICEF, 66% of India’s population is illiterate. I was acutely aware of India’s literacy problem and its implications for the socioeconomic development of the country, however I was still surprised to hear the explanation of Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director for Google.org, in reference to the undeniable urgency of a literate nation. He explained that if you do a multiple logistic regression analysis and you put all of the variables in trying to explain what is the single most important factor in determining whether a child will live or die past the age of 5, it isn’t water or vaccinations, but the literacy of that child’s mother.
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Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.