High Energy

COLUMN: Spouse's Turn  

PT Basheer talks about life with the actor Reena 

By Shevlin Sebastian 

Photo by Ratheesh Sundaram 

One morning, in December, 1990, a girl, along with her mother, came to an electronics shop at Fort Kochi, to get their TV repaired. The owner, PT Basheer, agreed to do so. As he stared at the girl, Cupid struck. “Unlike most girls, Reena had a striking look,” says Basheer. Thereafter, he saw her many times, because Reena would drop in to visit her uncle, an ophthalmologist by the name of Shaheer Bava, who lived near Basheer's house. “I never spoke to her,” says Basheer. “But I liked her.”

Soon, fate intervened. A family friend brought Basheer a marriage proposal for Reena. Basheer did not take long to say yes, although there is a ten-year age difference between the two.

The wedding took place on May 10, 1992, at Fort Kochi. And the couple did something which is not done at a Muslim wedding. They fed each other mouthfuls of food during lunch. “Reena had told me earlier about her wish,” says Basheer. “And we were bold enough to do it.”

For their honeymoon, they went to Kodaikanal. And Reena came up with an unusual request. She told Basheer she had never been on a cycle. So Basheer hired one, made her sit on the rod in front, and they rode around the Kodai lake.

“Reena was so excited about sitting on a cycle for the first time,” says Basheer. “She was only 18, so I could understand why she was so enthusiastic.”

Reena is also aggressive. “She wanted to learn painting, so she did that,” says Basheer. “Then she took classes on cooking and ceramic works. Soon, she began giving cooking classes for foreigners. Later, Reena ran a boutique called 'Sensations' for seven years on the ground floor of our home. Then she got a job as an anchor for a TV channel. Reena is always into something.”

Seven years ago, there was a competition for mothers on a TV channel. Her son, Binu, saw the promos and sent an application by SMS on behalf of his mother.

So, Reena took part. “It was a turning point for her,” says Basheer. “[Director] Lal Jose was a celebrity guest. He saw Reena's performance as a dancer enacting a song, 'Bhawra Bada Naadan', from 'Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam'. The original picturisation was on Waheeda Rahman and Guru Dutt. Reena was dancing and showing all sorts of mannerisms. She also did a skit where she played an actress who pretends to have many roles, but in reality, she did not have any.”

An impressed Lal Jose gave Reena her first role in 'Mulla', as Biju Menon's wife, Malathi Akka. Some of the other films she has acted in include 'Honeybee', 'You Can Do', 'Pigman', 'Teens', 'Ormayundo Ee Mukham', 'Ghost House', 'Traffic' and 'Bharya Athra Pora'. And just the other day, Reena returned from a 22-day shoot in Palakkad for a film called 'Mariyam Mukku', which stars Fahadh Faasil and Manoj K Jayan. Reena plays Clara, the wife of Manoj.

When a film is released, the family, which includes son Binu, and daughter Anjala, will go and see it on the first day. “I will tell her frankly if I liked her role or not, and whether there is scope for improvement,” says Basheer. “The role I liked the best was in ‘Violin’, in which Reena played an Anglo-Indian woman. Today, she is a much more confident actor.”

And a good mother too. “Reena is more like a friend, rather than a mother,” says Basheer. “Often, on weekends, she will go with the children and their friends to happening places to chill out. Reena is able to be on the wavelength of her children very easily.”

Reena can also get on Basheer's wavelength easily. So when she saw a photo of a dazzling ruby set in a magazine, she was able to persuade Basheer to buy it for her. “But Reena also buys me gifts all the time,” says a smiling Basheer. “In fact, the last gift she gave me was an I-Pad.” 

Nevertheless, there are negative attributes. “Reena has so many ideas that she does not stick to one thing for long,” says Basheer. “She will start something, it will go on for a while, then she will have a new idea and would want to try that. Now she has started a cake shop, 'Temptations' in Fort Kochi. Reena wants change all the time. This can be difficult to adjust to, but this is also what makes her so interesting.”

When asked for tips for a successful marriage, Basheer says, “There should be a mutual understanding. Both spouses come from different backgrounds. So, husband and wife have different traits. It does not mean that all the traits are positive. Some can be negative, too. So you have to work hard to develop an understanding. If you have that, you will be able to overcome all the difficulties that arise in a marriage.” 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)

Singing Songs in Praise of God

The Latin choir at the Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, at Fort Kochi, is one, among a few in India, which is still going strong

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photo by Mithun Vinod 

Sometime ago, the Latin choir of the Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica in Fort Kochi was invited to sing at a wedding in a church at Coimbatore. During the mass, thechoir began to sing Handel's 'Hallelujah'. When it was over the priest, who was officiating at the wedding, in an unprecedented move, stopped the mass, and said, “Could you please sing it again, because I feel like I am in the Vatican?”

At his home in Fort Kochi, on a cloudy and windy morning, the leaves creating a rustling sound among the trees in his courtyard, senior choir member Adrian Hubert (Jackie) D'Cruz, 70, breaks out into a smile. “It was an extraordinary moment,” says Jackie.

But the choir has always received appreciation, especially during the Midnight Mass at Christmas. In fact, it has become a tradition, among foreign tourists, that if you are in Kerala, on December 24, then you must attend the midnight service at the Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica and listen to the Latin choir.

“A large number of the congregation are Europeans,” says Jackie. “After the mass is over, they congratulate us for the singing. They are surprised that we are still keeping up the Latin tradition.”

The choir, which consists of 12 singers – four men and eight women – range in age from 20 to 75. And they sing in four voices: bass, tenor, alto and soprano.

The prime force is Godwin Figueiredo, 62, who plays the organ. “He is an excellent teacher and composer, and has the gift of writing music,” says choir member Coral Godinho, who trained under Godwin, and became a tenor, like Jackie.

“There are many traditional masses in Latin,” says Godwin. “The most common is the Missa De Angelus. This is a universal mass that takes place in Catholic churches throughout the world.” Some of the hymns include Kyrie Alison (Lord of Mercy), the Credo (I Believe), Gloria In Excelsis Deo (Glory to God on High), and Pater Noster (Our Father).

The Santa Cruz group is one, among a few in India, which is still going strong. “Although most people prefer the English mass nowadays,” says Godwin. But those who listen to the Latin hymns are gripped. “There is a mystique in the music,” says church-goer Annabel Peters. “Just like when you go to the temple and hear the chants in Sanskrit, similarly, there is a power in these hymns.” Coral agrees. “There is a divinity in the songs and you can sense the presence of God,” she says.

As for the history, in 1918, a Portuguese priest, Fr. Furtado, came to Fort Kochi and trained a few young men in choral singing. They included Jackie's father, William, and his friend Dionysius Fernandez. After a couple of years Fr. Furtado returned to Portugal, and Dionysius took over. “A lot of the people who sang in thechoir at that time were his classmates,” says Jackie. “They were a good group, till Dionysius passed away in 1970.”

Suddenly, there was no leader and the choir faded away. But, in 1985, thanks to the initiative taken by a nun, the late Dr. Teresa Lonan, who was the headmistress of the St. Mary's Anglo-Indian school at Fort Kochi, as well as Tony Fernandez, a local businessman, who became the patron, the choir was revived once again, with Godwin in charge. 

“It has been going strong ever since,” says Tony.

(Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)

Running Forever

Steve Boone has run 591 marathons. On a recent visit to Kochi, where he took part in the Spice Coast Marathon, along with his wife Paula, they talk about the joys of running

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photos by Mithun Vinod: Steven Boone; With his wife Paula. 

It was around the 18 km mark, during the Spice Coast Marathon at Kochi, that Steve Boone, 65, began to feel tired and dehydrated. Even though the race took place in the early morning, Steve was drenched in perspiration. He drank a lot of water, but still felt dehydrated. He began to slow down. Soon, he was walking. Many runners went past him. But the bystanders cheered him on.

“It was my lack of preparation that did me in,” he says. “I came on a Friday from the United States, did not take adequate food or rest, and raced on Sunday morning. I also found it difficult to adjust to the humidity.”

The members of the organising team, Soles, poured an 18 litre bottle of water on him. Soon, they offered to drive him to the finish line. But Steve said no, and struggled on. Finally, 6 hours and 40 minutes later., Steve completed the marathon, the longest he has taken. The average time which he takes is 3 ½ hours.

The Spice Coast Marathon was an unique experience for Steve. “The people were so friendly and encouraging,” he says. “It was also the first time that I have shared the street with goats and cows.”

Steve has run in all the 50 states of the United States five times, and in Iceland, Africa, China, Germany, Brazil, and South Africa.

In the Entabini Game Reserve, in Johannesburg, there were lions, giraffes and rhinos. “We waited for the rhinos to cross the road,” says Steve. “They did look at us and wonder who we were. I am told that rhinos are vegetarians, so there was nothing to worry.”

Another run, which he enjoyed a lot, was the Nanisivik Midnight Sun Marathon
in northern Canada. “It was about 750 kms from the Artic Circle,” he says. “In July, the sun never sets. But ironically, it was quite hot.”

In most of his runs, he is accompanied by his wife Paula, whom he met at the Boston Marathon in April, 1997. They fell in love and got married in 1998. It is a second marriage for both.

Asked about the best aspect of running, both of them unanimously say, “It is the friendships that we have made all over the world. We all share the same passion.”

One of their friends is Mathew Mapram, of Kottayam origin, who lives in the US. “It was Mathew who invited us to take part in the Spice Coast Marathon,” says Steve. “And both of us will be here next year.”

In India, Steve has a clear agenda. He wants to inculcate the joy of running among the people. “You can run anywhere,” he says. “And anybody can do it. At the starting line-up, you cannot tell who is rich or poor. When you run, you tend to develop a positive attitude. For the women, it will empower them. For the children, it is good fun.”

The couple do their bit to encourage youngsters. In Houston, where they live, Steve and Paula hold running events for schoolchildren which have become very successful. In 2014, 9300 children in 24 schools ran 42 km or longer during the school year to earn a Marathon Challenge T-shirt, provided by Steve.

Incidentally, Steve came to running accidentally. He is a computer systems analyst who owns his own company. One day, a customer, Bob McDowell challenged him to run a marathon. So Steve began training for it. When he completed his first race, he was hooked onto running. Now, ironically, after 28 years Bob has only run 47 marathons, while Steve has reached marathon No. 591.

In order to ensure that Steve completes all the marathons that he participates in, he runs 75 kms a week to develop endurance and flexibility. “Then you will feel comfortable during a marathon,” he says. “The joy of running is that you can think about a lot of things, without the interruption of the phone, or e-mails. In short, nobody is bothering you.”

But you can be bothered by the weather. In a race in Delaware, there was a wind chill of minus 58 degrees below zero. “It was so cold that the water in the cups would freeze, before the volunteers could give it to us,” says Steve. “And after a few hundred metres, I received the full blast of the wind and found it difficult even to breathe.”

In Arizona, the couple ran a race in 42 degrees Celsius. “Even though the race was held in the evening, it was too hot,” says Paula. “We drank lots of water. It was pitch black. The roads were dusty. From the knee down, our legs were covered with black dust. But we finished the race and felt proud about that.” 

(Published in The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram) 

Talking about Art and Other Matters

At the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a noted psychoanalyst analyses the event, senior artists view appreciatively the work of upcoming talents, while an Indian writer meets her Dutch illustrator for the first time

By Shevlin Sebastian 

Photos: Sudhir Kakar and his wife; Sirish Rao and his Canadian wife Laura Byspalko. Taken by Ratheesh Sundaram

Noted psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar's eyes widen as he views Anish Kapoor's work, 'Descension', at the Aspinwall House, one of the sites of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

In a large container, buried in the ground, water is swirling around, at great speed, thanks to a submerged propeller. At the centre, it creates a vortex, which is a hypnotic sight. “It is a beautiful work,” says Sudhir, who is accompanied by his German wife Katharina Poggendorf. “But Anish, as everybody knows, is a great artist.” 

As the couple step out on to the side facing the sea, Sudhir's eyes light up. “The beautiful thing about the Kochi Biennale is how rooted it is to the earth,” he says. “The sea is also nearby.” 

Biennales in the West are like their music, says Sudhir. The rules are fixed on how to play it. “But in Indian ragas, a lot of innovation takes place,” he says. “The Kochi Biennale is like an Indian raga.”

Feeling the Heat

The hot sun is taking a toll on Paris Viswanadhan, as he wipes his forehead with his handkerchief. “It is lunch time and I am also feeling hungry,” says the Paris-based artist. His grey hair is like a halo over his head. “There are some wonderful works that I have seen so far,” he says. “I am particularly impressed with the clay works of young Sahel Rahal.”

As he talks, a friend of his comes up. He is Deepak Ananth, an art historian, who teaches at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Caen, Normandy. “He is the first person to do an in-depth presentation of contemporary Indian art in Europe,” says Viswanadhan.

Asked his opinion about the Biennale, Deepak says, “It has been beautifully curated.”

A Happy Supporter

Another person, who agrees with Ananth, is Malayali artist Balan Nambiar. “The selection of the art works has been very good,” he says. “There is a wide variety. And today, in the international community, Indian art is being regarded as pre and post-Kochi Biennale. That’s how big an impact the Biennale has made abroad. We are lucky it is being held in Kerala. I have given unstinted support to [founders] Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu from day one. So I am very happy to be here.”

A Writer meets her Illustrator

The Bangalore-based poet Mamta Sagar exclaims, “I have been searching for you all over.” And then she hugs the Dutch artist Juul Kraijer. Mamta had loved the work of Juul, which she saw on the Internet. Then she contacted Juul through e-mail, and the latter did the cover of Mamta's second book of poems in Kannada called 'Heige Haaleya Meile Haader' (‘Like this the song’). But they were meeting for the first time at the Biennale.

Juul is married to Aji V.N., an artist who was born in Thiruvananthapuram. They met when Juul came to Thiruvananthapuram, and fell in love. Now, they have a small daughter and the couple lives in Rotterdam. His daughter knows only to speak in Dutch. “But they are going to stay at my home in Thiruvananthapuram for a few weeks,” says Aji.

Acrobats doing a Balancing Act

At the Vasco Da Gama square, at Fort Kochi, on a high wire, there are fiberglass figures of colourful acrobats. One stocky male has a woman balancing her head over his, while he holds a cub tiger under his arm. He has hoofs for feet. And there are a few other men and women like this.

A couple who is fascinated by this work are the Vancouver-based Sirish Rao and his Canadian wife Laura Byspalko. They run the annual Indian Summer Festival of literature, music and films. When told the name of Gulammohammed Sheikh, as the artist who made it, Sirish says, “He is a great man. So, it's no wonder that this is a striking work.”

Endless Patience

You have to hand it to Anish Kapoor, one of the Britain's top artists, who has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth and has an estimated fortune of 100 million pounds. The shoot for an international TV channel, in the garden of Aspinwall House, takes a long time to start, because of technical glitches. But Anish keeps his cool and waits patiently for things to fall into place.

The Indian artist Subodh Gupta is walking past with his wife Bharti Kher. But when he sees Anish, he rushes up to take a snap of him on his mobile. Anish gives a friendly wave. It is difficult to visualise some of our prima donnas in the cultural world behave in a similarly calm and humble manner.

Express Special a Hit

Former Prime Minister IK Gujral’s nephew’s wife, Feroze Gujral, an art aficionado, is going gaga at the four-page special on the Biennale, brought out by The New Indian Express. “It looks lovely,” she says. “It is so nice you are doing so much to promote the arts. I am impressed.” Spanish student Elena Brunete, who has a copy, says, “It’s wonderful. The photos look good.” Another impressed person is British artist Hew Locke. “It looks nice,” he says.

(Published in The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)

Of Body and Sole

Last year, IT Professional Ramesh Kanjilimadhom started the Soles running club, along with a few friends. Within months they had 1200 members and the group successfully conducted the Spice Coast Marathon recently

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photo: Ramesh Kanjilimadhom and members of the Soles running club. 

Photo by Ratheesh Sundaram

At 5.30 a.m. on August 10, 2012, IT professional Ramesh Kanjilimadhom set out on a run from his apartment at Kochi. It was raining heavily and there was darkness all around, except for the street lights.

Ramesh was wearing a white singlet and blue shorts and running barefoot. Suddenly, from a bylane, a car appeared. Before Ramesh could realise what was happening he had been hit on his left side and fell down. The panicky driver sped away.

When Ramesh sat up he saw that his leg was broken. “I held my leg and tried to stand up, but could not do so,” he says. A desperate Ramesh tried to wave down a few people in their cars, but nobody stopped. But, as always, there is a Good Samaritan. In this case, it was Rockey Roger, who had just finished his night shift at an IT firm and was on his way home. Rockey rushed Ramesh to a nearby hospital.

When Ramesh recounted this incident to his friends – Renjith Mohan Kumar, Thomas Paulose, Mathew Mapram, Paul Mathew, Manoj Kuriakose, and Prasanna Kumar – they urged him to start a running club. “When we run in a group, safety is a given for the individual,” says Prasanna.

Following discussions, it was Manoj Kuriakose who came up with the club's name: ‘Soles’. “What do runners run with?” says Manoj. “With our soles. It is about our souls, too.”

Ramesh’s wife, Seema, who is also a runner, says, “We felt it is important to spread the habit of running in Kerala, where so many people suffer from diabetes and other health problems.”

Soles was set up by Ramesh and his friends on June 30, 2013. And thanks to their Facebook presence, within months, they had 1200 members which included doctors, IT professionals, businessmen, journalists, homemakers, students and lawyers. There is also a labourer, Mahesh, who works on construction sites. “He always comes for the Sunday run,” says Ramesh.

This takes place at 5.30 a.m. It begins from the Kadavanthra area in Kochi, and ends up at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, a distance of 8 kms.

This is the day when beginners are initiated. “There are many who walk the distance,” says Ramesh. “I tell the newcomers they should run for five minutes, and walk for two minutes. Then run again. As a result, they will not hit a mental or physical wall, and will be able to complete the run.”

Of course, sarcastic comments by bystanders are part of the baggage. “When they see me running, in shorts, sometimes they will shout, ‘Hey man, did you lose your trousers along the way?’” says Ramesh, with a smile.

Meanwhile, one day, in February, this year, Mathew Mapram came up with the idea to hold a marathon race. Mathew, who is of Kerala origin, is a veteran marathon runner in the USA. “He belongs to a large network of people who are passionate about running,” says Ramesh. “Mathew wanted to give them an experience of running in India.”

Ramesh and his co-founders felt jittery about conducting a marathon, because they had never organised one. But, thanks to Mathew's goading and encouragement, Soles held the Spice Coast Marathon on November 16. Around thousand runners took part, including several from the USA.

One of them was the silver-haired Steve Boone, 65, who has run 591 marathons all over the world. “Unlike other races, conducted by event managers, there was a lot of heart in this race, because it had been organised by the runners themselves,” says Steve. “The people were friendly and nice. I enjoyed every moment.” For Ramesh, the most thrilling moment occurred, when, runners at the finishing tape, shook his hand, and said, “Great race.” 

Indeed, the unique nature of this particular marathon (42 kms) was the 42 heritage sites which the runners had to pass by. These included the Cochin Port Trust, Mattancherry bridge, Jewish Synagogue, Jew Town, Dutch Palace, Spice Market and the Parade ground. “We will be holding the marathon again the next year,” says an upbeat Ramesh. “Soles is here to stay.” 

(Published in the Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)

Snapshots from the Hotspots

Vignettes from the different sites of the Kochi Muziris Biennale, which begins on December 12

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photo of British artist Hew Locke by Ratheesh Sundaram 

In a ground floor room, at the Aspinwall House, British artist Hew Locke walks around, in a hat, blue shirt, Bermuda shorts and sandals. He has made striking images using black beads and cord. One shows trumpeters in the 15th century announcing the arrival of the King of Cochin. “I feel a bit weird,” says Hew. “Most of the scenes I am seeing now, from this window, are those that I have already seen online. So there is a collision between virtual and actual reality.”

As he talks, he seems to have an Indian accent. He smiles and says, “There are two reasons for that. Firstly, I have an Indian wife [Indra Khanna]. Secondly, I grew up in Guyana, where there are so many Indians.”

In fact, says the London-based artist, Guyana is very similar to Kerala. A couple of days ago, when he drove out to the suburbs, he looked at the scenery. “For a moment, I thought I was back in Guyana,” he says.

On a first floor balcony, a young girl, in a white top and black tights, is looking through a camera placed on a tripod. Her name is Elena Brunete, and she is a student from from the School of Architecture in Madrid, Spain. She is part of a team of four students and three professors. “We are putting up a prototype of a bamboo pavilion,” she says. “It's hot, but I am enjoying myself.”

A red-faced Marcus Schaub is also finding the heat a little difficult to handle. “Yes, it is hot,” he says, with a smile, as he sits on a cement ledge and smokes a cigarette. The Zurich-based Swiss is helping his friend, Christian Waldvogel set up his installation, 'The Earth Turns Without Me'.

“This is a small biennale, but it looks so comfortable,” he says. “It is like a tropical garden. And unlike biennales in the West, there is a nice mix of Western and Eastern art.”

Standing near Marcus is architect Vinu Daniel, wearing sunglasses. His company is making an umbrella pavilion, where the talks and seminars will take place. “The walls and the sloping roof will be a mix of a mesh, concrete, and jute sacks,” he says. The design looks unique. At one side, there is a gallery where people can sit and the other end curves upwards and becomes part of the roof.

Young Abu Backer Sidique is busy talking on a mobile. He is a product designer for artists Soren Pors and Aparna Rao. “I am helping them set up their electro-mechanical art works,” says Abu, an engineer.

Another youngster, in T-shirt and Bermuda shorts, Adam Jamir, has come all the way from Mokokchung in Nagaland. “I am assisting [Chinese artist] Yang Zhengzhong,” he says. “It's been fun so far.”

At one side, there is a growl of a concrete mixer. Inside a room, facing the sea, a hole in the ground is being made. One of the workers says that it has a depth of nine feet and a diameter of 11 feet. This is where the installation of famed London-based artist Anish Kapoor will be put up.

The Mumbai-based artist Prajaktha Potnis is looking relaxed. Her installation - a mix of sculptural and video installations, drawings, and a transcript pasted on the wall - is nearly up and running. But for a young person, she went back into recent political history to get inspired: the kitchen debates between US President John F Kennedy and Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1959. “It's a discussion of capitalism vs. communism in a kitchen setting,” she says. “In fact, in life, so many conversations take place in a kitchen. Many government policies enter the kitchen, like the price of onions.”

She breaks out into a smile as the Delhi-based Malayali artist Gigi Scaria has made an appearance. His installation material, made of stainless steel, has just arrived, all the way from Coimbatore.

“I am making a bell, which is 13 feet high, with a diameter of 10 feet,” he says. “Through 64 holes, in the bell, water will come out, giving a look of a fountain.” Gigi has done a salute to the great writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He has called his work, 'Chronicle of the Shores Foretold'.

On the first floor of Pepper House, the Delhi-based artist Sumakshi Singh walks across to see the work of Navin Thomas, who lives in Bangalore. “This looks so magnificent,” she says, as she stares at the two huge archery targets, with their evenly spaced concentric rings, facing each other at a gap of 20 feet. “My theme is electroacoustic ecology,” says Navin. “These targets will communicate with each other, through sound waves.”

Noted artist Bharti Kher looks at her installation, which are triangles of wood, inside each of which swings a pendulum, and says, “I have not stepped out of this room for days.”

She is optimistic about the Kochi Biennale, despite the funds crunch. “Take it from me, in ten years, this Biennale will become an important art hub for India and the world.”

She says that the state should be supportive. “We have such a large country and yet, there are so few art events,” she says. “And that's a bit sad.”

Nevertheless, there is excitement among the volunteers, artists and visitors as they walk around, with a smile on their faces and a song in their hearts.

On December 12 an explosion will take place.

Friends, welcome to India's greatest art show!

(Published in The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram) 

My Boss

COLUMN: Spouse's Turn

Anuja talks about life with the actor Dharmajan Bolgatty

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photo by Melton Antony 

On the morning of November 15, 2007, Anuja woke up in her house at Netoor, Kochi, feeling nervous and scared. She was not sure whether the decision she had taken was the right one. Nevertheless, she steeled herself. At 10 a.m., she slipped out of the house, without informing her parents.

Waiting patiently, at some distance away, was the actor Dharmajan Bolgatty, along with his friend, Stanley, in a car. After changing into a saree, at another friend's house, Anuja, along with Dharmajan and Stanley, went to the Sri Keraleshwara Puram Temple at Mulavukaddu. There, in front of a priest, the couple exchanged garlands and got married.

When they reached Dharmajan's house nearby, the actor's elder brother, Babu, called up Anuja's father, Purushan, and informed him of the event. Two days later, Purushan, accompanied by his son-in-law, Ajayan, came and gave Anuja a few gold ornaments. “My father and I felt sad,” says Anuja. “But for nine months after my marriage he did not speak to me.” The thaw took place when the family invited Anuja and Dharmajan for her brother Anil's wedding.

Anuja and Dharmajan are related to each other. He is her second cousin. They would see each other at family functions. When Anuja was 21 years old, one day, Dharmajan came to the house, took her aside, and said he liked her. Two days later, she told him the same thing.

Her father had opposed the marriage, because Dharmajan did not have a steady job. He was getting bit roles in TV and finding it hard to get a good break. “But we loved each other, although there is a six-year age gap,” says Anuja. When her family showed no inclination to arrange for the marriage, the couple took matters into their own hands.

In fact, they planned it well. One afternoon, two days before the wedding, Anuja packed a few clothes, as well as her educational certificates, in a bag, went out of the house and gave it to Dharmajan who was waiting outside.

And today Anuja is all smiles. “I have no regrets,” she says. “It was a right move.”

Asked about her husband's plus points, Anuja says, “Dharmajan is a nice person, with a sense of humour. Recently, when we were going out, Ajayan and my sister Ambili were sitting in the backseat of a car. As I was about to get in, Dharmajan said, 'Squeeze yourself in. After all, you don't do that in the house. At least, do it in the car.'”

She admires Dharmajan, because he is confident enough to give her a lot of freedom. “I can go anywhere that I want,” says Anuja. “Not many husbands are like this.”

Dharmajan is also a cool person at home. “He might be having a lot of tension, but never tells me much, even though I can see it on his face,” says Anuja. “It may be because of upcoming programmes or the stress of writing a script. Sometimes, he goes to a hotel to write in peace, because we have two children at home.”

They are Vaiga, 5, and Vedha, 4. The children are his fans and often watch his films at home. Once they were watching a Mohanlal film called 'Ladies and Gentleman'. And in many of the scenes, they saw Kalabhavan Shahjohn.

Suddenly, the door opened and in walked Shahjohn. “The children were stunned,” says Anuja. “They could not believe that the person, whom they were seeing on the screen, had just walked in. Vaiga said, 'How did uncle come out from the screen?'”

Usually, when a new film, in which Dharmajan has acted in, is released, he will take the family to see it at one of the cinema halls. “When I see my husband on the screen, there is no difference for me,” says Anuja. “He is the same person on and off-screen.”

For Anuja, the films which she liked the most, in which her husband has acted, are 'Ordinary' and 'My Boss'.

Asked about his negative traits, Anuja says, “Dharmajan can be short-tempered, but he forgets quickly. As for me, the anger remains with me for a longer time. When that happens, Dharmajan will go to the bedroom, dress up in one of my sarees and come back and pretend he is a woman. That makes me laugh.”

Dharmajan's one regret is that he is not able to spend much time with the children. “Most of the time, he is sleeping when they get ready to go to school,” she says. “But whenever he is at home, he plays with them.”

Finally, when asked to give tips for a successful marriage, Anuja says, “Both spouses should show tolerance to each other,” she says. “But, usually, the wife has to do more adjustments, especially when there are children.”

There should also be an honest communication between husband and wife. “Even if it is only for five minutes every day, it is very important,” says Anuja. “And when spouses fight, one of them should quickly make the first move to reconcile. In our marriage, Dharmajan always reaches out first.” 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram) 

The Imminent Artistic Explosion

Work is going on in full swing as the second edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale begins on December 12

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photos by Ratheesh Sundaram

Captions: Parvathi Nayar; Architect Vinu Daniel and his team; artists D. Sunoj and Sumakshi Singh; members of the media team of the Kochi Biennale Foundation and Shwetal Patel, Co-Ordinator (Exhibitions) of the KBF  

It is a sunny morning in Fort Kochi. A breeze is blowing from the Arabian Sea. Inside the Aspinwall House, the premier venue of the 2014 Kochi Muziris Biennale, a man is banging a nail into a piece of wood. At another side another worker is using a metal cutter, which is creating a shrieking noise.

One can see empty paint cans, wooden planks, and a large crate, encased in plastic, which contains the works of artist Arun KS, which has come all the way from Sante Fe, California, USA. A sticker at one side says, 'Protect from the elements' and has a drawing of raindrops falling on an umbrella.

Along a pathway, Divya Jain has placed her camera on a tripod and is looking through the lens. Standing next to her is Raj Shekhar Kundu, in a red T-shirt and blue jeans. They are students of the Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore. “We are doing a video installation of how the art works links to the Biennale sites,” says Divya.

Standing near them is architect Vinu Daniel, wearing sunglasses. His company is making an umbrella pavilion, where the talks and seminars will take place. “The walls and the sloping roof will be a mix of a mesh, concrete, and jute sacks,” he says. The design looks unique. At one side, there is a gallery where people can sit and the other end curves upwards and becomes part of the roof.

In a ground floor hall, Indian artist Parvathi Menon is overseeing workmen as they install fluorescent lights. A few printouts of her poems have been pasted on the walls. One of her works, a remarkable pencil drawing, part of her installation called 'Fluidity of Horizons', is already up on one of the walls.

The artist, who looks casually elegant in a white T-shirt and jeans, suddenly smiles and says, “I am all excited to be taking part in this Biennale, because my roots are in Kerala.”

On the first floor, in another building, Malayali artist Sunoj D is putting up his installation, 'Zero To The Right'. Sunoj is converting $2000 into Dirhams and Indian rupees. “The dollars are being marked in lines as bunches of five, dirhams as single lines, whereas the Indian rupees 1,25,427 (in exchange rate) are being marked as dots,” he says. “An audio recording will call out these numbers in Arabic, Malayalam and English. I am trying to show the relative value of money.”

He is being helped by volunteer Irma Christ, a German artist and teacher. “I am travelling all over Asia,” she says. “I never knew a Biennale is about to take place in Kochi. But now I am helping out Sunoj. I don't know how long I will stay, but I am loving it here.”

She breaks out into a wide smile, when a Biennale volunteer introduces himself as Clins. “It is a short form for Klinsmann (the great German footballer),” says Clins. “My uncle is a fan.” Irma says, “Klinsi is going to love it that somebody has been named after him in a land so far away.”

On the first floor of the Pepper House, Delhi-based artist Sumakshi Singh has hung long sheets of paper, in which plants are drawn. They have been taken from the 'Hortus Malabaricus' (1693), a book written by Dutchman Hendrik van Rheede, the then Governor of Malabar, about the flora in Kerala. “I have exhibited all over the world, but the Pepper House is such an unique setting,” she says. “Look at the wooden beams, and the tiled roofs. This place has personality!”

Indded, not only Pepper House, but Fort Kochi has personality. Edgar Pinto, the propreitor of the Old Harbour hotel says, “We will expect a lot of art lovers from all over the world during the Biennale,” he says. “Big and small hotels and homestays will benefit collectively. In the end, there will be a positive impact on the local economy. We are excited about it.” 

Members of the foreign media are also getting excited about the event, which will be inaugurated on December 12. 

Zehra Jumabhoy, contributor to Artforum International Magazine, New York, says, “I loved the first iteration of the Kochi Biennale, and am excited about the second one. Yes, Kochi is an established Biennale in the art world, but two swallows don't make a summer. I hope there will be more Biennales after this one.” 

Dr. Sabine B. Vogel, a freelance art critic for the daily newspaper ‘Die Presse’ in Vienna, says, “I expect site-specific artworks which deal with the local context. Kochi got onto the map of the global art community with the first fantastic biennale and I am excited to see the second edition. The sites, along the waterfront, give such a special atmosphere. And Kochi is such an extraordinary place!”

The Kochi Biennalle Foundation (KBF) office is also an extraordinary hive of activity. In the courtyard of the rented bungalow, Shwetal Patel, Co-ordinator- Exhibitions, is walking around conversing animatedly on the mobile phone to a BMW company representative. “It's super-hectic now,” he says, as his 40 plus colleagues sit in large rooms, looking at laptops and taking calls. “But it will be ready on time. Biennales are fragile things, but this one is artist-driven and I am sure it will produce unique results.” 

Shwetal spoke of the groundswell of support and goodwill shown by the local people. “That is heartening,” he says. But Chief Operating Officer PM Sirajuddin admits that funds are tight. He also admitted that the loans given by artists like KBF Directors Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu for the previous Biennale have yet to be repaid. “But I am expecting a good support from the state government,” he says. “We will tide over the tough times. The Biennale will be a success.” 

(A shorter version was published in the Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)