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From: bala@CS-Mordred (Bala Krishnamurthy)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Festival of India
Message-ID: <266@CS-Mordred>
Date: Tue, 2-Jul-85 23:14:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: CS-Mordr.266
Posted: Tue Jul  2 23:14:23 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 4-Jul-85 00:39:24 EDT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
Lines: 49


This past weekend I went to D.C. with a bunch of Purdue-ites to see the
Festival of India. It was a blast. If you can go to D.C., I strongly urge
you to do so. Apparently the majority of artistes/artisans are going back
to India and are unlikely to go to the 80 cities that the exhibits are
going to go.

Basically, there are 3 parts to the exhibition. The best was "Mela: An
Indian Fair", complete with magicians, acrobats, puppeteers, Mehndi
decorators (Mehndi is Henna, a dye applied to hands - different
patterns can be drawn on the hand - lasts about 2 or 3 weeks - really
pretty), Garlandmakers (this guy was from Mylapore, Madras, and moaned the
absence of "nice" flowers - they had flown hibiscus and orchids from
Hawaii), trick photographers, folk dancers. Btw, the Jalebi was great.
This is being held at the National Mall (between 12th and 14th streets)
and will end July 7. (free admission)

The second is "Aditi: A Celebration of Life" (Aditi signifies the creative
power and is a Sanskrit word). A variety of objects are on display along
with live performances by craftsmen and performing artists. Singers and
balladeers from Rajasthan, artists from Thanjavur painting on glass,
potters from Sathamangalam, painters from Orissa (a 13 year old wiz among
them) all add to this fascinating exhibition.
This is at the National Museum of Natural History (across from the
Mela) and will end July 28. (11 a.m. to 5 p.m. - free admission)

The third was "The Sculpture of India" - at the National Gallery of Art
(East Wing) - a delightful collection of exquisite sculpture from various
parts of India over a wide time period. 

There are several other exhibitions, film shows, lectures, dances going on
- plan on spending at least 2 (maybe 3) days. 

On my way back to Purdue I stopped off at Pittsburgh. The S.V. temple had
the complete schedule of the festival but did not have any copies that I
could take home. Maybe someone from Pittsburgh area can try and post a
copy of the schedule. Parts of the exhibitions will move around various
cities over a period of 18 months. (e.g. Chicago has the Festival of
Science).

Cheers,
bala


Balachander Krishnamurthy	bala@purdue	        (ever reliable ARPA)
Dept. of Computer Science	bala.purdue@csnet-relay  (reliable CSNET)
Purdue University		decvax!purdue!bala 	(semi reliable usenet)
W. Lafayette IN 47907		317-494-7765		 (um.., well.. er GTE)