Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site CS-Mordred Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!bala 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)