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Culture hub's habba
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Bangalore Habba is round the corner. This time, there's even a Pre-Habba to prepare you for the mega event, writes BHUMIKA K.
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Bangalore Habba promises to be a feast for the cultural senses. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash
HABBA. THE very word has a festive ring to it. While it conjures up colourful images of light, food, and merriment, Bangalore Habba also promises to be a feast for the cultural senses. And yes, like in any habba, there's a lot of preparing to do.
Bangalore's hit cultural festival, Bangalore Habba, will take off for the second year on December 5. And preparing people in Bangalore (and those coming to the city) for the spirit of the festival, will be a Pre-Habba starting November 29 to lead up to the Habba.
Now, that's a first we've heard! A Pre-Habba.
But I guess that's a sign of the globalisation of Bangalore, its international flavour, of the potpourri of people that form the melting pot of the city and its cosmopolitan culture.
Things to come
Director of the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Eric Rousseau, explains the spirit of Pre-Habba: "A lot of people in Bangalore from the international community would like to participate in the Bangalore Habba, but may not have a clear idea about what the festival is about and what is happening. The Pre-Habba programme will help them appreciate better, the art and culture of India and Karnataka." Eric recalls his own experience at the Bangalore Habba last year, when he tried absorbing so much that was happening around him, but was not familiar with the artistes and the art forms.
Alliance Francaise this year has taken on the mammoth task of bringing together the international community, and invites anyone in Bangalore, including hard-core Bangaloreans, interested to attend their Pre-Habba programme organised in association with Artistes' Foundation for the Arts (the engine drawing Bangalore Habba). Talks, interactive sessions, a movement art presentation and an eco parade will form part of this programme. Introductions to Bangalore Habba, Kannada literature, classical dance, Indian music, Indian fashion, Indian cinema and theatre, Indian literature in English, and urbanisation of Bangalore are some of the subjects that they hope will help people get the hang of things.
Danseuse Padmini Ravi, managing trustee of the Artistes' Foundation for the Arts, cheers on the idea of the Pre-Habba, because she feels the international community also has a feeling of belonging in Bangalore. She and a group of like-minded artistes such as Nandini Alva launched the idea of the Bangalore Habba last year. Padmini explains how the Habba started. "Artistes like me and many others were at a point in life where we didn't want to do anything for ourselves. We felt that the younger generation either did not relate to our art scene or it was just not a priority. Our idea was to rejuvenate Bangalore's cultural ethos."
Quoting examples of cities such as London and New York that are commercial and cultural capitals, forever abuzz with cultural extravaganzas all the year round, she says Bangalore was getting a bit lop-sided with the "commercial" tag emerging predominantly.
"We have no idea of the number of people from the international community in Bangalore, but we have met people from the Ivory Coast, Spain, Morocco, France, Korea, Germany, Russia, Japan, China and many other countries who live here. Very often, they encounter names and places they don't know. They come and ask us `What do we read to know India better?' We are only trying to bridge that gap, with such programmes," says Eric. So you can listen to U.R. Ananthamurthy talk on Kannada literature or watch Attakalari's Jayachandran perform contemporary dance at the Pre-Habba. (Entry is free for all the talks at Alliance.)
Celebrating creativity
Breathe is the eco fun parade organised on December 5 to allow people to celebrate Bangalore creatively. People can dress up, express, do up or make-up vehicles, and take off on this parade around the Vidhana Soudha and surrounding areas on traffic-free roads either on foot, bicycle or "any transport that does not run on engines" to show their appreciation for Bangalore's environment. Prizes as whacky as a "flight for two to Paris and back" will be given to the most creative ideas.
For details on the Pre-Habba programmes and eco-parade, call 22258762/51231340.
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