Awash in Colours- Hauntingly Beautiful Music and Dance of India

These days, Delhi is host to numerous dance, music , culture and art festivals. I attended one such event a few days back on Janpath at Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts. If you happen to be in Delhi at the time of reading this post, do make it a point to visiting the event.Welcome to the colours of India, welcome to life!

Your India travel itinerary would be incomplete without touching base in Delhi and heading off to a marvellous place called Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts on the Janpath.

Janpath is a short distance away from Rajiv Chowk or Connaught Place, the heart of Delhi and you will have to take a cab to reach that place.Else, put up your backpack and simply walk down to this amazing place.

As part of my India Travel Blogs, this post is dedicated to the art and craft of India.

Fun, all the way

Have you heard about  Swang? Well, it is a dance cum drama form that tells a short story and the participants or characters are dressed in disguise. Often, the stories are mythological in nature or are legends. However, of late, the stories have become more social oriented.

This dance   is about a young married woman who is unhappy because her husband is away. She is not interested in her worldly possessions. Notice the riot of colours in this dance performance.However, I must admit, the dance is so full of vigour that the lady does not look disappointed!

A Canadian woman joins in the fun!

A young visitor from Canada cannot hold herself from having some fun!

 By the way all the characters are all men! Enjoy the dance by clicking on the link below;

I had my own share of fun when I decided to have a selfie with a participant.Click on the link below this image to enjoy some thrilling dance moves!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXWdd5HNOxk&feature=youtu.be

Swang as a dance form is immensely popular in North India.

From Nagaland with love!

From North India let us swing to the North Eastern part of the country.Featured below is a Naga dancer in his  attire.Click this link to enjoy the performance.In fact, some of our people like the Nagas resemble the Native American people !

Nagaland is famous for its own Hornbill festival, so if you plan to stay on in India for a very long time, Nagaland is the place to go to!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hBSED-nE5c&feature=youtu.be

A Naga dancer in his costume

Colours of Rajasthan

Northwest India, though a tough place to live in , has some very colourful people and one of the states that I am taloking about is Rajasthan.I wandered into an artiste dressed up as Ravana, one of the central figures of Ramayana, one of the greatest epics of the world. This Ravana is sporting some really cool shades.

You also run into a serene  but smiling Krishna, the central figure from Mahabharata, the other great epic of India and the world. Mr. Akram, from Jaipur plays the role of Lord Krishna and is waiting for his performance to begin.Even as I speak, he doesn’t abandon his beatfic smile, probably that is why, he has landed up this plum role.

The Indian Classic

If I did not share with you the breathtaking performance of of our South Indian people, I would be doing injustice to this post.An image  of the popular dance form of Bharatnatyam!

Bharatnatyam is one of the ancient dance forms of the world.

Enjoy this dance by clicking on this link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-jJp-TGEp8&feature=youtu.be

And speaking of Rajasthan, how can we miss out talking about its puppets and their stories.Meet Mr. Raj Kr. Bhat who runs Shahil Dance Group and is a traditional folk artist.He is available at 8860747834.His youtube link is 49281welcomedance_anilbhatt .Here is him. I wanted to photograph his entire family but, traditions got the better of them and they refused to get photographed!

He is a kind soul and I wish him all the good luck in this world.

Also, savour this; a group of young children trying to recycle used paper and stationery into something useful!