Remembering the Mahatma

Sarvodaya International Trust, Andhra Pradesh Chapter, presented a cultural tribute to Mahatma at Indira Priyadarshini Auditorium.

Gandhi Jayanthi Celebrations of Sarvodaya International Trust had bhajan recital by Trichur Brothers followed by a play ‘The Prophet and the Poet’ (based on the exchange of letters between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore) directed by Vijay Padaki and presented by Academy of Theatre, Bangalore Little Theatre.

In his address, the Chief Guest, Padma Shri Jagdish Mittal recalled how while studying art at Santiniketan he met the Mahatma when he was visiting the premier institution. The other Chief Guest Gita Karan distributed prizes to students for the competitions held earlier.

The Trichur Brothers, Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan, sons of Mridangam Vidwan Trichur R. Mohan, began their short recital with Ganesha Pancharatnam “Mudakaratha modakam”... followed by Thyagaraja’s Pancharatna kriti “Endaro Mahanubhavu” in Sri Ragam. They rendered Gandhiji’s favourite bhajan “Raghupati Raghava Rajaram” in a concise and slightly different way. After a Malayalam patriotic song “Vande Bharatambe”, the brothers delineated raga Desh mellifluously and picked up “Vande Mataram” from ‘Subhrajyotsna....’ Besides the raga alapana, the brothers also displayed their ingenuity in the kalpanaswaras too in Desh. The rendition of “Vande Mataram” was a befitting finale to their concert.

The play, The Prophet and the Poet, began with sound glitches and finally the mikes had to be done away with. It began with an audio visual displaying the letters between Gurudev and Mahatma as they used to address each other. Sanjeev Aiyar and Abhijeet Ganguly read the letters and enacted the parts of Gandhi (Prophet) and Tagore (Poet) respectively, while Aparna was the narrator in between. The play touched upon different aspects of their relation, the mutual admiration for each other, their views, attitudes etc. It also had some music – tunes of “Ekla chalo re”, “Abide with me” and “Vaishnava Janatho” (the last two being Gandhiji’s favourite hymn and bhajan) playing in appropriate places. If only the sound system was in place the play would have been better as the audibility would have been good. In future the organisers may pay attention to such basic necessities while arranging such fine programmes!