A decade in Toronto - 20

Che

A number of global legends from diverse spheres passed on into history in 2014, among them were Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Richard Attenborough, Robin Williams. 

All of them contributed to deepening our understanding and appreciation of the arts. Marquez is unquestionably one of the best novelists of all times. 

If you’re interested in reading about what I wrote when he passed away, click here: Marquez

Similarly, Attenborough contributed to a better appreciation of Mahatma Gandhi achievements and contributions to making the world a better place. Attenborough’s Gandhi was a cinematic masterpiece and deservedly swept the Oscars in 1982 (unfortunately, Spielberg’s ET lost out). Gandhi the movie introduced the Mahatma to a global audience especially to a younger demographic. 

Che and Mahrukh

Attenborough was also a consummate actor and admired by the discerning moviegoer for his portrayal of General James Outram in Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977).

Robin Williams acted in too many good movies, making it difficult to pinpoint his best. But I believe that he will be remembered for his portrayal of John Keating, the English teacher, who adopts unusual methods to teach his students' poetry and understand life better in Dead Poets Society (1989).

The list also included two individuals who were well known in their spheres and who I could claim to have known personally – Chelva Kanaganayakan and Vasu Chanchlani. Coincidentally, both passed away at a relatively young age of 62 and both were immensely active.

Vasu Chanchlani was among the most prosperous Indo-Canadians and a person deeply committed to philanthropy. His prosperity hadn’t changed his innate decency. He approached me to do a write-up on his nomination for the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award.

Che and Durga

What I found endearing about him was that he never let his wealth determine his relationships, or his identity. He’d happily accompany me to an ordinary Indian restaurant near the Chamber’s office and agreed to take turns to pay.

I got to know Chelva because of my association with the Festival of South Asian Literature and Arts. We were both members of the core group that worked to organize the festival curated by MG Vassanji and Nurjehan Aziz.

Read about him here: Chelva Kanaganayakan

With Mahrukh

Asghar Ali Engineer made a name for himself for his resolute opposition to religious fundamentalism. He passed away in 2013. As a journalist in Bombay, I’d come in close contact with him. On a couple of occasions, I’d gone over to his modest home in Santacruz East near Golibar to discuss current affairs. 

In the mid-1980s, his Centre for Study of Society and Secularism had published a report of the unstated but obvious bias against Muslims in finding jobs in the private sector. I’d taken views of a cross-section of influencers on the report. 

The best reaction had come from Datta Samant, the fiery trade union leader, famous for the textile strike of 1982. Samant looked at me quizzically when I asked him whether employers discriminated against Muslims. “They will exploit everyone. They don’t care about their workers’ religion.”

Engineer continued to be active, but we lost touch when I quit journalism in the late 1990s. 

When I went to Bombay in 2014, I made it a point to visit his Santacruz office. I took Che with me to introduce my son to the significance of a person such as Engineer and his contribution to ensuring that fundamentalism is challenged.

As a matter of principle, I have not told my son what dogma (religious/ideological) he should follow (I'll be happy if he doesn't follow any). I believe every human being has the right to choose, or better still, not choose at all. I believe that every human being has the right to not be indoctrinated, especially by family,  culture, upbringing and rigid family values. 

Where I make an exception is to tell him to be on the side of the oppressed. Engineer and his kind always stood (and stand) with the oppressed.

Unfortunately or fortunately, Che doesn’t remember that we visited Engineer’s office and met his son Irfan Engineer who has continued to do all the good work that his father initiated, and in his efforts, he’s been joined by Ram Puniyani, a former IIT professor, who even during his teaching days, was a resolute activist fighting the good cause of secularism.

Read about Asghar Ali Engineer here: Striving for Peace and Harmony

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My journey to discover authors and poets continued and I assisted  Meenakshi Alimchandani in organizing the South Asian component of the first (and last) Inspire Toronto International Book Fair. It was a great event, where the who’s who of Toronto’s literary world congregated to discuss what they know best – reading, writing, and books.

Meenakshi had her favourite South Asian authors for the panel discussion and included friends such as Jasmine D’Costa, Manjushree Thapa, Anirudh Bhattacharya, and the effervescent Pricilla Uppal, who succumbed to cancer earlier this year. 

Read about it here: Inspire

My friends Yoko Morgenstern and Joyce Wayne published their debut novels in 2014. Yoko’s Double Exile was released in July when I’d left for India. Joyce’s The Cook’s Temptation was launched at our common friend Sang Kim’s restaurant Wind-Up Bird Café (named after Haruki Murakami’s novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Joyce’s second novel, Last Night of the World (published in 2018) is one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time.

With Yoko

Read their interviews:

Yoko Morgenstern

Joyce Wayne

For a brief while, Sang’s restaurant became a hotspot for literary dos and attracted an esoteric group of people all of whom shared their love for great food and great books. Sang, an award-winning author, is these days pursuing his passion for creating exquisite cuisines. 

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Except the last photo with Yoko, the other photos are not connected to the blog. I've just placed them here because they were clicked in 2014, and Che looks smart in them.

Professor Chelva Kanaganayakan

Professor Chelva Kanaganayakan passed away in Montreal Saturday 22 November 2014. He was 62.

The first time I saw him was at TSAR’s fall launch in 2009, when his English translations of Tamil poems was released. Subsequently, I got to know him better when MG Vassanji invited me join the managing committee of the Festival of South Asian Literature and Arts (FSALA) that is now called the Toronto Festival of Literature and the Arts.

I met him formally in 2010. Vassanji had called for a meeting at his place, and just before the meeting was to begin, he remembered he had to pick up his son from the airport. So, Chelva and I, meeting for the first time, both guests of one of Canada's preeminent authors, chatted for an hour about literature in the absence of our host. 

Chelva spoke of new writing in India, especially since the 1980s to the present. We discussed Allan Sealy, who Chelva thought deserved more attention that he had got. When you are in the company of someone who is both knowledgeable and erudite, time loses its meaning. By the time Vassanji returned home with Kabir, Chelva and I had become good buddies.

During the festival Chelva contributed with ideas, arranged for the different venues, and was instrumental in getting eminent authors and film makers from South Asia to participate in the festival, these included, among others, Mahesh Dattani, the eminent Indian playwright; and Prasanna Vithanage, the Sri Lankan filmmaker.  He was also instrumental in getting Hari Krishnan’s InDance involved with the festival, and getting Dalbir Singh, his student, to interview Girish Karnad and Mahesh Dattani in 2011.

The literary festival got together highly individualistic bunch of people to work together. This inevitably led to friction. At the end of the 2011 festival, Chelva threw up his hands; he had had enough, he had decided to quit the committee. When I heard about it, I wrote to him the following note:

Hi Chelva,

I cannot claim to be your friend, but over the last year or so that I've come to know you a bit better, I've begun to respect you as a person. I knew about your professional and literary achievements in a very general sort of way till FSALA-11, and then I heard you recite poetry and deliver a speech. I was particularly impressed with your rendition of Cheran’s poetry in English...

You make scholarship and creativity sit lightly on your shoulders, which I think is a mark of any extraordinary human being. You prefer to be in the background, even while you make sure everything falls into place and works.

Chelva, this long and meandering preamble may confuse you and try your patience, so let me come straight to the point. I want you to reconsider your decision to quit FSALA organising committee. If there is anything I can do to change your mind on your decision, I’d be more than happy to do so.

I cannot imagine FSALA without you, so please don't quit. I look forward to a positive response from you.

Thanks.

Mayank

He responded immediately:

Dear Mayank:

Thanks very much for your kind words. They mean a lot to me. And the feeling is mutual. You tread lightly, but you have been a very important presence. And you are a good friend.

My intention in writing the note was simply that I was finding it increasingly difficult to budget my time. But your point is well taken. I will continue to be part of the team although during session time, I might not be able to attend meetings regularly.

With warm wishes,

Chelva

After the 2013 festival, everyone was tired and nobody wanted to take the initiative to start the preparations for the 2015 edition. I met Chelva at the Munk Centre when Mahesh Dattani was in Toronto last year to release his book Me and My Plays. He insisted that we should start working for the 2015 edition, and galvanized everyone to work together.

We met at Sawitri Theatre Group’s stage shows, and on occasions at the Munk Centre, where he would critique an insightful dissertation on postcolonial literature. I met him a few weeks ago when I attended the performance of Dance Like a Man.

Yesterday, Vassanji informed me of his appointment as the Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (the highest literary recognition in Canada), and we planned to have a small get together to celebrate his achievement.

In the evening, Chelva left us forever, without even a goodbye.

He will be missed. 

Also read: http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=37499 

Mahesh Dattani festival in Toronto

Mahesh Dattani (l) and Girish Karnad (r),
interviewed by Dalbir Singh (c) at 2011 edition of
Toronto Festival of South Asian Literature & the Arts

Koi Pun Ek Phool Nu Naam Bolo, is a Gujarati play by Madhu Rye (better known to non-Gujarati audience as the writer of Aushtosh Gowarikar’s 2009 film What’s Your Rashee where Priyanka Chopra enacted 12 roles). 

A young Mahesh Dattani accompanied his parents to see the play in Bangalore as a child, and was awestruck. 

“Anything that can shut up a thousand Gujaratis has to be impressive,” the playwright recalled at talk he gave at Toronto’s Munk Centre last week.

The talk – Me & My Plays – was based on his forthcoming memoir (to be published by Penguin, which has also published Mahesh’s collected works in two volumes). Chelva Kanaganayakam, the former head of Centre for South Asian Studies, who chaired the session, introduced Mahesh.

A seminar on his plays Staging Identity Across Nation, Family and Sexuality in the Work of Mahesh Dattani preceded the talk. Speakers included Anindo Hazra, Margaret Herrick, Rahul Sapra, and Naisargi Dave. The Centre for South Asian Studies and the Asian Institute organized the Munk Centre program.

Mahesh’s talk was deeply personal and yet very objective. He spoke of his passion for dance, his gurus and the discipline they inspired in him, the role of his mentor Alyque Padamsee and Lillete Dubey in his success, his zeal to give voice to a voiceless people.

I’ll not report on the talk here. We’d rather wait for his memoir due early next year.

Towards the conclusion of his hour-long talk, Mahesh said he feels most connected to three of his creations – Dancing Like a Man (1989), Morning Raga (2004), and Where did I leave my Purdah (2013) - these creations encompass his love for dance, music and theatre.

“They form my triptych,” he said.

With the playwright

Overcoming my general reticence, I said the plays that really form his triptych, plays that he will really be remembered for are Final Solutions (1993), On a Muggy Night in Mumbai (1998), Seven Steps Round The Fire (1998) all of which evocatively deal with the issue of minorities (religion, sexual orientation, gender).

Mahesh admitted he hadn’t really thought of them as such, but agreed that they do form a unit.

Last week turned out to be an embarrassment of riches for the Dattani fans. Thursday the Sawitri Theatre Group staged Seven Steps Round the Fire, originally a radio play.

Bhanji &Sawant

Directed by Christina Collins, the play, which brings to life the in between world of India's  transgender hijra community, was enlivened by bravura performances by Jasmine Sawant (Champa) and other members of the cast that included Farah Bhanji (Uma Rao), Siddhant Sawant (Munswamy), Amit Mohan (Anarkali), Aryan Ahuja (Suresh Rao), Naimesh Nanavaty (Mr. Sharma, construction worker, and beggar), Shafik Kamani (Salim, prisoner, hijra at intersection), Andrew Ravindran (Subbu, prisoner, hijra at Champa's), Ivana Bittnerova (Kamla, hijra at Champa's and sweeper), Nicole Balsam (bride).

Sawitri's actors lived the characters. The performances were uniformly superior, a major feat for the group considering nearly all the actors have a day job, and do theatre because they love the art form. The play was originally meant for the radio, and so didn't need any major props. What makes the production memorable is the nuanced understanding of each character and the motivation that each of them have to do what they do, leading to a tragic climax. 

The minimalist stage design, depending more on the lighting, enabled the audience to directly connect with the characters on the stage, and moreover, enabled for a smoother flow of the narrative. 

The technical credits include: Nitin Sawant, Producer; Joe Pagnon, Set and Lighting design; Shruti Shah, Costume; Brooklyn Doran, Stage Manager; Keyoor Shah, Technical Manager.  Dancers at Wedding: David Primeau, courtesy Shiamak Davar Dance Company - He also plays 'other hijra rehearsing at Champa's. Sachel Metoo of Samsara Dance Company and Namita Dandekar.

Sawitri Theatre Group’s repertoire of staging Dattani plays also includes Where There is a Will (1988) which was staged last December.

Then, Friday evening, University of Toronto’s the Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies, in collaboration with the Centre for South Asian Studies and the Centre for Comparative Literature organized a staged reading of Mahesh The Big Fat City (2013).

The play is about a couple who are facing imminent eviction from their flat in Mumbai for missing multiple mortgage payments, and involves a banker friend, a television actor whose career is on the decline, a paying guest, her lover and in an unexpected climax the paying guest’s brother.

It examines the crass superficiality of the middle class social climbers in a housing society in Mumbai.

Mahesh directed the staged reading, Dalbir Singh was the sutradhar. The performers included: Rebecca Biason, Christine Mazumdar, Jaleel Siddiqui, Shak Haksa, Brian de la Franier, Mirabella Sundar Singh, Aaditya Aggarwal, and Sally Jones.

Mahesh Dattani was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his Final Solutions (1992-93). 

For an academic study of Mahesh's work, see Bipin Parmar's thesis here:

ACritical Study of Dramatic Works of Mahesh Dattani

Images: FSALA-2011, Sawitri Theatre Group & Dalbir Singh