Chandigarh Festival Season

Written by Anurag Bhateja on October 26, 2009 – 11:06 am -

Every year, from Diwali i.e. in Oct/Nov to March, Chandigarh gets loaded with festivals. This last weekend I attended three different unique fests which bound me to write about them. First of all in Tagore theater, there was a theater fest in which artists from different part of India came and performed. I, unfortunately, was able to attend only one play which was “Havalat” an Indian play performed by artists of Allahabad. The play was based on the story of three friends who do not have the three basic needs of life i.e. Food, Shelter and Cloth. They tried to go to jail (Havalat in Hindi) to get all the three things for free. The story is based on how they tried to convince the police officer that they are criminals. It was full of satire, a bit of comedy and a message. The message to see around and think how lucky we are to have all these three things in our life.

Saturday was a no work day. It was actually a no work day and I relaxed like anything after a long long time. I knew Sunday is going to be very busy as I have to attend a photowalk followed by Gurdas Mann Night. Photowalk was at Kalagram where Art And Craft fest is on for 8 more days. I got some pretty good shots there. In the eve I attended the long awaited GURDAS MANN NIGHT. The night was organized by Dainik Bhaskar. It was a real time fun and dream come true to see a living legend performing live in front of eyes. That man is so much full of energy that the whole crowd of 15k people just blew the place with hooting and every single damn person was dancing there on his tunes. The song “Challa” which I think every Punjabi must be aware of, was a blast for the crowd. The thing is, such experience you can not describe in words. You have to be there to feel it.

Anyway, I am back to work now and will try to get some good tutorials today for my readers. :)

Take care and keep looking for more fest coverage as Chandigarh will now see another theater fest followed by a number of garden festivals. So be in touch and keep reading ;) ENJOY :)




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Posted in Festivals And Concerts | No Comments »

The Thirty Buggy Day – Day 1

Written by Anurag Bhateja on September 25, 2009 – 12:48 pm -

day1 What can I say, delighted, happy, proud of walking so much ;) hehe. Anyway, let me describe the whole experience. i woke up at 7:00 AM as I was aware of the fact that going early to click bugs will result in ZERO output as there will not be enough light. I reached at Fragrance Garden sector 36 Chandigarh at around 8:15 AM and got my camera out set it according to the light conditions. I remember days when I mess myself a lot to get the proper setting for manual mode but as per now, practice has give me 10% confidence on my light calculations. Rest 90% will come as I go further with more and more self assignments after these 30 days.

When I entered the garden, I saw SO many people there which made me a little conscious but as I moved further looking for my subject, I almost forgot about the presence of “humans” there hehe. The first group of bugs which I came across were super sensitive. I am saying this because if I even move a single step they all fly together and then suddenly hide in the bushes so perfectly that I was not able to see them. After banging my head finding these little champs, I gave up and moved forward.

As I kept on moving on the side trail of the park, I came across one garden lizard, few ants, some common bugs and lot of people looking curiously on my work. As I am not going to be on the same place tomorrow, I didn’t even bother to look at them ;).

When I reached to the end of the park, I was empty handed with very little shots. A bit disappointed at tired like anything, I decided to come back. While on back trail, I found the delight which included dragonflies, butterflies, jewel beetle, wasp ( missed the shot). Happy and delighted, I came back home after completing the first day of my assignment. The day was a lesson for me as I thought these bugs are becoming a bit friendly to me but they flew very quickly.

Hoping for the best for the second day, I am closing the post :)

In photograph:
A: Jewel Beetle (Ref No: TTBD1A)
B: Spider (Ref No: TTBD1B)
C: Garden Lizard (The bug eater) (Ref No: TTBD1C)
D: Butterfly (Ref No: TTBD1D)
E: Dragon Fly (Ref No: TTBD1E)
F: Unknown :( (Ref No: TTBD1F)




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Posted in Photography Assignments | 6 Comments »

Play Review : Bawli By Group Virasat

Written by Anurag Bhateja on September 14, 2009 – 11:29 am -

3 On Sunday 13 2009, after a long time I went to see a play with a friend Gautam, performed by theater group Virasat of Chandigarh. The name of the play was “Bawli”. There were three characters in the story, Janki (Played by Vandana Vashisht), Anand (Played by Asif Ali) and Diwakar (Played by Chakresh Kumar). The story of the play ran around these three characters showing the problems faced by old people in their life when their children leave home for their own “good”. The name of the son of Janki was “Apporva a.k.a Appu”. Anand a.k.a Ananda is paying guest of Janki and Diwakar is the house keeper. He is in the family since he was 12-13 of age.

Apporva has left the home when his father died few years back. Janki unknowingly see her son in Anand and Anand, just to make sure that Janki do not feel alone, played the role of her son. Though, Anand does not make Janki to know about the absence of her son, but due to this role, his life is almost on the verge of ending. He tries again and again to end this thing but as Apporva is not there, he plays the role again and again.

You can also feel the problems faced by Apoorva in his life but even then leaving his mother alone is not a good thing to do. On the other hand, Janki wants to be with her son but she also wants to live on her own rules.The overall presentation of the play is worth watching.

Cast and Crew:
1. Vandana Vashisht (Janki and director of the play)
2. Asif Ali (Anand and writer of the play)
3. Chakresh Kumar (Diwakar)
4. Kabul (Music)
5. Dinesh Kumar (Lights)
6. Lalit Chandra (Prop and Costumes)
7. Niresh Kumar and Himanshu Dwivedi (Production Controller)
8. Gaurav Sharma (Set Design)




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Posted in Theater / Play | 3 Comments »

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