The Making of Laterite

The aesthetics of the Sublime

Baisa ra Beera (Translation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-RRb9MqDs
Folk Song in Marwari, fused with Assamese
Produced by Coke Studio
Performed by Papon and Kalpana Patowari

Here is a translation of the Marwari parts of the song:



बाई सा रा बीरा म्हने 
पीहरिए ले चालो सा 
पीहरिए री म्हने ओलु आवे 

Baisa ra beera mhane
Pihariye le chalo sa
Pihariye ri mhane olu aawe

Oh sister-in-law's dear brother
Take me to my maiden's home
I am feeling very homesick

धणी अलबेलो बदिला
नैनी मतवाली नार
सासरिए में काईं  दुख पायो?
माइन तो थारी म्हासे पानीड़ो भरवाए सा
पतली कमर महारी लुड़ लुड़ जाए

Dhani albelo badila
Naini matwali naar
Sasariya mein kayin dukh paayo?
Maayin to thaari mhase panido bharwaaye sa
Patli kamar mhari lud lud jaai

Your husband is such a handsome guy
You seem such a sensuous and beautiful woman
What trouble do you find in your husband's place?
Your mother keeps telling me all the time to fill water in the vessels
and my delicate waistline is losing away to the chores


पानी रे खातिर थारे 
पानिहरि लगवा दूँ रे 
पतली कमर काइयाँ लुड़ लुड़ जाए?
बहनल तो थारी महासे आड़ा टेढ़ा बोले सा 
ब्याका बोल म्हने नई भावे 

Paani re khatir thare
Panihari lagwa du re
Patali kamar kaiyaan lud lud jaaye!?
Behnal to thari mhase aada tedha bole sa
Byaka bol mhane nai bhaave

For your water woes,
I will have a water-maid
How then will your waist hurt
Your sister is always talking to me in a crooked way
I can not tolerate her words

---
Assamese here

Gokulä maaje
Ajihe gokulä maaje
Modhurä muruli baaje
Nanderä nändänä
Bräjerä jibänä
Phaguräe khelanu khelaai
Baaje dhool baaje khol
Holir uthise rol
Säräne nupurä baaje
---

बहनल तो महारी हरियल
बागां की कोयलिया
थोड़ा दिन रेवे पछे, उडी उडी जाए
थैं तो बाता का लोभी
समझो ना समझावां सूं
थारी समझ में नई आवे

Behnal to mhari hariyal
Baaga ki koyaliyaa
Thoda din rehwe paache udi udi jaae
Thain to baatan ka lobhi
Samjho na samjhaya sun
Tharee samajh mein nayee aawe!


My sister is simply young
Just like a koyal in the garden
She is going to be here for a small while then fly away (after marriage)
You are just a man of words
You will not understand on explaining
You will not get what I am ever saying!


Note:
The word 'Dhani' may (have) suffer(ed in the song) a translation error. Dhani in Pure Hindi would be pronounced (धनी ) which would mean wealthy, however, in marwari, Dhani would be pronounced as (धणी ) which means husband. The song being a conversation between a husband and wife, the second reading makes complete sense, and has been used here as final.

Similarly, in the last paragraph, the word "baatan ka" (of words) must have been misunderstood as "pataaka" (crakers) which actually doesn't make much sense. I have edited it for my own understanding and haven't referred it to any records.

Essential Differences

On Language

...Then we both said, in effect simultaneously: 'the fact is, they just don't speak the same language.'

...when we come to say 'we just don't speak the same language' we mean something more general: that we have different immediate values or different kinds of valuation, or that we are aware, often intangibly, of different formations and distributions of energy and interest.

 -Raymond Williams in Introduction, Keywords

Stories of Water: Mandu

Why Write?

City Centre Mall, Kolkata

This writing is an excerpt from an old essay written in 2007. The writing has been amended for brevity here.

--

The City Centre, Kolkata, one of the latter projects of the architect Charles Correa (completed in 2004), was conceived as a convergence of functionality and aesthetics. The architect has tried to bring in the organic nature in the shopping mall by an innovative re-interpretation of an Indian market. Instead of bringing up a large chunk of building on an otherwise large land, the City Centre has been broken up into smaller fragments of forms interlinked by small bridges, courtyards and semi open spaces. Such a strategy not only makes the mall environmentally friendly, but also develops a character which is so typical of any Indian bazaar.

The idea of mall being an introvert, closed environment has been deconstructed and the place has been developed as porous organization of simple forms. On entering, the architect decides to give multiple experiences to the user by placing a kund and taking the user upwards through a flight of steps to create a sense of ghat, which traditionally has been a meeting place for people in Kolkata. The culmination of the experience of the entrance is its dissolution into the numerous streets of the bazaar. The public spaces within the otherwise conditioned space of the mall have been brought out in the open, which users can occupy and make their own personal zones. During larger public events, these smaller zones accrue to become one large theatre.

While going across th bazaar-streets within the mall, one is introduced to the sudden arrival of courtyards, appropriately scaled down to relate to the human level. The eateries are allowed to spread onto these ‘streets‘ as would normally happen in a khau galli. The interesting patterns of routes that the people make from between all such activities can be seen from strategically created levels which connect the inside and outside.

The City Centre does not define itself by creating boundaries, but itself goes and meets its surroundings. Different parts of the complex are taken up for various activities during festivals, seasonal exhibitions or public awareness. The City Centre thus assumes a truly public character and almost becomes an icon, not visually, but notionally, through the multiple experiences its offers to visitors. It balances the public and private interests of the larger society and dissolves class boundaries through intelligent design. People from all walks of life visit the mall without hesitation, rather it has given a new identity to the once socially relegated area of Kolkata. 

Paper Napkins

Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal