By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 18 Oct: The tenth day of Virasat Art and Heritage Festival 2022 began with ‘Virasat Sadhana’. Vijay Dutt Sridhar spoke about the nation, culture and heritage. Vijay Dutt quoted Benjamin Franklin, ‘A man should either write something worthwhile which should be read a lot or something worthwhile should be done about which a lot is written’. He further explained the difference between science and art, and how young people can do the job of saving the information they have inherited. He referred to the Chipko movement of Chamoli and on how the women of hills work to preserve their heritage and the wealth of nature.
Vijay Dutt Sridhar is an Indian journalist, author and founder of the Madhav Sapre Museum of Newspapers and Research Institute. He has been awarded the Padma Shri. He is the former director of the Department of Journalism and Communication of Makhanlal Chaturvedi University. A total of 73 newspapers and magazines donated by his teacher Rameshwar Guru are now housed in the Madhav Sapre Museum of Newspapers and Research Institute. It has been approved by several universities as a research center for journalism-related studies.
The cultural evening started with lighting of the lamp and Kathak and Mohiniyattam dances were presented by Richa Sharma and Sujatha Nair. They began their performance with worship of Shri Ram Chandra (Raag Charukeshi), post which Sujatha Nair gave her solo performance in Mallari (Raag Gambhir Natya) and Ganga Tarangam (Raag Revathi) in Bharatanatyam. This was followed by Ruchi Sharma’s Kathak performance. Sujata then performed to a Meera Bhajan and Draupadi Cheer Haran in Raag Vakula Bharanam.
Ruchi enacted a ghazal whose lyrics were “Tumhari Anjuman Se Uthkar Deewane Kahan Jayenge”. She concluded with a jugalbandi of Tilana and Tarana, showcasing the beauty of Bharatanatyam and Kathak. She was accompanied by Pandit V Narahari (Tabla), Dhvanit Joshi and Sujesh Manon (Vocal), Jayashree Nair (Nattuangam), Nikhil Prasad Nair (Mridangam).
Ruchi Sharma is a well-known Kathak dancer from India. Apart from assimilating the traditional intricacies of Lucknow, Jaipur and Banaras schools of Kathak dance, Ruchi has combined her knowledge with a scientific and spiritual approach.
Sujatha Nair is the daughter and disciple of Jayshree Nair. And she is also the founding director of Upasana Academy of Fine Arts, Mumbai. Sujatha Nair has been learning Bharatnatyam and Mohiniyattam from her mother for more than three decades. Sujatha also learned Kathakali for a few years under Kalamandalam Gopalakrishnan.
In other presentations, the sarod was played by Prateek Srivastava. He started with Raag Rageshri in Vilambit teen taal and followed with Raag Malkauns. Prateek Srivastava was initiated into the art of playing the sarod from the age of six by his grandfather, Pandit Rabi Chakraborty, himself a noted sarod player of the Maihar Gharana. Prateek began his journey as a sarod instrumentalist at the young age of 12, and eventually made his mark as a soloist in the field of Hindustani classical music at various national and international concerts and festivals.
