It was definitely an experience that left an impact on us. Attending the performance of Nagamandala, a play directed by Neelam Man Singh Chowdhry and presented by The Company was something the company I was with would talk about for weeks to come.

As has become usual with her plays in Chandigarh, the setting was the Rock Garden, Nek Chand’s unique creation which has an amphitheater that effectively takes you to a state of timelessness.

Add to that the theme of the multi-layered play, written by Girish Karnad and translated into Punjabi by eminent poet Surjit Pattar, with music by the late B V Karanth—you are quite cut off from the norm and enjoy a state of being in another place for that moment.

The play transports you into a world apart, a world of two Kannada folk stories, that explore the contradictory nature of the narrators of the oral tradition, and how fantasies, dreams and illusions fill the loneliness of an unhappy wife.

I experimented with a new camera and thus can present to you images of the play hours after I saw it.

The review of St. Stephen’s College: A History was published in The Tribune, on Sunday, October 15, 2006. I had referred to reading this book in an earlier post. The book will be of interest to Stephanians — current and senior ones. Visitors may also like to visit the official website of St. Stephen’s College. Please click here to read the review.

Rashtrapati Bhavan was very much a part of my world when I was young and in college. Recently, I read a book that has revived memories. Would you like to see what I have to say about the latest book on what I, like many others, regard as the finest, most magnificent edifice in the world . Click here to read more.