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BASANT
2004
Proposed
Events of the Basant Festival (24-26 January 2004)
Dargah Nizamuddin area, New Delhi, India
Saturday,
24 January 2004
- 10 AM: Heritage
walk from Chilla of Nizamuddin to the dargah – ends by 12 noon
- 12 noon
onwards: Street Plays by many groups, at Ghalib's tomb
- 3 PM
onwards: Basanti variety programme (including readings of
academic papers, poetry recitation, dance recital and other items) at
Ghalib Academy audit.
- 6 PM:
Screening of films on Basant and related issues (Ghalib Academy
audit.)
Sunday,
25
January 2004
- 3:30
PM: Assembling inside the dargah for traditional Basant procession.
- 5:30
PM: Sufi Samaa mehfil at Ghalib Academy, featuring 3 traditional
Qawwals
Monday, 26
January 2004
- 2 PM: Basanti
Haat involving kite flying, shops, street plays, folk dance,
and exhibition of children’s paintings.
- 5 PM: Sufi/Folk
music mehfil, involving folk artists such as Wadali bros, Lakhon Das
Baul, Madan Gopal Singh, Vidya Shah, and Dhruv Sangari.
Some
details
about the above programmes
Heritage
Walk
The area of Nizamuddin in Delhi is famous for its distinctly medieval
ambience: majestic monuments, sacred graves, labyrinthine alleys, crowds
of beggars and street-vendors, bazaars with people hawking kababs and
other delicacies, people selling caps, rosaries, religious posters, and
so on. You can uncover several layers of history as you walk these
streets, especially with a person to guide you through the area. We
shall start our walk from a place called the Chilla of Hazrat Nizamuddin,
situated almost behind Humayun's tomb, and go west, passing through the
dargah of Pattay Shah, and crossing the Mathura Road, enter the dargah
Nizamuddin area. Two experts/historians would accompany the group
explaining and answering queries, and finally culminating in the sanctum
sanctorum of the dargah.
Basant
Nukkad Natak
A couple of happy, entertaining, and colourfully bright street plays on
the themes of cultural identity, hope and celebration. To be conducted
by various professional groups, at the tomb of Ghalib. The main aim is
to attract common people on the street and give them the message of
cultural harmony.
Basant
Variety Programme
This would be a multi-disciplinary symposium involving a variety of
events such as reading of academic papers, recitation of Amir Khusrau's
Persian poetry with translations by Akhtarul Wasey,
lecture-demonstration of Khusrau's folk songs by Iqbal Ahmad Khan, a
Kathak dance recital by Malti Sahai, and many other thematic items.
Basanti
Biscope
A screening of documentary and other kinds of films on the theme of
Basant, kite-flying, classical music, Syncretic cultural traditions, and
so on. The main films that set the tone of this festival are BASANT a
film about the traditional Sufi Basant in the dargahs of Delhi, and MELA
BASANT BAHAR, a documentary about Basant being celebrated in Lahore,
Pakistan. Besides these, we would also show a compilation of songs and
other clips from Hindi movies depicting the celebration of Basant,
spring and holi.
Traditional Basant procession
This procession takes place in the dargah a day before the Basant
Panchami. Qawwals and Sufis bring mustard flowers from the fields and
walking in a colourful procession, offer them on many tombs, singing
songs of Basant. We would accompany this traditional procession from the
start to the end, culminating in a sitting of Qawwalis outside the tomb
of Nizamuddin Aulia.
Sufi Samaa mehfil
An evening of
traditional Qawwalis by well-known artist from various towns of north
India (including Hamsar Hayat from Delhi, Sabri bros from Jaipur, and
the qawwal from Tonk, Rajasthan). The theme would be Basant, Amir
Khusrau and Nizamuddin Aulia.
Basanti
Haat
A
fete of small temporary stalls selling stuff related to Basant –
handicrafts, clothes, flowers, food, posters, greeting cards, calendars,
books, music cassettes, CD-ROMs, kites, and other material. This would
be characterized by a Kite flying competition, and an exhibition
of paintings and other artwork produced by school children in
earlier competitions on the theme of Basant. The prizes for the best
entries of paintings would be given to the children. There would be
small gatherings of folk dance.
Sufi/Folk
music mehfil
This
would be a concluding session of folk, classical, and contemporary music
by eminent artists and folk singers. The theme would be a popular
celebration and not the elitist classical music. Wadali bros, Lakhon Das
Baul, Madan Gopal Singh, Vidya Shah, and Dhruv Sangari are some of the
artists to be invited.
Basant Souvenirs and memorabilia
for the visitors
Some
of the souvenirs to be distributed/sold would be a booklet and leaflets
explaining the philosophy and tradition of Basant, a yellow Basanti
scarf, t-shirts, kites, audio cassettes and CDs, all with messages of
peace and cultural harmony.
Special
Feature for next year's Basant
This
time, we propose to diversify our efforts into two types of events: The
main event of Basant Panchami should be located only at
its traditional area (Ghalib Academy, Ghalib's tomb, the main dargah
etc.) just the way we had it the first time. It should be advertised as the traditional Basant. We must
involve the local dargah people and Qawwals in this to make it more
genuine. Let them tell the stories of Basant to our audience.
Parallel to this should be a series of small one-day events that have to
be primarily sold to prospective clients, and can be held on any date
between Lohri and Holi (from the last week of January to the first week
of March). Even though these mini-Basants can be tailor-made to the
requirements of the client, a typical one day festival may contain (1) a
children’s fete with kites, Basant fancy dress show, painting
competitions etc., (2) street theatre, (3) film screening, (4) Qawwali
or classical music.
This
mini-Basant has to be sold to all sorts of institutions including
schools, colleges, clubs, cultural societies, RWAs, housing societies,
NGOs, religious institutions, spiritual healing centres, charitable
organizations, corporate houses, auditoria, universities, ad agencies,
tour-operators, DDA, MCD, NDMC etc., and not only in Delhi, but more
importantly in Gurgaon, Faridabad, NOIDA, Ghaziabad, Rohtak, Palwal,
Ballabhgarh, Dadri. Even distant towns such as Meerut, Aligarh, Hapur,
Moradabad, Panipat, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jaipur, Gujarat, Mumbai, or
anywhere else it may work. Many students
who organize college fests around March can incorporate this. The
clients can choose to take up either our full packaged programme, or
only a couple of events in any combination they wish, as their budget
allows. We should also get sponsors for conducting mini-Basant in
schools/colonies that cannot afford it – use ads/banners in such
places.
Suggestions,
contribution and active participation from everyone is welcomed. Our
press/marketing kit for the next Basant would be available soon.
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