Krazy Kochi

    Suryanelli: The place of no sun.    Roofs weighed down by rock bags  to keep the wind from blowing  them  away Off the Kerala state highway that connect the small, brash towns giddy with foreign remittances, sits an unassuming, modest home that goes by the name: Lovedale. A septuagenarian couple, a retired postmaster and a retired nurse, live here with their younger daughter and, a ghoulish past that continues to taunt every waking moment of their lives. The 33-year-old daughter smiles shyly revealing an innocence frozen in time. 17 years ago, the daughter, then a 16-year-old girl, had left home wearing a skirt and a blouse to go to school and returned sexually violated and terribly traumatized: her transformation from a carefree school girl to a bloated individual was violently shocking. The girl had been kept captive, fed sedatives and alcohol, traded for sex and raped by 42 men in a span of 40 days in the months of January and Februa...

Kerala is one of the two states in India (the other is Puducherry) to have a higher population of females than males. It also takes the top position in female literacy but these statistics are not indicators that women are safe in the state. In fact, incidences of rape and assault on women in Kerala are highly reported. Two sensational cases of the 90s, called the Suyranelli and the Vithura cases, where minor girls were gangraped, are still languishing in the courts: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/calls-grow-louder-for-politician-accused-of-rape-to-resign/ The comments of the politicians and the judiciary are grossly insensitive that exposes the biased mindset of a patriarchal society. The lawmakers and lawgivers believe men can do no wrong or can do just about anything. On February 9, Justice R Basant, the former Kerala High Court judge, who was part of the two-judge bench that tried the Suyranelli case in 2005 made shocking comments against the rape victim. The bench ...

(I know of two rapists who were never charged. How many do you know?) One afternoon, more than 20 years ago, at a college youth festival in Kochi, I was with a bunch of friends at a neighbouring college canteen. A few boys known to my friends (friends of friends) joined the group. The sun was high overhead and a degree of ennui had seeped into our mindless chatter. Sitting on wooden benches, munching vadas, we had let the conversation drift and drag: from the usual to the boring. It was just a regular, sweaty afternoon. The scene so commonplace: a few college boys chatting up a few college girls. But that afternoon is tattooed deep in my memory- singled out from the rest of my college afternoons- and singed there. The boy with the curls, sitting opposite me, began to casually talk about the woman he had raped in Chennai. His tone was not loud or bragging- just a bored shrug. And he inferred he was not alone in this evil act- there was a bunch of them- maybe four or five. ...

The first week of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale saw artists working hard to get their installations up. It was not all fun for them but it definitely gave us-the visitor- an insight into how art is created. Artists too, said they learnt a thing or two. Said one artist,“Even international artists were busy hammering stuff. They had to do it if they wanted to exhibit. Many of the biennales like the Venice one is over a hundred years old. So we don’t know how it began but here we are at a historic moment. We are watching how the curators are struggling to get the biennale going.” Artists Ernesto Neto, Angelica Mesiti, Ahmed Mater speak about their work, the biennale and answer some other random questions. Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto has visualized relationships with materials and spices.  Read on:   http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/portraits-from-the-kochi-biennale-sculptor-ernesto-neto/ Ernesto Neto: On relationships Austrailian artist Angelica Me...

Ernesto Neto's installation "Life is a River" Read about it: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/in-kerala-a-distinctly-indian-art-fair-with-international-appeal/

Mumbai-based artist Anant Joshi's installation at Aspinwall House On Pepper House’s sea-facing wall in Fort Kochi, Kerala, a black and white dragonfish mural beckons seafarers, tourists and fishermen to join the cultural revelry. A glass in one fin and a cigarette dangling from the other, the debonair fish celebrates the arty reincarnation of the ancient cities of Kochi and Muziris. It’s this that the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 is attempting to construct—the eternal return—using the ancient narrative as a premise for contemporary art. Round the corner, colours continue to cavort on the walls of Aspinwall House where five young artists have left their imprints. A sea monster, a dragon and a phoenix named Lulu have taken up residence on these walls. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale, starting on 12/12/12, will be the first of its kind in India in terms of sheer scale and should change the landscape of the city forever. Art critic and poet Ranjit Hoskote says a biennale is the mos...

Born on October 20, 1923, VS Achuthanandan joined the Communist Party in 1940 when he was just 17 years old. Abject poverty and deprivation were the only things that flourished in Punnapra, Kerala, in those days. My father had a grocery shop close to our house so we did not suffer too badly when we were young. He was a social activist and a SNDP Yogam leader and respected by all.  He had leased some land from the landlords in Vendhalathara and cultivated it. He built a house there too. In this way, along with the grocery store, we could make ends meet. Punnapra school had only up to class three, so I joined Kalarkode school to do class four. It was in an area where the upper caste lived and one had to walk past the temple to go to school. The elite would ridicule the less fortunate, beat and chase them away. Many children discontinued their studies. I was once attacked by the well-to-do students and they asked me. “Who are you to walk this way to school?” I tried to st...