Thook, meaning spit, written by Sandeep Shikhar and Iravati Karnik, devised by the Indian Ensemble and directed by Abhishek Majumdar, is a play on food, trade and the prevalence of hunger in India. The play comprises of four short stories bound by a single theme, presented in documentary style. From the Bengal famine of 1943 to the aftermath of neo-liberal economic reforms, the play goes on to depict the one single theme of hunger and poverty in India from different perspectives. Continue reading
Category Archives: Philosophy
Kaise insaan ho tum? Apna pet nahi bhar sakte?
Posted in Arts, Economy, Philosophy
Notes on Forrest Gump
I had first watched Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994) as a teenager, and loved it back then. A recent re-watch has changed my opinion. For one thing, the film surpassed Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption in Oscars. But since awards rarely define greatness, let’s skip that part. What really bothers me is the conservative undertone of the film. Continue reading
Posted in Film, Philosophy
Artistic science scientific arts
In a previous article I had initiated a discourse on art, and it’s relationship with science. Science gives us conceptual knowledge of the situation, and art helps us experience it. However, there is more to it. Science, more than anything else, also gives direction to art, true, in a very complex sense. Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Technology
Art and ideology
When a nawab smokes his hookah, he takes pride in it belonging to the times of his great-grandfathers. Rarely does he realize, that each part of the hookah has been replaced numerous times in the life span of the nawab himself. May it be the base, the hose, the shaft or the grommet – not a single part is old enough. What then brings pride to the nawab? Well, it’s the continuity of the usage of the hookah that matters. Art – just like tradition – shares a similar relationship with ideology. Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
On communism
Socialism did not begin with Marx. It was born while man was still homeless, and lived through the times when people helped each other in building their homes, or farmers helped each other in ploughing their fields. The previous century witnessed the rise and the apparent fall of the political and revolutionary aspect of socialism, or communism. Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Philosophy, Politics
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 