Suddenly it’s all about space…my good friend Ranjit Sinha is displaying photographs where he allows himself to be caught in conversation with the model, the milieu and the space beyond…

I have always thought that the blogosphere was ‘somewhere in space’ anyway…

and tonight, another dear friend Vaishali Bisht put together an evening that invited us to explore the ‘beyond within’…

the choice of the location could have been an English Pub or an Irani Cafe, but the offstage, between the trees nook at LaMakaan filled in nicely.

And there was Farhaz, jacketed and kolhapureed, and yes…topied too…that natty artist from the Sorbonne kind of look I suppose…but spouting what sounded suspiciously like Rumi’isms…and a wah wah deserving style of narration which took a little time to sink in, but once there, was delectable…

Sneaking in, between the trees, to the accompaniment of a lilting, musical aazaan was Mangala Bhat who kathaked her interpretation of the poetry into a graceful search for the nothing…

but perhaps the chap who spoke nothing, but pulled a few strings instead, walked way with the honours as he mesmerised us with his violin and his harmonising with the very cute morsing that Farhaz twanged intermittently.

What was missing was the interaction that the poet wanted…because the world of applause is the more satisfying universe of engaging at close quarters with an audience that should have been energised into action….but alas, the crowd dispersed faster than the Republic Day parade at school and the conversation meandered predictably to samosas and chai…

a strange observation was that the gaddis  kind of seating that had been organised for more intimacy largely went unused except for Athiya’s kid who rolled away to glory…just shows that most people have forgotten the simple pleasure of squatting on the floor or even lounging on a mattress.

Our exit though left us a bit confused…the smells that greeted us as we left the strictly No Smoking LaMakaan had a weedy tinge and the smoked smiles that bid us goodbye also cautioned us about the very real possibility of the place losing its appeal to the ‘I dont believe in Stone Throwing’ public…

Amen!!!