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Home - City Guide - Delhi - Culture | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Culture Culture The premier performing arts institute is Sangeet Natak Akademi, on Firoz Shah Road (tel: (011) 338 7246), while the arts complex of Triveni Kala Sangam, on Tansen Marg (tel: (011) 371 8833), contains two galleries devoted to fine art and an open-air and an indoor theatre, as well as a sculpture park and bookshop. Also on Firoz Shah Road, is Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi's leading art academy, featuring paintings, sculpture, frescoes and drawings. Most of the cultural centres host concerts and exhibitions as well as screening films in English or their native language. They include, on Kasturba Gandhi Marg, the German cultural centre Max Mueller Bhavan (tel: (011) 332 9506), the British Council (tel: (011) 371 1401), and the American Centre (tel: (011) 331 6841); at D13 NDSE Part II, the Alliance Française (tel: (011) 644 0128); on Golf Links the Italian Culture Centre (tel: (011) 462 7807); and, on Firoz Shah Road, the Japan Cultural Centre (tel: (011) 332 9838) and the Russian Cultural Centre (tel: (011) 332 9102) which houses the Eisenstein Film Club. Siri Fort, at the Asian Village Complex (tel: (011) 649 3370), also has an art gallery, cultural programmes and film shows. Among the ranks of Delhi's 'chaterati', the India International Centre, on Max Mueller Marg (tel: (011) 461 9431), ranks as a political icon and post-independence institution. The capital's premier cultural centre, it organises seminars, lectures, music and dance recitals, as well as screening films on all aspects of Indian culture and environment. Local newspapers (The Hindustan Times or Times of India) carry daily and weekly listings, as do the City Scan and City Guide magazines. The weekly Delhi Diary also carries listings catering more for the tourist. Music: Delhi's concert halls tend to be busy more or less the year round, with the Delhi Symphony Orchestra performing for a brief season. Hindustani music is by far the most popular, closely followed by Karnatic music. Some of Delhi's open-air venues - such as the majestically lit Qutb Minar (see the Key Attractions section) - provide a dramatic backdrop for select performances. The Delhi Music Society (tel: (011) 611 5331) is based at Nayaya Marg, Chanakyapuri. Theatre: There are several active theatre ensembles which perform at the Sri Ram Art and Cultural Centre, on Safdar Hashmi Marg (tel: (011) 371 4307), the Little Theatre Group (tel: (011) 338 9713) and Kamani Theatre (tel: (011) 338 8084), both on Copernicus Marg. Dance: A rich mix of classical (including Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Kathakali), folk and tribal dances is performed daily between 1900 and 2000 at Parsi Anjuman Hall, on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg (tel: (011) 328 9464). Hauz Khas is a good spot to join well-heeled Delhiites as they sit back over a meal or a drink while taking in an open-air dance or music performance. The India International Centre, 40 Lodhi Estate (tel: (011) 461 9431) and Triveni Theatre, 205 Tansen Marg (tel: (011) 371 8833) are both popular venues for regular, professional dance shows. Film: Even without understanding a word of the language, Hindi films can be a hugely entertaining way of gaining an insight into that side of Delhi life that is usually closed to those who speak only English. Hindi films are screened at: Alpana, Model Town (tel: (011) 741 3104); Golcha, Netaji Subhash Chander Marg (tel: (011) 326 5192); Palace, Roshanara Road (tel: (011) 252 6174); Rivoli, Connaught Place (tel: (011) 336 2227) and Swarn, Krishna Nagar (tel: (011) 220 4135). English-language films are screened at: Anupam PVR 4, Saket (tel: (011) 686 5999) and Chanakya, Chanakyapuri (tel: (011) 467 0423). Cinemas that show a mix of English and Hindi include: Novelty, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Marg (tel: (011) 251 3152); Ritz, Kashmir Gate (tel: (011) 296 5444); and Satyam, Ranjeet Nagar (tel: (011) 579 7387). Cultural events: India's calendar of Indian festivals draws upon the nation's Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian communities, with a sprinkling of non-religious festivals thrown in for good measure. Most will be celebrated to some extent, somewhere in Delhi (see also the Special Events section). The following are the main events. (Dates are calculated according to the Hindu calendar, which varies against the Gregorian calendar.) Republic Day: A week of celebration kicks off on 26 January with a military parade along Rajpath. Martyr's Day: A guard of honour stands to attention at Raj Ghat on 30 January to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi. Holi: Spring exuberance erupts on the day after the full moon in early March when people running through the streets bombard each other - and stray tourists - with brightly coloured powder and water to celebrate good harvests and fertility of the land. Often an occasion for indulging in a drink or two too many. Janmasthami: The Raslila is performed across India recreating the life of Krishna on the anniversary of his birth, which falls in August/September. The city celebrates most ostentatiously at Lakshmi Narayan Mandir. Diwali (Deepavali): The most pan-Indian of Hindu festivals (coinciding with the onset of the Hindu and Jain new year), this festival of lights symbolises the victory of righteousness and the lifting of spiritual darkness by commemorating Lord Rama's return to his kingdom Ayodhya after his 14-year exile. Delhi celebrates with a funfair at Red Fort on 26 October, and fireworks lighting up the night sky. Literary Notes At the time of Muhammad Shah Rangila, the poet Mir wrote of Delhi: 'Each glance reveals a picture, each coming of the spring enchains.' The delights of Delhi have been dissected, eulogised and disputed over the generations by a whole canon of writers of both Indian and Western origin. Hailed as one of the finest travel writers of his generation, William Dalrymple lived in Delhi for a year, and wrote his City of Djinns (1994), a sparkling, bewitching portrait of the city. The narrative interlaces fragments out of history, based around the stories of the eight cities of Delhi (the traditional seven, plus New Delhi), with anecdotes from Dalrymple's very immediate experience. The author's Delhi period was just the beginning of years of relentless travelling the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent, distilled in his collection The Age of Kali (1998). A meaty slice of Indian life viewed from the inside is Vikram Seth's epic A Suitable Boy (1993), which follows the lives of four extended families set against the political landscape in a newly independent northern India in the 1950s. The central plot - a love story - runs through a richly populated and eternally varied landscape, with the tension between Hindus and Muslims a constant and dangerous undertow. Anita Desai, who was educated in Delhi, also focuses on the time of the partition in her first published novel, Clear Light of Day (1980), which traces the interweavings, departures and reconciliations of the Das family of Old Delhi. It is a theme picked up by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who spans continents in East into Upper East, a collection of stories alternating between New York and New Delhi. Her Delhiites are educated, affluent Indians grappling with the changes wrought by independence. One of the most prominent of Indian writers today, Arundhati Roy, who won the Booker Prize with God of Small Things (1997), studied and lives in Delhi; while Vikram Chandra, whose literary leanings tend rather towards Mumbai, was also born in Delhi. |
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