Against All Odds : Q&A With Hans Dalal

Padmashri Shekhar Sen, accomplished actor, singer, lyricist, and music director, is perhaps most celebrated for his unique mono-act theatrical renditions, through which he brings to life master poet-philosophers Tulisdas, Kabir, Surdas, and Vivekananda. Last February, New Acropolis (Mumbai) had the privilege to host an evening performance of a medley of Shekhar ji’s moving works. Ever since, I have been longing for an opportunity to unravel the man behind the masks. Seated on the cozy sofa of his Versova home, over a hot cup of masala tea, the opportunity presented itself. Delightedly looking back at his visit to the Centre he shares, “Any place I go that I sense is truly spiritual is very special for me. In a place like New Acropolis, where so much good is fostered, I just hoped to absorb some profound inspiration, like baby Krishna steals away butter!” Our conversation naturally arrived at unraveling the true role of an artist in society, and Shekhar ji playfully wove poetry and rhyme into his evocative explanations.

Adam Williamson is an award-winning calligrapher and sculptor whose permanent public works can be viewed around the U.K. He is drawn to particular shapes and patterns that embody universal principles found in nature, made visible through the hands of craftsmen. Adam has been commissioned by many prestigious clients including Oxford University, Shakespeare’s Globe London, Westminster Abbey, to name just a few, and has given numerous public lectures and workshops at leading cultural institutions all over the world.

Miti Desai is the founder and creative head of Miti Design Lab. A designer and classical dancer, Miti teaches as a visiting faculty at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology (Bengaluru) and at Sophia Polytechnic (Mumbai), and has personally created and executed courses initiating children into Holistic Design, Aesthetics and Culture through the performing arts.

New Acropolis Culture Circle recently interviewed Professor Thakur S Powdyel, Bhutan’s first democratically elected Minister of Education (2008-2013). An educator by choice, conviction and passion, he is respected for moving Bhutan towards fulfilling the country’s constitutional mandate for education. As a recipient of numerous international awards such as the Gusi Peace Prize and the Global Education Award,

During their grueling journey across the Himalayas, Tibetan refugees carried hundreds of manuscripts into India, often guarding them with their lives. Many of these precious texts were offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who founded the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala (India)

Architect Parul Zaveri established Abhikram (Sanskrit: initiation) to explore design directions and processes that make built environments functionally, psychologically, environmentally and spiritually more contextual, more comfortable and more healthfully livable for all.

At a time when energy guzzling steel, cement and glass towers are making towering bar-graphs of our city skylines, Parul and her late partner Nimish Patel have been successfully re-establishing the use of traditional material, technologies and craftsmen, adapted to a contemporary context. The path has not been easy, but armed with a clear intention and an unwavering conviction that has seen them refuse projects when clients’ belief systems are not in consonance with their own, and courageously stipulating environmentally friendly materials and processes as a precondition, they have embarked on building a better world.

Extracts from an evening hosted by New Acropolis Culture Circle. Philanthropy can be a bridge between the ideal of fraternity and its material manifestation. Imagining a better world, with a greater sense of fraternity is intuitively appealing to many. Yet, to make a personal sacrifice in order to create that better world, is the choice that we make less often than is needed.

In this light, it is relevant to ask – what drives one to share with that urgent sense of duty? Does one need money and power to be a philanthropist? What is the relationship between our choices and our identity?

Amish Tripathi is the prolific author of the hugely successful Shiva Trilogy, the Ramachandra series and a nonfiction book Immortal India. His work has been recognized by numerous literary awards, and publishing benchmarks; the Shiva Trilogy is the highest selling book series in Indian publishing history. Amish, who goes by his first name only, seeks to be judged by his own karma, rather than that of his antecedents.

His books are steeped in familiar mythology, replete with symbolism, but with an emphasis on philosophy and a message that is surprisingly modern and liberal in its attitude towards gender, equality, and socio-politics.

Tall, trim and relaxed in any environment, Yaron Barzilay smiles easily, but weighs his words very carefully. Understated and well-read, he punctuates his conversations unexpectedly, with an incisive colloquial humor that betrays his acute sense of the current socio-economic and political climate, and his capacious grasp of India’s history and mythology.

Professionally, Yaron Barzilay is the Managing Director of IDEX India – a leading diamond trading platform for professional diamond traders worldwide.

One could attempt to describe Ela Bhatt with adjectives: soft-spoken, tenacious, compassionate, dedicated, principled, self-effacing. Or one could use nouns: lawyer, labor-leader, social activist, banker, author, philanthropist. But all these words together still do not comprehensively encompass her visionary foresight, her inexhaustible energy, her unbending strength of purpose, and her unswerving commitment to the humane.

In five years Tasneem Zakaria Mehta revitalized a decayed and dying museum, transforming it into a vital and accessible cultural focal point for Mumbai. As vice-chairman of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and Honorary Director of the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad (BDL) Museum, Tasneem spearheaded the exhaustive research and the painstakingly detailed restoration of the museum’s architecture, its interiors and its exhibits. In recognition of her work, she earned the 2005 Unesco Heritage Asia Pacific award of Excellence for Conservation. At her home surrounded by art, sculptures and books that are her life-blood, Tasneem spoke to The Acropolitan about the importance of Art and the need to preserve our cultural heritage.

At 61, Pierre Poulain exudes an integral energy. His stance is erect, as if poised for action, his eyes curious and attentive, and his speech swift and voluble.

He describes himself as a Philosopher – Photographer, combining these two apparently unrelated disciplines seamlessly. He founded New Acropolis in Israel in 1986, and has taught philosophy ever since. Today, as Regional Director he oversees New Acropolis work through the Asia-Africa-Oceania areas, while also finding the enthusiasm and passion to exhibit his photography work, and is invited to present lectures all over the world.

For centuries art has been a natural means to express one’s inner journey – be it as a community or as an individual search. So has it been for Olivia Fraser, who has used her art to uplift, to produce wonder and beauty, and to find the ‘inner essence’ of things.

Olivia Fraser moved to India in 1989. Initially she was a travel painter before apprenticing with miniature and Pichwai artists from Jaipur, where she learnt their rich, rigorous and intricate tradition. The influence of Nathdwara Pichwai painting and early 19th century Jodhpuri painting,

As the architect of a non-violent civil disobedience movement that led to the independence of a nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been hailed as a spirited activist, a courageous freedom fighter, and an astute politician. For his own deeply ascetic lifestyle, uncompromising ethical code, and strict adherence to human values, he won the veneration of masses, a devotion usually reserved for saints, indeed even the title of a Mahatma. His profound influence on world leaders like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King can be said to have changed the course of history.

Ramaa Bharadvaj is a celebrated dancer, choreographer, storyteller, educator, writer and arts-curator. She has lived and worked in the US for 32 years, where she was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for choreography, as well as for her exemplary contribution to the Arts in California. She has served on the boards of both state and national arts agencies and has been a visiting faculty member of various reputed universities, while her essays and cultural commentaries have been published by leading publications.