One Saturday we went to Hesaraghatta village, 30 Km, NW of Bangalore.
First we visited the Nrityagram Dance Academy, which is a dance school teaching Indian Classical dance. They allow visitors in to tour the dance school, and its pretty, rural village layout. Our timing was really lucky, as three dancers were practising Odissi dancing, which is the traditional dance from Orissa state. Their practise session was an incredible performance, and it was lovely to watch it in the open air. We lived in Budapest for two years, before moving to Bangalore, and saw many fantastic ballets there in the Opera House. I would rate this Odissi dancing experience right up there with those brilliant ballets.
When the dancers finished, the apprentice dancer bowed and kissed the feet of her seniors, who had been instructing her. It seems in India that there is huge respect shown towards certain teachers, - in my yoga class we all bow to the teacher, and the others call him "Sir" (I do not yet call him Sir, though I think he is wonderful, just don't like addressing anyone as Sir.....).
When the dancing had finished, we wandered around the gardens, and saw some bullock ploughing.
Had a reason to be very grateful to the creators of Riverdance, the Irish dancing show. We got into conversation with an Indian couple who told us they were fans of Irish dancing, because they had seen Riverdance. It is great that one show has created such a positive image of Irish dancing worldwide.
After Nrityagram, we went to look for the old Bangalore Sailing club.
We had read on another blog that Hesaraghatta Lake was the site of the old Bangalore Sailing club, and there was an old clubhouse there. The lake was almost completely dry, the only water being two or three animal watering holes. It was difficult to imagine how this had ever been a full lake.
In the distance we saw a small building at the edge of the 'lake', and had a lovely walk for about 1.5 Km along a dyke towards it. Yes, this was the old clubhouse of Bangalore Sailing Club, which has seen much better days.
The building is quite decayed, with holes in ceilings, broken windows etc, but because the prize boards are still up on the walls, the fireplaces are intact, and there are some tables in the room, there was a strange atmospher. You could almost imagine everyone turning up again for the Saturday race....
You can see in this Helmsmans trophy prize board that the first recorded prize was 1938, and there were bi-annual competitions every year, until the last race in 1981. The entry for 1982 is "Lake dry".
We still have not worked out why the lake dried so much. A pity for Bangalore Sailing club, as judging by their clubhouse and boat sheds, it must have been a very active sailing centre at one stage.
Next time I am sailing on Dublin Bay, and moaning about the rain or wind, I must remember to be grateful for the fact that we have water.
First we visited the Nrityagram Dance Academy, which is a dance school teaching Indian Classical dance. They allow visitors in to tour the dance school, and its pretty, rural village layout. Our timing was really lucky, as three dancers were practising Odissi dancing, which is the traditional dance from Orissa state. Their practise session was an incredible performance, and it was lovely to watch it in the open air. We lived in Budapest for two years, before moving to Bangalore, and saw many fantastic ballets there in the Opera House. I would rate this Odissi dancing experience right up there with those brilliant ballets.
When the dancers finished, the apprentice dancer bowed and kissed the feet of her seniors, who had been instructing her. It seems in India that there is huge respect shown towards certain teachers, - in my yoga class we all bow to the teacher, and the others call him "Sir" (I do not yet call him Sir, though I think he is wonderful, just don't like addressing anyone as Sir.....).
When the dancing had finished, we wandered around the gardens, and saw some bullock ploughing.
Had a reason to be very grateful to the creators of Riverdance, the Irish dancing show. We got into conversation with an Indian couple who told us they were fans of Irish dancing, because they had seen Riverdance. It is great that one show has created such a positive image of Irish dancing worldwide.
After Nrityagram, we went to look for the old Bangalore Sailing club.
We had read on another blog that Hesaraghatta Lake was the site of the old Bangalore Sailing club, and there was an old clubhouse there. The lake was almost completely dry, the only water being two or three animal watering holes. It was difficult to imagine how this had ever been a full lake.
In the distance we saw a small building at the edge of the 'lake', and had a lovely walk for about 1.5 Km along a dyke towards it. Yes, this was the old clubhouse of Bangalore Sailing Club, which has seen much better days.
The building is quite decayed, with holes in ceilings, broken windows etc, but because the prize boards are still up on the walls, the fireplaces are intact, and there are some tables in the room, there was a strange atmospher. You could almost imagine everyone turning up again for the Saturday race....
You can see in this Helmsmans trophy prize board that the first recorded prize was 1938, and there were bi-annual competitions every year, until the last race in 1981. The entry for 1982 is "Lake dry".
We still have not worked out why the lake dried so much. A pity for Bangalore Sailing club, as judging by their clubhouse and boat sheds, it must have been a very active sailing centre at one stage.
Next time I am sailing on Dublin Bay, and moaning about the rain or wind, I must remember to be grateful for the fact that we have water.
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