So, is the MAGIC over?

Oh, the beauty of so many youngsters dancing in unison, with not a bit of self-conscious hesitation, clapping, screaming in chorus, moving to and fro, celebrating the music and the movement, chaotic, and in harmony, lost in that continuous movement of shared bonding — if this is not magic, crafted by the young, what is?

By Amit Sengupta

LEHAR: Second annual edition of Visual Arts, Media and Communication, Performing Arts, Theatre, Cinema and Music. A magnificent kaleidoscope of Arts and Culture. December 21-23, 2024.

Organised by  Dr BR Ambedkar School of Specialized Excellence (SOSE) — Andrews Ganj, Dwarka, Rohini and IP Extension schools, under the auspices of the Delhi Board of Secondary Education (DBSE), Government of Delhi. 

So, is the magic over?

That heady, untiring and intoxicating passion at the end of the day, which started early in the morning and went on till the early hours of a chilly twilight. Young faces, intense and eclectic, pristine like a mountain river, vibrant like the expressed and subdued colours of flowers, petals, butterflies, grasshoppers. Their transparent intelligence and creative energy peeping out through the lens of a framed photograph on the wall, in a black and white sketch drawn, perhaps, with charcoal and silent intensity, the paintings, some masterpieces, adorning the galleries in their vivid colours, like a kaleidoscopic museum of memories in time and space, suddenly made visible to the world through the brush of the artist.

The song and dance, the guitar and drums, the chorus and collective leap of so many voices leaping into the December sky, through the winter chill and sunshine, and warming the heart’s deepest recesses. Eyes shining, voices full of freedom and pulsating ecstasy, in collective, wondrous symphony, touching the soul like a rainbow on a hot, scorching, summer day.

This kind of a rainbow, indeed, promises the arrival of a cool north wind in the heat, and a soft drizzle from the Himalayan hills and foothills, defying the odds of a terrible season, against logic, and weather reports. The rainbow tells us that even in abject despair and suffering, sheer optimism, skills, intelligence, optimism and human will, can change our reality.

Destinies can be changed.

That is why, even in its absence, we create, again and again, our own meaning of dogged optimism, with stoic resilience and sheer courage, our own joyful moments, our own destiny. We craft it with our own minds, our hearts, and our fingers.

We dream it with our light eyes. We celebrate light, and enlightenment.

So, is the magic over?

Not at all. How can such a grand and grandiose outburst of such a magnitude of creative, young energy in visual and performing arts, craft, music, dance, street plays, radio programmes, black and white and colour pictures, media and communication, cinema —  how can it vanish so fast? It will remain alive, eternally, till the clock’s endless rotations, embedded in the collective subconscious, yet again, another museum of memories. Authentic, meaningful, life-affirming memories.  

Look at these two paintings, after months of meticulous and painstaking work with the brush on canvas. Look at the endless, relentless ‘sea of faces’. Look at the giant leap of a giant in basketball — Michael Jordan, a phenomena. He played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association in America between 1984 and 2003, and won several of them, often, almost solo.

The good news is that the young painter did not choose the national obsession of cliched, commercial, cash-rich cricket of instant catharsis in India, of sixes and fours. He chose basketball!

So how many people in India love basketball, obsessed as they are with the mindless ‘hit every ball outside the rope’ IPL, where millions in this currency or that floats in every game, in a country with mass undernourishment and stark poverty?

“This painting is against racism,” said Yajat, Class 12 student, SOSE, Dwarka. Tall, serious, wearing spectacles, in school uniform, his ‘sea of blurred faces’ of the huge audience in the indoor stadium are often invisible, often visible; they belong different colours, features, identities, skins.  It does not matter who is brown or white or black or yellow. They are united with the mad love of the game, and with that giant leap of a great basketball legend.

Beyond borders and geographies.

Sports unites!

Like great art and craft. Cinema and literature. Like profound aesthetics, which lifts our soul, and compels us to look into our inner life. Like a deeply moving short story. Sublimely crafted.

 Like radio shows, done by Class 11 students of SOSE, Andrews Ganj, which enters into the forgotten and lost world of sound, ideation, commentary, talk-shows, sports analysis (including chess), music and songs, with a certain eclectic brilliance, unmatched in the contemporary media and mass communication industry in India.

So why were the radio programmes, heard on a headphone, interspersed with Spanish guitar and drums between non-commercial breaks, such a super-duper success?

Designed by a brilliant Atiksh Chaturvedi, who works like a diligent craftsman, and floats like a butterfly, radio captured the imagination of scores of visitors. Their feedback written on a tiny notepad is testimony to that. So much so, a top official of SOSE schools, first, appreciated the radio bulletins, and, then, wrote that there should a radio studio in every school.

If that happens, then it will be solely because of the radio bulletins crafted by the students of Class 11, SOSE, Andrews Ganj. The full credit will go to them. Of course, Yashika Baghel and Chanchal Yadav of Class 10 anchored the radio desk with great finesse, guided by Atiksh and Diya Sharma. Ironically, they have never done radio before!

They remained rooted on the radio desk, helping the listeners to choose their favourite programmes. They took the feedback. They willfully chose to be left out of all the ‘fun’ outside their work station. Hats off to them!

Radio? So what happened?

This is because  in the contemporary era of the death of imagination, and the relentless, mindless, onslaught of the digital and (anti-)social media, and the utter mediocrity of mainstream television in India, visitors suddenly discovered a nuanced nostalgia, a foggy, forgotten past in radio. This lovely past of ‘high culture in every open-to-sky courtyard’ has been so brutally crushed and eliminated from our daily life of sound, thought and feeling.

That is why, the visitors  in Lehar discovered sound as the first step to the  birth and resurrection of imagination — feelings and deep emotions, nostalgia and memory, ideas and analysis, news and information.

So why was the talk show by Arunima Dwivedi and Diya Sharma a super hit?  The subject tells a story.

The programme was an intelligent, serious and balanced talk show, in just about five minutes, like all the other programmes, without jargons or cliches, on ‘Hyper-individualism’. Indeed, in the current scenario of insatiable consumerism, where self-identity is determined by blind success, fame and deep pockets, hyper-individualism has led to compulsive isolation and depression, which is rampant, including among the young.

It is best reflected in the often vicarious and vacuous multiplicity of social media, owned and controlled by billionaires in the US, which has killed critical thinking and deep emotions, while silence, introspection and stillness has been replaced by the fast-moving and mindless phenomena of ‘likes’ and fake ‘wonder, anger, sorrow, love and laughter’, as in Facebook etc.

People these days don’t pick up the phone to call up or meet and celebrate a birthday, or buy a book as a gift, they simply post a fake ‘happy birthday’ message on Facebook. Same with a tragedy. RIP or ‘Naman’ seems to have  replaced all sharing of sorrow or human crisis. All joy and mourning is now digitalised, made unreal, virtual.

Individuals show off their achievements and skills, their money and success, often creating a sense of artificial ‘want’ among others. Low esteem becomes an epidemic for those who are not recognised with likes, friend requests, or followers, leading to psychological trauma and isolation.

(This particular phenomena has been showcased in a sensitive feature film, Likes directed by Aditi Rana and her team (Class 10, SOSE, Andrews Ganj), which had repeat shows, on demand by school girls of other schools. The article on ‘Films in Lehar’ ,  made by students, will be soon published in timesheadline.in).

Indeed, this is the biggest victory of market capitalism, manufactured in the most advanced capitalism in the world — the US. And, without doubt, a new, vast phenomena of mass, mental, virtual slavery has come to dominate this narrative across the world. No wonder, the Facebook algorithm chose to eliminate all posts on the ‘Genocide in Gaza’. Even articles, reports and pictures. (They did not completely succeed).

(No wonder, the gifted girl students of SOSE, Dwarka, deeply moved by the daily killings of children and women in Gaza, made a short film, wearing a black and white ‘keffiyah’, reciting poems written by the poets of Palestine. While Palak Yadav and team (Class 10, SOSE,  Andrews Ganj), made a gripping, black and white documentary film, dedicating it to the brave journalists, who have been killed while reporting from the ground, in Gaza and other conflict zones in the world. This film was screened several times in the festival, in pin-drop silence.)

Aditya (Class 11, SOSE,  Andrews Ganj), is a football buff, with a stunningly captivating radio voice. He and Navin produced a short radio commentary on a famous final. It was fascinating to hear the fans in loud chorus, the high decibel music as backdrop, and feel the tension in the air. He said, “The France vs Argentina 2022 FIFA World Cup Final was a legendary showdown between two world class teams, and I had the opportunity of reliving this iconic match with my friend Navin through a radio bulletin commentary. Together, we revisited the breath-stopping moments of one of the greatest finals in World Cup history.” (Full comment in an article to be published soon in timesheadline — ‘The Voices of Students in Lehar.’)

A running commentary of the gripping World Chess Championship was done by Himanshu and Gitik (Class 11, SOSE, Andrews Ganj), dissecting every complex move of Gukesh and Ding into focus. Gukesh won, making history.

Two ‘old songs’ shows with interesting anecdotes were much sought after as well. Umesh Kumari, Arushi, Ridhi Ray and Asmita anchored them. So who can refuse to be entranced by these eternal melodies which remain as beautiful and lovely — till this day. They will never ever lose their charm and romance. No wonder, the listeners loved the shows.

Out in the open space, students all over, the dream and the joyful freedom came alive in the folk songs, western songs with upbeat beats, original, meaningful songs with a social message, old songs, happy songs, romantic songs, love songs.

And dancing!

Oh, the beauty of so many youngsters dancing in unison, with not a bit of self-conscious hesitation, clapping, screaming in chorus, moving to and fro, celebrating the music and the movement, chaotic, and in harmony, lost in that continuous moment and movement of shared bonding — if this is not magic, crafted by the young, what is?

So, is the magic over?

No. Not at all.  

It will come back. Yet again.

In the winter of 2025. When another rainbow will shine in their eyes. Like a bright, twinkling Morning Star. Resurrecting the memories of 2024. Making the world sublime and beautiful.

Photographs by Amit Sengupta, except the lead picture.

Part II of four articles in the series on Lehar 2024. Next, Voices of students; Film reviews.