A Fine Gesture

This story on an American teaching the Indians the dance form which they had ruled for centuries happened when I was sitting at the National School of Drama and taking to Krithi Jain the then director in 1993. So after a lot of phone calls made to Justin I finally managed to tell him that the story which I was working on is trendy and dance related, since he was reluctant to speak to me at the onset.

Dance: US-born Justin McCarthy, who came to India to learn Bharatnatyam, is now teaching Indians nuances of the dance. S Shiv Kumar profiles the guru

A young Justin loved the sound of music and the melodious pounding sounds of the feet – dance, but his parents forced him to learn the piano, and told him that dance is only for girls. It was at the California University that McCarthy, then 15, tried his hands at various dance forms such as ballet – and even karate. He joined the San Francisco Ballet School as a pianist. It was in 1978 that he witnessed a performance of Bharatnatyam by two reputed teachers and also the pupils of he legendary T Balasaraswati, from ‘Under the way of The Dance School’.

He joined the school as a pupil of Lesandre Ayrey and Mimi Janislawaki. After learning the basics for a year, he decided to move to Madras to learn the form completely. Overcoming stiff opposition to the idea from his parents and relatives, he set foot in the land of Natyam, It was in 1979, and he was 23. no sooner did McCarthy reach Madras that he took ill with jaundice, malaria and diarrhea.
However, he soon overcame the setback, and with an artist’s discipline and determination, spent hours every day learning the dance from stage by stage. Like other dancers I did not want to try my luck on the at a early stage during my learning process, which may have result in some people becoming disinterested in your dance.
His cherished moments to date are two group shows performed in Delhi in January 1993, the staging of Madurai Kanchi and Maruduha Attam from Sangam literature, and then later in October the staging of Jalkson Pollock visits Tanjore with five others. He has performed in Germany, Belgium and England where the audience turnout was not upto expectation.
McCarthy refuses to say if he is happy with what he earns teaching Bharatnatyam. “I make some extra bread by giving private piano lessons,” is all he would add.
McCarthy has also learnt Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit. He has no plans of going home for now. “When I set off for India in 1979 I had planned to stay only for five years. People tell me to set up a Bharatnatyam school back home, but I don’t think that will be fruitful ,” he says.

Peacocks Airborne Dance

Sarang which means 'Peacock' is the helicopter formation display team of the Indian Air Force. The team flies the HAL Dhruv. The name Sarang is symbolic as it is the national bird of India.
The team was formed in October 2003 and their first public performance was at the Asian Aerospace Show, Singapore in 2004. The team also performed at the Farnborough and Aero India air shows. The team performed at the 76th Anniversary of Indian Air Force in Hindon Air Base on 8th Oct 2008.

For the Pilots of the Sarang team getting the 5.5 tonne metallic to dance in the air to the tunes of Mozart is as difficult like guiding a bullet train. These pilots make their show look very simple but the amount of planning which goes into each move and maneuvers is clock worked to precision before every show.

This they have learned after the February 2007 accident during a practice session for the Aero India show at Yelahanka in 2007 which claimed the team of its co-pilot Squadron Leader Priye Sharma, and the pilot Wing Commander V Jetely who received serious head injuries.

The Sarang team is like the whirring birds and promise to be as graceful as the peacock in their moves. The sides of the helicopter too are painted with the image of a peacock with the feathers contrasting the gold and red body of the chopper.
The chopper team is known for their awesome Sarang Splits, the crossovers, nosedives, reverse moves and different forms of tandem formation flying.

'Of course, jets have a natural grace which is difficult to emulate,'admits the modest Ravuri Sheetal, who at present is a member of the Sarang team. 'Helicopters are largely unstable machines,' and here lies the challenge.
The choppers are the Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), produced indigenously by the Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Sarang's symphony in the air is a statement of the capabilities of this twin-engine multi-role craft that can easily take to heliborne assault in times of war and switch to air ambulance for casualty evacuations.

Another member of the team K S Kakade compares Sarang's moves to ballroom dancing! 'Each must know his steps or you step on someone's toes!' The power of the main and tail rotors as well as that of the twin-engine is what gives them the power to maneuver the way they do. 'The ALH has hinge-less fiber rotors. If you try these aerobatic tricks with regular helicopters, it won't work,' he explains.
No special modifications have been made to the ALH for the display team, except the addition of a smoke generation system that leaves smoke trails in the sky for the crowds to gasp over.

It is the only chopper in the country with the capability to fly backward. "No helicopter wants to fly backward. There is always a resistance and refusal from the machine," says another team member Rohan Gupta and adds in lighter vein: "It's more difficult reversing a helicopter than a car, because we don't have rear-view mirrors!"
The team is also in charge of monitoring the ALH project, under the IAF's Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE). Most of the Sarang pilots are former Siachen pilots who have been flying in and around the high-altitude and arduous areas of Leh. "Asking us which is more challenging — Siachen or Sarang — is like asking which is the better of our children. Each demands a different kind of perfection."

The Bangalore-based team puts in up to 10 practice sessions every week, flying down to Kolar's Defense Air Field at 7.30 a.m. and keeping at it well into 2.30 p.m. Every session is recorded on video and the performance dissected later with the team.
The strength of the team lies in its insistence on sticking to a strict standard of criticism! Sometimes, even if a member says a problem was minor and let it pass, the others would say it's not OK, and keep giving feedback.

Watching the Sarang perform, during certain maneuvers, one gets a bit bothered that the rotor blades of two choppers will grate into each other! They instead actually maintain a distance of around 13 meters from each other. It's only the audience perspective that gives the formation a tight appearance.
Right now, Sarang dances in the air to the tune of Mozart's 40th Symphony, but may switch to Hindustani music later.

Multiple Exposures

After practicing for more than 6 months of creating multiple exposures with my F-100 Nikon camera body in Bhopal during my stint with the Hindustan Times, I was able to shoot these frames which were liked by all in the HT news room. All the images found themselves to the front page of the HT- Bhopal editions.
During my practice days I must have used more than 30 films of 35 mm. Once I had mastered the art, I went on to shoot all the three of my best multiple images in one week of time from the 9th to the 16th of September, 2000.

Double Exposure - Maria Kiran of France performing at the Bharathnatyam at Bharath Bhawan on the first day of the week long Music and dance festival on the 9th September, 2000.

Triple Move: Dipanivta Singh Rai of Kolkatta performs the Kathak on the closing day of the week long Music and dance festival at the Bharath Bhawan in Bhopal on 12th September, 2000.

Water,Water everywhere: An dried up tree shown in the water of the Lower lake of Bhopal on 15th September, 2000. Even as the city is proud owner to more than 40 lakes the taps have been running dry for the past several months causing great hardships for the residents.