[Reader-list] [Urbanstudy] Article from the Washington Post: an experiment in context, perception, priorities

[Fahad Mustafa]

>
> First of all, I am not even sure whether this would even be possible.
> The Delhi Metro seems to aggressively control the space, and even the
> soundscape within the environs of the Metro.
>


Around 10 pm, a few days ago, at the New Delhi Metro Station, I was waiting
for a train towards Delhi University, when old Hindi tunes- Hero, Ajeeb
Dastan Hai Yeh, Musafir Hoon Yaaron- played on the flute, caught my
attention. A thin man, in a kurta-pyjama, standing next to a dustbin was
playing a bamboo flute, impromptu. Not quiet the virtuoso mentioned in the
Washington post, but he played beautifully. People crowded around, curious,
yet maintaining a respectful distance. Nobody stopped him, nobody offered
him money; nor was he asking. He played for 6-8 minutes, till the metro
arrived (frequency is lesser at that hour). Some people broke into an
applause-bahut badhiya, bahut badhiya-and others offered to buy him dinner
at Chandni Chowk. He took his bows, and accepted the dinner treat.


On 4/20/07, Gora Mohanty <gora at sarai.net> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 2007-04-19 at 16:20 +0100, Priyasha Kaul wrote:
> > and what do you think of the reactions of the people, especially if
> > the musican was a woman? the jumble of gender, power, expression and
> > space in the interstices of a city like delhi, indeed a worthy
> > experiment !
> [...]
>
> First of all, I am not even sure whether this would even be possible.
> The Delhi Metro seems to aggressively control the space, and even the
> soundscape within the environs of the Metro. For example, at the Dwarka
> station where I disembark, they have managed to force the line of
> rickshaw-pullers some distance away from the exit, even though this is
> on a public road.
>
>   Even should one manage to convince the powers-that-be in the Delhi
> Metro, this would be a different kind of an experiment, as there is no
> history of beggars, or street musicians within the Metro premises. So,
> the event would probably garner attention because of its novelty, and
> because people would assume that it was organised by the Metro
> authorities themselves.
>
> Regards,
> Gora
>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>




-- 
Fahad Mustafa
26 Narmada Apartments
Alaknanda
New Delhi, 110019
Phone:+91-9818893784
          ****
ragon mein daudtey rahney ke ham nahin qayal
jo aankh se hi na tapka woh lahoo kya hai

http://www.nomadings.blogspot.com/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20070420/6ceede1c/attachment.html