'Saadhaba Bohu' - Cochineal Insects

When i was a child, during rainy season we were amazed by the appearance of clusters of crimson–coloured ‘Saadhaba Bohus’ walking leisurely on wet grass-patches. There were two types of them, one tiny and the other, relatively larger. We were fascinated by the splendor of their velvet-like colourfull coats. The bigger ones were more attractive. Sometimes, some of  my friends  used to collect these insects and to put them in transparent glass bottles. They made a splendid sight but it was a cruel deed. Even now, when i happen to visit my village during the rainy season, i always look for these wonders of nature. They are called‘Saadhaba Bohus’ because of their bright crimson colour. In ancient times, women in Saadhaba  (seafaring traders) families of Odisha used to wear costly bright red coloured sarees indicating their wealthy status. The ‘saadhaba bohus’ (literally meaning daughters-in-law of ‘saadhabas’) look like these ladies in the splendor of their bright red drapes.

Here they are:

Later, i found out that these insects are called cochineals, the crimson-dye-producing insects of the Dactylopiae family. These scarlet-colored insects are used in dyes for food and drinks.

These little insects are so red under all that fluff because of the presence of Carminic acid (their red dye) which repels ants. Their pigment evolved as a chemical weapon against predation. Cochneal insects are soft-bodied flat, oval shaped scale insects. The females are wingless and are about 5 mm long. They cluster on cactus pads. They penetrate the cactus with their beak-like mouthparts and feed its juice. After mating, the fertilized female increases in size and gives birth to tiny ‘nymps’.  Adult males have wings and are much smaller.

Female (left) and male (right) cochineals

Male nymphs feed on the cactus till they reach sexual maturity. At this time, they can no longer feed at all and live only long enough to fertisise the eggs. Also, they are typically outnumbered by females. They are therefore seldom observed.

 

A Cluster of Female Cochineals

However, are these Saadhaba Bohus? Why is the colour different?

                      Making red dye from carcasses of cochineals

Mermaids Caught on Camera

While i was surfing You Tube, this wonderful video appeared. I was wonder-struck to view the series. Hence i thought of sharing it.

Here it is:

Guru Dakshina

In my post ‘Dancing Without A Leg’ dated 03.01.2012, i have narrated how Odissi danseur Nityananda Das,  motivated by his Guru Bimbadhara Das, and with his strong will-power, grit and determination, resumed dancing even after losing a leg in an accident. Later, he himself became a Guru and set up an Odissi Dance Training Centre, teaching girls and boys the art of Odissi dance. 

I watched his splendid performance for the first time in 2011. Later also, i had the occasion of watching his presentations on some occasions. Another opportunity came recently when i was invited to the 3-day 11^th ‘Guru Dakshina’ Festival  from the 1^st  to the 3^rd  June, 2016, organized by Kalakshetra, the Odissi dance training centre set up by him. He organizes this event every year where dance performances are presented by normal dancers as well as by physically challenged artistes.

The highlight of the first evening was a Bharatanatyam dance number presented by visually challenged dancers from ‘Articulate Ability’, Bangalore, set up by Guru Mysore B. Nagraj. Although they could not see, the 5 dancers presented a very well coordinated and splendid performance. It was so perfectly synchronised that in a clapping sequence, two of them joined their respective palms to produce claps! When asked how the visually challenged dancers could know the proximity of each other, Guru Nagraj explained God’s gift that whenever a person lacks one human faculty, his/her other faculties become sharper than normal. In case of visually challenged persons, the hearing faculty is very sharp and with this, they can feel the distance from another nearby person. He added that these dancers have been so trained that even from the sound of the breath of another person they can know the distance or proximity of the other person!

The faces of these 5 dancers did not indicate any fear of stumbling or dashing against fellow artistes. They could not see the stage or the audience but their coordinated dance on the stage flew with full smoothly and with full harmony, along the accompanying music!

That evening, there were 3 other presentations by normal dancers.

In the second evening, along with other items, there was a semi-classical dance presentation by Harihara Deo of Odisha. Both his arms are underdeveloped and are very short but with these, he did all the hand-gestures.

The third and concluding evening saw Guru Nityananda in action. He, his Guru Bimbadhara Das, along with other danseurs and danseuses, presented the dance-drama ‘Guru Dakshina’ which was really great. It was based on the life of Guru Nityananda Das himself.

The story-line of the dance-drama was like this:

A dance-teacher (played by Guru Bimbadhara Das) was training a group of his disciples. An aspirant dancer (younger Nityananda Das, played by a lookalike Bijay Kumar Das) comes and requests the Guru to teach him dancing. Initially the Guru has reservations about his ability but later, seeing the keen interest of the young man, yields to his request. The young man picks up the nuances of Odissi dance very fast. After 7 years of practice, the young shishya offers ‘dakshina’ (fees). The Guru has been so impressed by the other’s skill that he declines to accept it and says that when the latter skillfully presents his dance before a discerning audience that would be his ‘guru dakshina’. The disciple goes on to become an eminent danseur. At this juncture, the disciple meets with an accident (detailed in my earlier post) and loses one of his legs. From this point, Guru Nityananda Das takes over from his lookalike. The young man is so dejected by the loss of his ability to dance that he feels that there no longer any purpose of his continuing to live. He is on the verge of committing suicide.

At this juncture, his Guru steps in and says that just as a baby learns to walk by falling and rising, he can learn to dance with one leg by persistent efforts. To show his confidence in his shishya, the Guru removes the ghungru from one his own legs and ties it at the ankle of the young man. The sishya tries to dance, fails in his initial attempts but continues.  At one point, he wishes to give up but the Guru is insistent. The Guru even threatens to thrash him with the latter’s crutch if he would give up! Slowly, the young man learns to dance with one leg. He regains his ability to dance perfectly even with one leg. In gratitude, he falls at the feet of his Guru and clutches the latter’s legs.

Here is a video of the lyrical dance drama:

Selected posts from my blog have recently been published in a book form with the same title. It includes my earlier post ‘Dancing Without A Leg’ on Guru Nityananda Das. I presented copies of the book to Guru Bimbadhara Das and Guru Nityandanda Das.

   

        

'Bohu' of Odisha Dancing Odissi

In my post, ‘Introductionto Odissi Dance’ of 02.03.2015, i have incorporated videos of the definitive features of Odissi dance by Daksha Mashruwalla. She, Ranjana Gauhar, Madhavi Mudgal and Sharmila Mukherjee are among the other danseuses who do not belong to Odisha but have mastered Odissi dance form and have spread it in India and abroad.

Another eminent artiste who has made her name in this field is Sonal Mansingh who was not born in Odisha but learnt and mastered Odissi dance form, after becoming a ‘bahu’ (daughter-in-law, bohu in Odia) of Odisha. I had watched her Odissi dance number in the International Odissi Dance Festival at Bhubaneswar in 2011. She also performed at the ‘Chushathi Yogini Festival’ at Chaushathi Yogini Temple, Hirapur near Bhubaneswar. In 2015, i attended her lecture-cum-demonstration session at a programme of SPICMAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth).

 

Born in 1944 as Sonal Pakvasa (her maiden name) in Mumbai (then called Bombay), Sonal started learning Manipuri dance at the age of 4. She then learnt Bharatanatyam dance from Guru Kumar Jayakar. Later, she was trained by U S Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi. Her maiden performance was in 1954 in Mumbai.

She met Lalit Mansingh of Odisha, who had just joined Indian Foreign Service, (who later became Foreign Secretary of India and Indian Ambassador in U S A) at a performance by her in Delhi and they fell in love. She came to Lalit Mansingh’s place in Cuttack in Odisha and her prospective father-in-law, the eminent Odia poet Mayadhar Mansingh, who said that a dancing bohu of Odisha must know Odissi dance, took her to his friend the legendary Odissi dance Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra and requested him to train her in Odissi dance. He took her under his wings became her mentor. She took this dance form like fish to water and was a quick learner. She reinforced her learning of Odissi dance by observing and absorbing the nuances of Odisha’s culture. 

Sonal got married to Lalit in 1965 and became ‘Sonal Mansingh’. Of course, they were divorced shortly thereafter but Odissi dance became her life. After their divorce, she again met Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra and requested him to continue training her but perhaps because he was not happy with the divorce, he did not agree. Then she continued her training under Guru Jiwan Pani.  She went on to become a famous Odissi dancer.

Her famous choreography includes ‘Indradhanush’, ‘Manavatta’, Devi Durga’, ‘Atmayan’, ‘Mera Bharat’ and ‘Draupadi’. She was awarded Padmashri in 1972 and ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 2003. Other awards received by her include Sangeet Natak Akademy Award, ‘Natya Kala Ratna’ from National Cultural Organisation and Medal of Friendship of Vietnam. She was given Honorary Doctorate Degrees from G B Pant University, Uttarakhand and Sambalpur University, Odisha. She was also the Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Sometime after her separation from Lalit Mansingh, she lived with and then married Georg Lecher, a German. This marriage also ended in divorce.

In 1974 she met with a serious accident in Germany which dashed her hopes of being able to dance again. She even asked herself why she should live if she could not dance. At this juncture, chiropractor Pierre Gravel came into her life. He studied her reports and after a longish treatment, declared that she could dance again! In 1975, she was back on stage and performed to a huge applause from the audience. 

Even after her separation from Lalit Mansingh and second marriage to, and divorce from, Georg Lecher, she continues to use the surname ‘Mansingh’. However, as far as dance is concerned, she continues to be a 'bohu' of Odisha dancing Odissi.

Since 1977, she has been running her Centre for Indian Classical Dances in Delhi.

TAIL PIECE:

Although ‘Orissa’ became ‘Odisha’ in 2011, the dance form which originated in this State continues to be called ‘Odissi’. Isn’t it time to call it ‘Odishi’? Or, will this disturb the concept of Odissi dance with its present spelling which is familiar all over the world?

Happy Y2K

This happened in 1999, the year preceding the last year of the 20th Century. At that time, the date being mentioned in computers was like this: DDMMYY. The date, month and the year were all mentioned in 2 digits, e.g., the 11th May, 1998 was mentioned as 110598. This made the year 2000 indistinguishable from the year 1900. It was feared that there would be a lot of problems in computers after 31.12.1999. If the year 2000 would be marked as 00, computers would take it as 1900.

The perception all over the world was that flights during the night of December 31, 1999-January 1, 2000 would be affected in midair and on the ground. In India, computerised airline and railway ticketing would be affected. It would be difficult to disburse salaries and wages. Computerised Control Rooms in power plants would not function properly and this would hit power supply. Business and industries, Stock Exchanges, banks and other investment bodies would be seriously disturbed.  It was also feared that health records and patients’ treatment would go haywire. There were also worries about traffic lights becoming quizzical. It was apprehended that even televisions and microwaves would be seriously affected.

Image Source: Google

Even before the start of the year, it was feared that computers would malfunction after the 9th September 1999 (9/9/99) because the earlier programmers used a series of 9s to indicate the end a programme.

These apprehensions were called ‘Millennium Bug’, ‘Year 2000 Problem’ or in its abbreviated form, ‘Y2K Bug’ (K represents a thousand in the metric system). The then widespread scare of Y2K Bug can be imagined by the fact that the British Government went to the extent of making its armed forces ready to assist the local police in time if utilities, transportation systems or emergency services failed!

Banks in India made all-out efforts to meet the challenge of the possible crash and to comply with Y2K norms. I remember that new computer hardware items being purchased at that time had a label ‘Y2K COMPLIANT’ on them.

In 1999, i was working as Chief Manager of a Branch. We were advised to be in readiness to face any eventuality. There were ‘practice runs’ of doing everything manually in case computers fail. So, old-type registers were brought in and all transactions were first entered manually as was being done before computerisation. And then the work was done a second time by using computers. The idea was that in case computers fail at midnight of the 31st December, 1999, Banks would be conversant to put through the transactions in registers manually.

Then the D-Day (Dreaded or Deliverance) or D-Night came. 31.12.1999      

After doing the transactions normally (with computers), on 31.12.1999, we closed the transactions. We had earlier been advised by our Controlling Office that all Officers must stay in the Branch that night. Also as advised, we had intimated the local Police Station that we would stay in the Branch that night. Of course, we had locked the main entrance and the door next to it from inside.

Then the mid-night hour struck.

It was 01.01.2000!

We opened one computer; the data were intact and it worked normally! We opened a second and then a third computer. The data were intact!! Then we opened all the other computers; all the data were intact!!!  And all computers worked normally!                
                                                                                                             
“HAPPY Y2K!”, we all shouted and hugged each other.
 :))))))

The reference to striking of the midnight hour reminds me of the famous address of Jawahar Lal Nehru to the Constituent Assembly of India at the midnight of August 14-15, 1947, when India became independent.  He started his address with, "At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to new life and freedom."
                                                                               
At the midnight hour of December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000, computers the world over got free from the Y2K bug!
                                                                                                                         
The feared Y2K problem at the striking of the midnight hour on the 31st December, 1999 also reminds me of the letters between my two daughters and my father-in-law. They were in regular correspondence. As was the practice then, my daughters would write the year in the dates in two digits. My father-in-law was a stickler of the rule that years should be written in full, i.e., in four digits. So, when my daughters would mention ‘89’ meaning 1989, he used to write back, “I received your letter of 19 hundred years ago.” taking ‘89’ as 89 AD.