A overnight bus journey can transport you to a different world.
Our destination was Ikkere, near Sagar town in western Karnataka. There were about 20 of us in this private bus that does the Bangalore-Sagar route.
Dancers and musicians headed to a village which would host the fourth edition of an arts festival.
We had boarded the bus in Bangalore from the 'Ananya' headquarters in Malleswaram. 'Ananya founder' Dr. Raghavendra founded the fest and has handed over the charge to a local team called Pranathi Kala Kendra.
The road to our destination took us through Tiptur and Arsikere. And at 6 a.m. as we tumbled out of the bus at our destination, we were greeted by the grand vimana of the Sri Aghoreswara Temple bathed in the heavy dew of the night and lit by the first rays of the morning sun.
Ikkere is a really small community in Shimoga district. Perhaps three dozen houses lining the rectangular space all around the temple, said to have been built by the Keladi Nayak rulers of this region.
Homestays for artistes and guests
There was a bonus for us this year. Home stays had been arranged. The men in one sprawling house, the women in another. This was a return to roots. Mangalore-tiled houses with rooms on all sides, a well inside the house leading to wash rooms where, water was on the boil in a huge pot; out in the yard hundreds and hundreds of arecanuts were spread on the floor to dry in the sun and the landscape was packed with coconut and arecanut palms,
Shimoga is probably one place in the state where the environment sustains itself and the arts fluourishes, thanks to a vibrant community of artistes and rasikas. This is Yakshagana country and people are known to sit through performances that end at dawn.
And in places like Ikkere you are invited to put the breaks and slow down. Which is what most artistes did this morning - sipping hot coffee and conversing as the sun woke up the village.
The temple is not spectacular in design. It sports a mixture in its architecture, is compact, well maintained by the ASI and fronted by a huge Nandi inside a finely sculpted mantapa. The hall of the temple, supported by sculpted pillars echoed to the hums of the pigeons and bats that reside here and as the first resident dropped in to say a prayer, the taps on a row of brass bells created a magical effect in the silence.
Community plays host
Outside, men were at work, putting up a huge stage on the northern side. Since the walls of the temple are huge and raised, only the Nandi mantapa and the top portion of the vimana would form the backdrop to the stage.
"When I first came here and then brought a few musicians to play in the campus I was astounded by the effect," said Dr. Raghavendra who has put monies from his personal account to grow this fest.
Today, one can sense that the local community has the confidence to call it its own. At another sprawling 'manne' (house) we sat down for breakfast of uppittu ( rava) and avalakki ( beaten rice). Served with thick curd and spicy mango pickle, almost everybody asked for more and the women ordered for bottles of pickles to be taken back home!
And when it was time for lunch, served the traditional way, few of us held back to ask for many helpings. After all, the top flor at our manne had bene preared for a quick siesta!
Bharadwaj who calls himself a 'weekend artiste' (he is one of Bangalore's brightest morsing players and is a IT professional) says he always makes time for Ikkere because "other people pay thousands to enjoy a break in a place like this."
"It doesn't matter if I am performing here but I come!," he said as the sun went down and the organisers got ready to open the fest. The Ikkere community dressed in the best, streamed in as did people from the neighbouring areas and from Sagar.
I met Gopal who runs a classical dance school in Sagar town. He had brought all his students who would take turns to conduct the formal ceremonies. Back at the 'manne', singers Manasi Prasad and Soudamini Venkatesh got into a practise session with Vikas on the tabla, Madhusudan Bhat on the harmonium, J. K. Sridhar on the violin and N. G. Ravi on the mirdangam.
But before they went on stage the inauguration tested our patience for there were 10 guests on stage and all of them had to be given time at the mike. With Shimoga Member of Parliament B. Y. Raghavendra ( son of chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa) and the local MLA around, the hosts just could not curtail what seemed to be a hour-long litany of speeches that set back the performances.
2000 people in attendance
There were at least 2000 people to enjoy the opening shows. Manasi and Soudamini presented a Carnatic-Hindustani jugalbandhi but the concert just didn't seem to come off that evening. Senior dancer Vyjayanthi Kashi's Kuchipudi recital which included an item on 'ardhanareeswara' and one based on the work of rebel-poet Basavanna warned up the rasikas.
Sharmila Mukherji, a Bangalore based Odissi dancer ( 'A' grade artiste of Doordarshan) who has performed in Chennai on the weekend presented three pieces. Joining her was Odissi dancer Devayani of Bangalore.
Then followed a hour-long 'world fusion music' concert by another Bangalore-based group consisting of senior mirdangam vidwan T. A. S. Mani, flutist Amit Nadig who acted as the master of the recital, Prakash on the slide guitar, Karthik Mani on drums, Bharadwaj R. S. on morsing and Vishwanath on the tabla. It was good in parts.
On the fringe of the concert venue, small stalls and hawkers sold snacks, ice creams and knickkancks. They did roaring business. As the midnight hour approached, the crowd thinned.
The duo of Rukmini Vijaykumar and Parswanath Upadhaya grabbed the attention of the small audience with a cascade of lightning Bharatanatyam pieces. Rukmini, who is also a film actor and model in Bangalore is agile and expressive and impressed with what could be called a classical dance package for a 40-minute performance.
Probol Gupta was not in the positive spirit as his turn came. The Bangalore based Kathakali artiste who now specialises in the 'stree vesham' was unhappy that his slot had fallen back by over an hour. It needed some effort for the rasikas to also appreciate his recital that night.
However, when the Tandava group ( Karthik Datar, Ananth Nagaraja, Somasekar Chodanath and Srinivas) - four, pumped-up young dancers took the stage for the finale and presented their package it roused the last of the rasikas.
The long speeches and a working day did affect the attendance.
"One year we had people sitting till dawn for our last performance," said Raghavendra as we packed our bags to leave.
It was 4 a.m.
Ikkere had gone to sleep proud that in the middle of fields and valleys and beside an ancient temple, it hosts an arts fest.
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