Abba, Abby; BYU & TTB 

SWEDEN is a country that gave me lots: the first-ever scholarship in 1984 to study theatre administration at the oldest city theatre in its capital Stockholm, created by Astrid Lindgren (in the last century and millennials might not have heard of her perhaps but she was to children’s literature for decades with her Pippi Longstocking what British author J.K.Rowlings of Harry Potter fame is to this century) and then a well-paying job in international cultural exchange field and finally ( read last para!) … The director of Var Theatre (Our Theatre, Swedes keep in simple!) Director, Gunter Wetzel, an East German born (yes, again millennials may not know there was an east Germany and West Germany, with a real wall between them) settled in Sweden. I met him by chance in Sibenik, Yugoslavia (again, yes millennials, it was one country from 1928-92 then called so, made up of 6 parts – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. I had gone to Yugoslavia in 1983 first when it was still one country and not broken into 7 parts as today ( with Kosovo added to the above listing of 6) and then I loved it so much that I returned in 1985.

Rare booklet in MKDC @IGNCA

Gunter Wetzel – bless his soul- was so taken by Indian theatre and Indians that he had got puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee earlier to Sweden, then me, then Puran Chand the puppeteer. I was there two months in 1984 but what a two months! A country 1/8th  size of India  but million miles ahead in most social indexes. Well, if a country has  only 9 million population to manage it can be done nicely! A womb to tomb state. High taxes but high returns too. Free education, free medical. Pristine green forests, fjords and lakes. Why, its capital – Stockholm – is a city built on 14 islands. Still a paradise in summer. Swedes worship the sun, like we do! They worship trees and nature, like some of us still do! I can’t speak for a billion and a half people here.  Even then, way back in the 1980s when an average Swede ( a native is called so, not sweet-dish! Swedish is the language, not a race) asked me: Do Indians smoke? I could only diplomatically say, some do and some don’t. India for them was a land of  fattigdom (poverty ) fluff ( all that ancient culture) and food shortages. They didn’t know we already had palaces and temples full of gold when they were perhaps still living in caves! Vikings were basically fishermen/ sea faring folks when our ships already traded in silk and spices. Much later but still much before the world, we  had a women prime minister for 3 terms and biggest democracy going, no matter how flawed. 1500 languages.  Private gold reserves  with people that could buy that country out or a country that gave refuge, food and home to hundred thousands of Tibetans, Afghanis , Sri Lankans , Bangladeshis , Nepalese and many more. Sweden was also number one in giving refuge to many in trouble (like the Indians thrown out by Idi Amin of Uganda in 1974 and  Tibetans).  Sweden hosted many troubled Turks, Latin Americans and even those within Europe like the persecuted Romanis ( loosely called the gypsies).

Stockholm,  built on 14 islands

Sweden is a unique country. It’s  ruled by Aquarius so it is far ahead in helping social causes : Environment , AIDS, wars  ( though in World Wars its role was less than altruistic; it remained neutral but it’s factories supplied materials to warring sides; it talks of disarmament but was the biggest supplier of defence equipment, remember Bofors?) . It used its abundant forests for lumber, paper, even matchstick industry. Remember Wimco? On the positive side, the best steel ( Atlas Copco) , Cement (the bridge connecting Malmo with Copenhagen is built by Cementa) cars like Volvo and Saab; films of Bergman by Bergman! ( Ingrid and Ingmar) Music by Anders , Bjorn, XXX Agnetha called ABBA.Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Who doesn’t know ABBA? This pop group from Sweden “born in 1972” became so ,so big that they

achieved international stardom after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with their hit song “Waterloo”. It was followed by their massive commercial success by selling an estimated 400 million records globally, thereby dominating the 1970s and early 1980s. In 2026 , with the development and changes in music they are still very listenable.  Their iconic discography inspired the highly successful stage musical and film adaptations of Mamma Mia!

Pl take an ABBA pic from net 

I met 3 of them by chance in 1986 ( 40 years ago!) at Arlanda airport  and they were so down to earth and no one wanted selfies with them because there were no cell phones then! They talked normally, travelled normal class and with no fanfare. They didn’t know where India was really ( somewhere out there in Asia) but knew  of Gandhi , the original one! Today,  there are museums on them that shows them digitally, through holograms and films still get huge crowds. For a country with just 9 million ( still plus minus as the birth-rate being so low, as many die as are born, almost) their world image is huge. It’s because of its people – sincere, hard working, polite and humane. Swedes like an average American are very polite and direct too.  Inventions galore.  Zips! Remember? On bags, pants and more. Tetrapak: no milk or juice carton in world now is not tetrapak. Velcro. No watch, shoe or industrial appliance complete without it. Then the people’s stores for clothes and furniture – IKEA, H&M – changed retail forever The list goes on. For a 9 million population ( less than Bangalore’s) they have shown amazing work and outreach. Most Swedes love to complain most of the time that’s because they have not known wars or suffering much and as simple farm people at heart they have  one that’s  made up of gold.

Abby ( Abraham Tharakan) 

A heart of gold, our dear Abby had. The list of good things Abby did for Mulberry is huge. I’m talking of small is beautiful. We also live  in a little village in a gated community of under 60 row houses in high tech village called Bangalore! It’s near the airport and created by a visionary Amit Gupta  ( whose  eyes  repaired by Bangalore’s bright eye surgeon and raconteur Dr. Ravi Battu). It’s a green colony in a garden city . Its 4 times president  of the residents association was Abraham Tharakan – fondly called Abby by most of us . A gem :Punjabi by nature; Malayalee by birth; Bengali by food ( read, a pure non veg!) and Gujarati by finances ( buy, invest, enjoy, travel, laugh, eat, drink) he was the most helpful person I’ve met in village Bangalore, a city that keeps to itself.

Abby was the champ not only of basketball – with one bad knee to prove- but champ of fertilisers too, elected president of its federation. A man who loved life and smiled and sailed through it. He was the go-to man if someone needed a hospital help or airport drop; fixing the residents problems or the community’s.  Abby was bit old fashioned and macho and all but melted in presence of Ramani, his best half. They both are amiable and affectionate so to say good bye to him on June 6th ( he took leave of all on the fourth) was very saddening. An era in the Mulberry Meadows colony had ended. All came from far and near to pay their last respects.  He was so willing to help, even the last time we talked on phone -a month ago-  he said he’d help me with e-khata –  that’s Karnataka style house registration process that’s like Bangalore roads – full of ditches, glitches and potholes!

Condition of cars on Bangalore roads! Museum piece indeed.
(Mysore Museum of Vintage cars)

Rubbing salt in our wounds of bad Bangalore roads and overall civic collapse, was the fact that last 15 days we have had very iffy Airtel wifi or data . Roads in CBD,  especially Benson Town are dug up so often that everytime something is repaired, two new issues spring up. Our Vodafone data on blink , Airtel hotspot on blink and so is the landline. LandMINE, that’s what Bangalore is today. Salt in our wounds,indeed!

Salt Lake City sounds far away, Utah, USA to be precise and the biggest private university – BYU- sent its student Ballroom dancing group to India, last week, after winning a competition in UK. Birgham Young was a religious and political leader who was instrumental in 1847 -yes that’s like last to last century- to  form a group of LDS Mormons and apart from good values , they give excellent educational facilities to many in that region plus other countries as far as Phillipines or Hongkong. India has just come on their radar to bring their art to. They ” loved Delhi with its 2000 years history and fell in love with the Taj ” no photo does justice to it” said Curt Holman , the Artistic Director of The Ballroom Dance Company of BYU ( Brigham Young University). Brigham Young University (BYU) is a private, research university located in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1875, it is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is the flagship institution of the Church Educational System (CES).BYU education is designed to be spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, and character-building. Students agree to abide by an honor code, which includes a strict dress and grooming standard and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee. Imagine this moral code of conduct in 2026 and that too in a country of excesses of every kind. BYU type institutions , even AFS which I and my wife headed for some years in India , show that humanism wins, art connects and community service is best. We Sikhs do that anyway!

We were at BYU Ballroom Dance Company show. ICCR presented it in Delhi at Kamani and in Bangalore at Brigade MRL Convention Centre in Whitefield. The group showcased spiffy dancing from Cha-cha ,Samba and music of Vivaldi and a song from Bollywood. Attending their show one loved the spirit even if the hall called the Brigade MRL Convention centre,  is not really fit for art events.  Not mainstream location; rather poor  disability concerns – with no railings to even hold on steps leading to the auditorium making senior citizens stumble and tumble to the foyer-  make it a poor venue for high end art events. Staff is also basic  with no understanding of how to guide, or even give mike or light to those speaking at the reception. The compere or select artistes could not be seen or heard beyond the first row.

But the dance on main stage- full of joy and team work and youth spirit –  made up for small hall lacunas. We Indians can’t function in teams anyway due to crab mentality but look at them Americans! Each one supported one another – the weak with the strong. Quick change costumes and shiny shoes were changed in nano seconds. Well-trained girls and boys who were college under grads basically, showed that this BYU Ballroom Dance Company is no college – level dance group but fit for the Broadway!  First rate lights, happy making music and total involvement begot them a well -earned standing ovation.

Standing ovation from the highest theatre institution in India – the National School of Drama in Delhi- was won by the TTB of Italy.  While I love Sweden for professional and personal reasons ( last line will share what’s personal!) and married in and to America,  the people I like most in Europe are them Italians. Why? They are noisy and nosy like us Indians; still have fulsome family life like us Indians and mammas ( mia) still plays an important role.  Roads in big cities are as challenging and chaotic there as here; bureaucracy there is as crazy as here and both the Prime ministers now are also good looking folks with charisma and popularity. Modi and Meloni.

TTB from Italy is the reason of my first visit abroad in 1979. When the Air India flight landed in Rome ( with me were the dasavataras or ten top artistes of Orissi acc Bharatanatyam like guru Mayadhar Raut, Banamali Maharana, Purna Majhi, Ashok Bhattachary ; guru K.J.Govindrajan, Meera Seshadri , T.N. Dandapani and T.Murti for my mother’s performance tour TTB had arranged with Odissi star Aloka Panikar) I was very disappointed that the grass was same green and traffic as democratic as at home.  The girls were all stylish model material and guys were plain romeos in Rome, cool in Como,  tricky in Torino, manipulative in Milan, fulsome in Firenza , bold in Bari , virile in Venice and on the whole Italian everywhere else! Our host the TTB was an eclectic group of theatre fiends who became friends of Indian arts. They started coming to India from the mid 1970s to learn our classical forms like Bharatanatyam ( first from my mother M.K.Saroja then London based Usha Raghavan), Odissi ( from Aloka Panikar) and Kathakali (from guru Krishnan Namboodri and then from John Kala mandalam). Today, 50 years later they are BETTER performers than many an Indian. They not only learnt a form, but its eco system : carnatic music, language like Sanskrit and more.

Every year they have come on their monies to learn more. They have done this with diligence, determination and dedication. Hats off to Renzo Vescovi, the founder head then seniors Beppe Chierichetti and Luigia Calcetti- the seniors. Today, the next generation who run the TTB are Tiziana Barbeiro, Alexander, Caterina and Reuben take the mission forward. That NSD head Dr. Bharat Gupt himself conducted an interaction with them, helped by yours truly, last month in Delhi, shows TTB had arrived, and how. The standing ovation said it all.

On the occasion, their translation of Natyashastra was launched in India and The Embassy of Italy and Italian Cultural Institute platformed them at their embassy on the eve of their Republic Day. Italy is a unique country in culture – design, film, fashion and FOOD! Add opera, art , architecture, scuplture and the whole spectrum.  We love Italy ( and no, I don’t need a visa to travel , so this praise is not about that!) because Italians have the ability to dance in the rains and not wait for the storm to pass.

ICCR Regional Director Pradeep Kumar (in red tie)

The work of ICCR Regional Director Pradeep Kumar, based in Bangalore last 3+ years is commendable. He is efficient, low key, hardworking and artiste -friendly. One has seen him activate ICCR profile not only in Bangalore but Chennai, Hyderabad and Trivandrum. ICCR was like from Kumbhakaran all these years before him, just time pass. Earlier Venugopal had done a good job in last decade and now Pradeep Kumar. He takes good care of artistes and students and integrated well. I would not have attended the BYU show (2 hours away in a badly trafficated part of Bangalore) but for his invite and follow up. This shows his commitment to inter cultural ICCR work. He was earlier posted in Bangkok and dancers settled there like Murli Mohan still talk highly of him. I’m sure many cultural centres will benefit from his posting though we prefer him here in namma Bengaluru for handling all South India activities of ICCR well.

So, I referred to Sweden in the opening para and the lasting gift it gave to my life… Is my wife, Elisabeth . We were colleagues at work in the biggest cultural exchange Sweden did with India, ever. 1987.  I was from the Indian side, she from Sweden. It was not love at first sight but lots of work! 1000 artistes ( folk, films  classical like Kumudini Lakhia, Alarmel Valli) . There was no WhatsApp those days, no email even. 10 big exhibitions, painters, textiles, crafts. No fax even, just telexes. Hand written air tickets! We worked very well together so I said : Come to India, see daily life. Deal with gas cylinders  ( then and now 40 years later!) . I declared I was no Maharaja.  She came, saw it all and stayed . She conquered all with her smiling disposition, honest, down to earth nature and goodness of heart – one can only be grateful to gods and grace of gurus.