The Fabulous Rajas—Last Shakespeareans Of Bangalore

04/05/22 • 39 min

In old Bangalore, when you drove past the airport on the largely deserted road towards the suburb of Whitefield, was a farm, with trees and chickens and stuff that farms have.

It was owned by a couple whose voices were instantly recognizable as the principal voices of the English language stage in Bangalore—Arundhati and Jagdish Raja. Their farm was called Jagriti.

Today, the road is far from deserted and in the place of the farm, stands a theatre. A beautiful auditorium, in what should be described as a centre for all things cultural and literary.

The theatre retains the name of the old farm, Jagriti, but if there are any chickens there, I dare say, they aren’t running free on the range.

I call Arundhati and Jagdish Raja the Last Shakespeareans of Bangalore.

But now, who is a Shakespearean? Some people ask.

I mean who among us doesn’t know what ‘Platonic’ and ‘Aristotelian’ and ‘Einsteinean’ mean, but what's Shakespearean?

To me, anyone who has read a few plays of Shakespeare, has acted in a play even in school, bristles at the mention of Francis Bacon, and never finds the need to refer to him as the Bard of Avon, is a Shakespearean.

One wag described being Shakespearean as, "A modern sonnet with three quatrains and a punchy couplet."

Well, replace "punchy couplet" with "punchy couple" and it makes me proud to be able to present on my show, Bangalore’s last Shakespeareans.
ABOUT THE RAJAS
Arundhati Raja
Arundhati Raja, co-founded the Artistes’ Repertory Theatre in 1982. The company and its productions are now an integral part of Bangalore’s cultural history. While directing and acting, she also taught French, Biology and Drama for several years and considers her life as a teacher to be instrumental to her deep desire to encourage and support new talent. Arundhati Raja has now directed over 30 productions and continues to perform, teach and motivate a new generation of theatre makers.

Jagdish Raja
Jagdish was Principal of Pan Communications in London, England with clients in the UK, USA and Europe before returning to India with Arundhati, his wife, in 1972. He was an advertising consultant to companies and agencies and Advisor Communications at ActionAid.
Jagdish is a Graduate Member of the Communications Advertising & Marketing Society (M.CAM) London and an Associate of Trinity College London (ATCL). He is Founder Trustee of The ART Foundation, a registered Charitable Trust, which administers JAGRITI.
TO CONTRIBUTE TO OR GET IN TOUCH WITH JAGRITI
Start at their website jagrititheatre.com. Questions: [email protected]. Social: Facebook and Instagram — [@jagrititheatre].

WHAT'S THAT WORD?! - "AMATEUR".
Co-host Pranati "Pea" Madhav joins Ramjee Chandran in the segment "What's That Word?", where they discuss the origins of the word, "amateur" and a limerick on love.

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In old Bangalore, when you drove past the airport on the largely deserted road towards the suburb of Whitefield, was a farm, with trees and chickens and stuff that farms have.

It was owned by a couple whose voices were instantly recognizable as the principal voices of the English language stage in Bangalore—Arundhati and Jagdish Raja. Their farm was called Jagriti.

Today, the road is far from deserted and in the place of the farm, stands a theatre. A beautiful auditorium, in what should be described as a centre for all things cultural and literary.

The theatre retains the name of the old farm, Jagriti, but if there are any chickens there, I dare say, they aren’t running free on the range.

I call Arundhati and Jagdish Raja the Last Shakespeareans of Bangalore.

But now, who is a Shakespearean? Some people ask.

I mean who among us doesn’t know what ‘Platonic’ and ‘Aristotelian’ and ‘Einsteinean’ mean, but what's Shakespearean?

One wag described being Shakespearean as, "A modern sonnet with three quatrains and a punchy couplet."

Previous Episode

The Prose Of Protest And The Suppressed Smile With Aakar Patel

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About two decades ago I offered Aakar Patel a job as editor of Explocity. And just when we were all set, the famous and reputable newspaper in Mumbai, Mid-Day, offered Aakar a job as Editor and...well, of course I understood. If he had not accepted that job I would have forced him to.
But you know what they say... when one editorial door closes and another...oh the hell with the analogies... I heard that Tushita Patel, Aakar’s partner, was leaving her job as Editor of The Asian Age. I called her and she hopped a flight to Bangalore and joined Explocity as Editor and totally killed.
Twenty years later, I am fortunate to count them both as friends. And not principally because they make fried fish with that mustard thang.
Now, anyone with even a peripheral interest in Indian politics ought to know Aakar Patel.
And even though newspapers around the country have recently developed new and deeper shades of funk by not continuing to publish Aakar’s anti-injustice polemic, he remains India’s most prolific columnist.
The context of Aakar's prose is serious, the tone often calling question to judgment, but you can sense a suppressed smile under every description.
Here’s an example of what I call the suppressed smile.
In a socio-political comment about the inability or at least, unwillingness of the Indian to be gracious in defeat, he uses cricket. In an article titled The Banality Of The Indian Cricket Fan he wrote and I quote, “It’s about nationalism, which in India is narrow and zero-sum. If they score even a little victory, a boundary, our tumescence droops.”
That writing is not magic realism—whatever manner of contrivance the phrase magic realism is—but maybe I’ll call this one... Cialis In Wonderland...?
The reason humour lurks beneath even the most serious of Aakar’s writing is because he sees the foibles of the hoi polloi as absurd theatre.
In a recent event promoting the launch of his latest book, The Price Of The Modi Years, someone in the audience asked him if saw hope in the political scenario in India, when viewed from the depressed side of the divide.
“Yes,” he replied, “but maybe it will take a couple of election cycles.”
“Thank you, Aakar!” The audience member cried irrationally, “thank you for saying there’s hope!!!”
I smiled and tried to catch Aakar’s eye but I could tell that he was busy trying to figure out how not to become a prophet—although in India pundit and prophet somehow become synonymous.
Today Aakar is my guest as neither prophet nor rationalist, but as a writer and I got to ask him a bunch of questions about what makes him, above all, one of the country’s most compelling writers.
ABOUT AAKAR PATEL
Aakar Patel is a syndicated columnist who has edited English and Gujarati newspapers. His books include 'Why I Write', a translation of Saadat Hasan Manto’s Urdu non-fiction (Tranquebar, 2014), 'Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here', a study of majoritarianism in India and Pakistan (Westland, 2020), 'Price of the Modi Years', a history of India after 2014 (Westland, 2021) and 'The Anarchist Cookbook', a guide on why and how to protest (HarperCollins, 2022). He is Chair of Amnesty International India.
Buy The Price Of The Modi Years here: https://amzn.to/3DiXsVU
WHAT'S THAT WORD?! - "HOI POLLOI".
Co-host Pranati "Pea" Madhav joins Ramjee Chandran in the segment "What's That Word?", where they discuss the origins of the phrase hoi polloi with asides on cunning linguists.

Next Episode

The Fortuitous Rise Of Sanjoy K Roy And The Jaipur Literature Festival

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The reason I use the word fortuitous in the title of this episode of The Literary City is because Sanjoy K Roy, one of the founders of the Jaipur Literature Festival...let’s call it JLF, like everyone else...told me that its success was an accident.

Some say there are no accidents. You know, you dinged your dad’s car because you were careless...and not because the fates conspired to override your otherwise cautious and attentive demeanour.

Typically, people become successful because of their efforts—not despite them. Usually you will find that what we ascribe to luck included a great deal of knowledge, foresight and a gust of planning. As a wise man once ought to have said, the harder you work, the luckier you get yadda...yadda...

Now, JLF has editions all over the world, and—as a foot note to the flagship—its parent company Teamworks Arts handles several more events every year.

But Sanjoy Roy is my guest on The Literary City today because I want to establish that someone who turned what he calls an accident into the largest festival of literature in the world, is himself, by nature, literary.

There is one simple way to find out—and that’s to ask him.

And so, I am privileged to present today, someone who speaks for all of literature, Sanjoy Roy.
ABOUT SANJOY ROY
Sanjoy K Roy, an entrepreneur of the arts, is the Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 33 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals in 40 cities across the world including the iconic annual Jaipur Literature Festival, international editions of JLF and the launched-during-lockdown digital JLF Brave New World series. He is a founder trustee of Salaam Baalak Trust, providing support services for street and working children in Delhi. He is also the founder Trustee of the Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust. Roy works closely with various industry bodies and the government on policy issues in the cultural sector in India, and has lectured and collaborated with leading international universities. He established Teamwork in 1989, a highly versatile production house with wide ranging interests in the performing and visual arts, social sector and films and television.
The upcoming bespoke edition of JLF—according to the publicity—will be a 10-day festival held from 13-22 May, 2022 and will celebrate the theme of SLOW LIFE including topics of food, art, wellness, fiction, climate change and environment. Elif Shafak and Huma Abedin are among the speakers. The location is the Soneva Fushi resort in the Maldives.
WHAT'S THAT WORD?! - "DIDACTIC".
Co-host Pranati "Pea" Madhav joins Ramjee Chandran in the segment "What's That Word?", where they discuss the etymology and pretentious nature of the word "didactic".

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