Bali Travel Series: Kintamani volcano & Ubud art village

In continuation with my Bali Travel series (Read Part 1 of the same series on Bali Theatre), I thought I should now talk about the various ‘day-trips’ to Bali. While we explored quite a few options, the one we enjoyed the most was the Kintamani Volcanos/Ubud art village trip.

We started off form our hotel in Sanur early in the morning and started with the Barong Dance – a dance-drama depiction of Good Vs. Evil in traditional Balinese style. A ‘typical’ Kintamani tour – that countless tour operators, travel agencts and independent drivers will trying selling to you – will start with the Barong Dance which happens once a day at about 9 AM in the morning. Both Shruti and I agreed it was pretty average and could have easily been given a miss. The good part is that apart from the Barong Dance, the rest of the day/tour totally rocks!

A still from the Barong Dance

We headed to Ubud art village which falls on the way to the Kintamani Volcanos. Ubud, as the name indicates, contains a set of small micro-villages in areas adjacent to each other. Each of these ‘micro-villages’ (and this is my terminology) has small houses where a set of artisans live and work on their respective craft. For instance, there are separate areas for carpenetery, silver-smith and gold-smith, traditional Balinese painting, egg-painting, local textile, woodwork – and the craftsmanship is rich, intense and more often than not, onen is tempted to buy ‘stuff you can display at home.’ We purchased this soothing painting of Buddha and some hand-made cane lamps fr our living room.

A view of the Kintamani Volcano

It was almost time for lunch by the time we reached what we were most eagerly waiting for – the active Kintamani Volcano. The place offers excellent views and around the volcano one can see charred grasslands, around the volcanic opening. We were not fortunate enough to see Lava flowing out (or maybe we were fortunate to not experience that bit! ), but the icing on the cake was the realization that Bali, depite being such a tiny island, has everything – from gorgeous beaches to hills, coffee plantations, rice-fields and if that weren’t enough – an active Volcano!

How is Ms. J.Jayalalithaa different from Mr. Giorgio Armani?

One great man and another great woman – Not sure if greatness is common to both, but in her mind, the latter definitely seems confident. I will come to the Giorgio Armani bit towards the end of the article. While I usually refrain from commenting on Indian politics/politicians on TalkingTails, this is a thought that has been brewing in my mind for a bit and a news article (rather, a photograph) compelled me to share my views on how attention-hungry our politicians are.

I can imagine a baby craving for attention of her family members. But that is because the baby has seen less of the world and wants to be seen and heard and create her own identity. But how does one justify Ms. J. Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, 63 years old and a successful actress in Tamil, Telegu, Kannada and Hindi films craving for attention?

Of course, the lady in question has been coming up in a lot of discussion of late (as always!) thanks to her laptop to every child in Tamil Nadu initiative. While the initiative in itself is credible and might help take the power of the computer to the masses at a very early age, what irked me about the picture below was that every laptop had Jayalalithaa’s face imprinted on the screen flap – visible clearly to the whole world. It is as if the laptop has been payed for by Jayalalithaa’s private heirloom, rather than state money. Such blatant shows of power not only undermine the impact of the initiative, but also goes to  show how every breathe that many of our politicians take reek of self-propelling behavior. And all this, while they ‘pose’ to be serving the people, selflessly. Note, selflessly.

Personal branding at its scintillating best!

Cut to Milan, Italy. Mr. Giorgio Armani – perhaps an iconic personal brand himself and a living legend. Granted – he epitomizes neo-capitalism and has a clear focus on fashion, monetizing fashion and improving the quality of people’s lives with his artistry in apparel, accessories, jewellery and interior design. He makes it a point to ensure that no advertisements of any of Armani’s brands – Armani/Exchange, Emporio/Armani, Armani/Casa, etc – end up carrying a picture of the man himself. The reason is simple: he believes in the maxim that his philosophy should outlive him and must transcend over time.

Having spent 2 years in Lucknow, I have seen more than enough statues of Mayavati-ji strewn across important crossings and landmarks across the city. Clearly our leaders in general and our 2 leading lady politicians, in particular need to stop believing in:

“The evil that men do lives after them,
the good is oft interred with their bones”

- Act 3, Scene II, Julius Caeser by William Shakespeare

Dear politicians – I am sure the evils that you commit will outlive you. The little good that you bring to society will also outlive you, provided you stop shouting about it into people’s ears!

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THEATRE REVIEW: Bali Agung: The Legend of the Balinese Goddesses

There’s truly a lot to write home about my recent visit to Bali. For instance, I want to share more details about the fact that it is a completely Hindu country – replete with rituals, ceremonies and traditions. Really, I am quite enchanted by that island. It has everything – from a beautiful sea all around to mountains and an active volcanoe, and from tradidional Balinese massage and all kinds of water-sports at Nusa Dua to a ‘clubbing area’ for party poopers called Kuta. I will try and cover some of it in the next 2 posts in this 3-part series on Bali.

For now though, I will restrict this post to writing about something very special that Shruti and I saw there. At Bali Safari & Marine Park (bound to remind you of the Night Safari/Jurong Bird Park in Singapore), the Bali Theatre hosts a very special theatrical performance called ‘Bali Agung: The Legend of the Balinese Goddesses’. The play tells the story of the 12th century Hindu King of Bali – King Sri Jaya Pangus and his beloved wife Kang Chng Wie, daughter of a Chinese merchant. As the king steos out of home after many years of unsuccesfully trying for a child, he is seduced by Dewi Danu, the Goddess of fertility.

I will not disclose more of the story – and would instead, leave that for my readers to discover and perhaps experience the theatre in person. Rather, I would like to dwell on the fact that the lighting, stage, effects, costumes and the overall granduer was of a very high quality – perhaps even better than in production quality to the last theatre I had seen at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore – and that was ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ – by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Read my review here).

What makes ‘Bali Agung’ stand out is the vivid marriage of music, visuals, storytelling, human performers and animals from Bali Safari. The 5 seem to integrate seamlessly to create an experience that is very pleasing to see from a distance on the wide stage in front of you at Bali Theatre. Although there are 180 performers in the show, and perhaps many more who work behind the stage, the 3 people who deserve a special mention are the Creative Director Peter J Wilson, the Balinese Choreogpraher I Made Sidia and for some ground-breaking music – Chong Lim, the Australian composer who also composed the music for the closing ceremony of the 2006 Olympics.

By the way, in case of any of you reading this are visiting Bali soon, please get me a CD of the music of this production by Chong Lim. It is available right outside the performance area. Let me leave you with the trailer of the production on the Theatre’s official Youtube Channel.

For more pics, schedules and details, do check out: www.balitheatre.com