Rowena and her labour of love

I have come across  stories where the sheer grit and determination on display have inspired me. But Rowena's tale far surpasses all of them - girl power personified! When I first heard about the Minack theatre  and the wonder it is, I knew I had to see this one. An open air theatre with the raging Atlantic ocean as the back drop - stuff of fairy tales indeed! I was determined to see it and we visited it while caravanning at Cornwall. And like the guide books mentioned I too did believe at first sight that it must have been constructed by the Romans or at least a truckload of huge builders with all their paraphernalia of cranes and bulldozers. But then the story of Rowena Cade unfolds  before your eyes - an aristocratic upbringing born to a famous artist, Rowena was associated with the theatre from a young age having performed in a few small scale productions and also assisting extensively in backstage props and costume design. There are those that are patrons of a particular art but then there are those that live and breathe for their art and give up their lives for it.
She decided to convert her garden at Cornwall to a staging area for plays and thus began the rest of her life as lover of the theatre but primarily visionary and master builder. She set off to work converting her back yard at Minack house for Shakespeare's Tempest. What started out as a simple staging area for this play then slowly evolved into this amazing sight that stretched out before my eyes. Stones cut and and polished to make seating areas and a central staging area painfully hand carved lovingly into stone. She loved Shakespeare and what a stage she created for his work. But as all pioneers do, she too faced hurdles at every corner. World war II for starters put a huge damper on progress but she ploughed on. Rowena would continue to work on the theatre all her life till her mid eighties. She struggled many a time to make ends meet as ticket sales failed to generate enough funds for upkeep but nothing fazed her. A women who single-handedly moved ship wrecked wood from the beach below for the dressing rooms knew a thing or two about muscling through any hurdle.....
With just two sidekicks, her gardeners, a seemingly "frail old women" achieved the impossible.Today the theatre is swarming with visitors and theatre folk but her journey was a lonely one filled with hardships. If you are ever wondering what to see in Cornwall, make this top of your list. My only misgiving was that we couldn't see one of the productions being staged there but hopefully one I will be given the chance to set right.
There are many moments when architectural wonders take our breath away but very few labours of love that choke us - a women who lovingly chiseled away  at a brutal mountain surface all her life to unearth her dream........


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUBp_LvXuc4

pyar ya pyar se bhi zyadaa

It's been a while since I blogged - a multitude of reasons but I prefer to  fashionably put it down to writer's block. My definition of writers' block - a writer banging their head against a block praying for inspiration, a bit dramatic but not too far-fetched. Then I came across this contest on India bloggers to write an article on.....lo and behold!- Love marriage Vs Arranged marriage. A topic discussed to death, argued on every platform often igniting  strong opinions. What more can little old me add that might make a difference? But that's probably why so many people have ridden this hobby horse - cause nobody can escape from it, everyone contemplates marriage at some point and before you know it there you are on that horse forming your opinions with each clippity clop. Enough of the equestrian comparisons - coming to the matter at hand what more can I add to this discussion? Well here goes...

Pyar - Everyone grows up with ideas of falling in love and finding that elusive soul mate. But how many of us can afford that luxury and even if we could is it always forever? A teenager's dream, a young person's hope, someone's reality and another's disillusionment. Flowers and hearts, sweet nothings and more - and why ever not cause when it hits you it catches you unawares, rocks your world and tilts it askew. And then when the dust settles and you are living the dream, can you keep it up without waking up? Reality bites and when it bites boy! does it chew at you in chunks. I have seen so many love marriages turn sour, when expectations let alone not managed, are hardly even acknowledged. Mind you there are always success stories as well. Couples who blossom in each others presence and stoke and kindle their chemistry to something that lasts till death does them part and if possible even beyond.  Alas ! we don't have more of them because they are beautiful to behold - a jigsaw that knits seamlessly into place, a poem entwined in music to make a song, a mish mash of colours on a canvas that spectators often scratch their heads to decipher.

Pyar se bhi zyadaa - an arrangement, a contract, realism in action.....do we like each other? do our families get along? do our horoscopes match? are we compatible?.....how many more questions can I list in my match-making checklist?.....possibly stark , a little de-stripped of emotion almost like the spotless bleached corridors of a hospital ward. Not a pretty image! but the realist that dozes in everyone and often wakes up in people like me and gives a kick up the backside and says "wake up fool!" is doing the salsa when faced with such an arrangement. Yes, it doesn't start off all whistles and bells and very few poets have been inspired by it but why then does it work so well? A love that grows with each day - ok ok that might be too optimistic a view. Let's say a love that waxes and wanes like the lunar cycle. A discovery in its most beautiful form, a quest if you will. Often a success story and why ever not? two people who have come into the relationship their feet firmly grounded and if  they do then learn to grow together, furrowing roots deep into the ground and maybe also throwing branches reaching for the heavens - indeed why ever not!
It has known to happen and yet again it is a sight to behold.

surrealism or realism,

a beautiful dream or a spiritual awakening,

the searing passion of turbulent waves or the soothing touch of babbling brooks,

pyar ya pyar se bhi zyadaa,

Who is equipped enough to fathom that hey? definitely not me.....

Yes, as the very appropriate strap line for the contest read - either you arrange the love or love the  arrangement! a conundrum indeed. An argument exists for both sides as always and I personally seesaw most of the time as most of us often do. But that's the beauty of life itself - choice , freewill, to make a decision and to commit to it and live it the best way possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71jHjIvEAI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=xPKQ1tzsBWI&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-J4xYOxJ9w&feature=fvwrel