Vaikuntam’s Telangana

The brightly painted figures of Telangana men and women are Thota Vaikuntam’s signature style, he exaggerated contoured of reconstructed form, with highly stylised folk features and perspective mark his paintings.

The morphemes, defined as the minimal meaningful unit of language, in Vaikuntam’s case his visual language, are the foreheads adorned with kumkum bindi amidst a plane of turmeric paste in case of women and sectarian marks for men. Textiles marked with dots, red vermillion dipped palms, red lips and elongated eyes are other characteristic features of his work for the last five decades or so.

The feminine element is exaggerated in the full form, with midriffs peeking through vivid apparel that is flowing and yet clinging. The physicality associated with fecund femininity is emphasised through the use of shringar or adornment of the female self through body marks, make-up, ornaments, coiffure and the like. The men are comparatively less flamboyant in terms of clothes and decoration but no less dramatic than their female counterparts.

So, when one comes across a show titled Metamorphosis: The Changing World of Thota Vaikuntam at Art Alive, there is a natural inquisitiveness regarding this transmutation. The change is certainly not in his style, colour or basic form. And many of the paintings do depict his typical Telangana men and women. Evolution and change is seen in the relatively complex compositions with a new interactive and at times a conversational element flowing between the figures.(మరింత…)

I want to uphold Telangana cultural identity through my art : Vaikuntam మార్చి 12, 2011

Posted by bharath in Art, Bathukamma, Culture, Godavari, heritage,Hyderabad, Identity, Karimnagar, Personalities, Telangana, Telugu. 
Tags: Dusserah, Million March, separate state, Thota Vaikuntam
add a comment

My art is my aspiration for Telangana: Thota Vaikuntam
Sify
New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) The art of Thota Vaikuntam, leading Indian figurative painter, remains loyal to the aspiration for autonomy and a distinct socio-cultural identity of his native turf, Telangana.

Vaikuntam is described as the most visible face of Telangana, his lines reflecting the battle for a separate state.

Considered one of the best figurative artists in the country, Vaikuntam is often feted as the ‘Jamini Roy of the south’.

He has exhibited worldwide and has been honoured with nine national and state awards.

‘My art is my village, Boorugupally in Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, the soul of the crusade for a separate identity for Telangana. My art will never move out of my village and people,’ 69-year-old Vaikuntam told IANS.(మరింత…)

Telangana Maha March on, several groups brave police ban మార్చి 10, 2011

Posted by bharath in agitation, Bathukamma, BJP, CPI, Hyderabad, Identity,Mulki, Muslim, Osmania, politics, regionalism, students, Telangana. 
Tags: APSRTC Employees Union, CPI ML- New Democracy, KULSA, Million March, Railway Employees Union, SUJAC, Telangana Praja Front
add a comment

Telangana million march begins as thousands brave police ban
Deccan Chronicle, March 10th, 2011
IANS

Hyderabad: Braving massive presence of police and paramilitary forces and violating ban orders, thousands of people, demanding separate statehood to Telangana, reached Tank Bund in the Andhra Pradesh capital for the ‘million march’.

Raising slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’ and holding flags of various parties, the activists reached Tank Bund from different directions, though the police had sealed all the surrounding routes for vehicles.

The protestors broke the police barricade and removed the barbed wires at Ambedkar statue and were heading towards the road along Hussain Sagar Lake. The policemen deployed there were outnumbered by the protestors.

“The future of coming generations is more important for me than my examination,” said a student who reached Tank Bund immediately after writing Class 11 exams.

The protestors included students, political workers, employees and others from Hyderabad and various districts of Telangana. (మరింత…)

Telangana dream sours : Kancha Ilaiah ఫిబ్రవరి 13, 2010

Posted by Telangana Utsav in Bathukamma, BCs, BJP, compromise, Congress,corruption, CPI, Culture, Economy, Identity, JAC, Parliament, politics, Reddy,regionalism, SC, Settler, suicide, TDP, Telangana, Velama. 
9 comments

Telangana dream sours

Deccan Chronicle, February 13th, 2010

By Kancha Ilaiah

The movement for Telangana has now touched a peak. It has also become a movement with unique characteristics. Masses belonging to all walks of life have come out to the streets with their cultural symbols. We can see dalit-Bahujans beating drums and dholaks, the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) with their ploughshares and bullock carts, shepherds with their flock, toddy tappers with their moku (rope assembly used to climb palm trees) and muttadu (the belt they wear to keep their hatchet) and stone-breakers with their own iron artefacts.

The festive game of Bathukamma (a women’s festival celebrated mainly during Dasara, pro-Telangana activists are performing the Bathukamma on the highways as a form of protest and to highlight their Telangana identity) was also enacted. It was being projected as a cultural symbol.

During the age of Nizam, Bathukamma used to be enacted by the Shudras — mostly OBCs. Dalits were not allowed to participate as they were seen as pollutants even by the OBCs of lower order. And the upper caste women — particularly Brahmins, Komatis, Reddys and Velamas — would not participate as it was seen as a Shudra festive game. They thought it was below their dignity.

Now suddenly some Dorasanlu (women of dominant castes) went to this play as a symbol of the agitation. Is it for Telangana or for power?

The most interesting thing is that while the lower castes are using their cultural symbols to achieve a separate Telangana, the members of former feudal families are playing the politics of agitation. We also see a surprising unity between some Reddy and Velama political lords.

The whole attempt by these two caste forces is to control the political joint action committee (JAC) that is driving the Telangana agitation. Some academicians have also been drawn in to mediate between those two otherwise politically warring castes.