Deep in the estuarine heart of Bengal, the Fakir cries Hori Hori and the Sadhak weeps, inundated with divine love for Allah. The Bauls, driven mad by the wind, sing with voices as broad as the open sky and make lyrical pilgrimages to Varanasi, Mecca and the river Jordan, unhindered by that sad, small religosity which drives fools to build graveyards in the shape of temples.
I watched Maati Katha in Thrissur, where the spires of the Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours hold aloft that same cerulean sky which embraces Holy Vadakkunnathan Temple and Ancient Cheraman Perumal Masjid. Choiti reminded me that I come from a place where the names of Gods are borrowed, not given, and that the mud in my veins runs thicker than holy water.
And so here is a song of mud which I have borrowed from the master, Deb Das Baul. This too was gifted to me many years ago in Kerala, the bones of which I have ornamented with secret chords and the sacred voicings of the Holy Mother Church, which hold aloft a tale of Krishna in this, the Blessed Land of Blue-throated Shiva.
May you contain multitudes.
May you be legion.
Joy Guru
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#takebacktradition #stolenprayersongs #slideguitar #guitar #guitarist #kerala #bengal #baul #beach #temple #ocean #music #musician #travel #indianmusic #reelsindia #reels #musicvideo #fyp #fypシ #explore #arjunchandran #basilica
Yudhishthira weeps with all creatures…
Last year, the Mahatma Kalaimamani PK Sambandan gifted the actors of @indianostrum.theatre the story of Abhimanyu, in which this song is sung to announce Yudhisthira, eldest of the Pandavas and rightful Emperor of the World. As I heard it being taught to our actors, it brought to mind the orchestral fanfare which would historically announce the entry of Kings and Emperors into the Great Halls of the world, from the Palatium Apostolicum in Vatican City to the Chrysotriklinos at the Palace of Constantinople.
And look now. How low we have fallen, that Arjuna the Lockpicker dares play a tune to the footsteps of Dharmaputra under vaulting arches built from the bones of Palestrina upon the sacred soil of Purisai.
All dogs go to heaven.
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#takebacktradition #stolenprayersongs #slideguitar #guitar #resonatorguitar #music #musician #arjunchandran #indianmythology #fanfare #fyp #reelsindia
Prophecy cannot be sung softly
But proclaimed over the roofs of the village
In open-throated exultation
A thunderous celebration of
The End Of All Things
So hearken now, dear friends
To this foretelling from The Morrígan,
She who chooses warriors to fall
And artists to fly A hundred thousand thanks to Matt Eich of @muleresonatorguitars and his team of geniuses for gifting me the guitar of my dreams and to @mayaskrishnan my dear, dear friend who brought my voice to me from across the entire world.
And so it begins.
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#takebacktradition #slideguitar #muleresonatorguitars #guitar #music #musician #fyp #fypシ #explore #reelsindia #reelsmusic #arjunchandran
It’s been a fantastic 3 month schedule in Pune and we’re finally presenting what we’ve been working on this weekend at SLR, Pune.
Come by and show your love!
*Indianostrum Theatre* in association with *Maharashtra Cultural Centre* and Les Francophonies - Des écritures à la scène, Limoges-France presents:
Requiem For A Theatre: Prelude
10,11,12 April
7 pm
SLR, Hirabaug, Pune
Booking link:
/explore/all/MCC/requiem-for-a-theatre/69bf8541e3a523e39cd21bda
Phone Booking:
+91 96964 94141
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Under the patronage of Vijay Sethupathi
Indianostrum Theatre
in association with Maharashtra Cultural Centre presents
REQUIEM FOR A THEATRE - The musical
We welcome you to celebrate theatre and explore the one question - "What is it that only theatre can do?"
10,11,12 April
7 pm
SLR, Hirabaug, Pune
Booking link:
/explore/all/MCC/requiem-for-a-theatre/69bf8541e3a523e39cd21bda
Phone Booking:
+91 96964 94141
All voices deserve to be heard and to sing together is the ultimate act of communion.
Be with us as we finally bring this labour of love to stage.
Requiem For A Theatre: Prelude opens on the 10th of April, 2026 at SLR in Pune.
*Indianostrum Theatre* in association with *Maharashtra Cultural Centre* and Les Francophonies - Des écritures à la scène, Limoges-France presents:
Requiem For A Theatre: Prelude
10,11,12 April
7 pm
SLR, Hirabaug, Pune
Booking link:
/explore/all/MCC/requiem-for-a-theatre/69bf8541e3a523e39cd21bda
Phone Booking:
+91 96964 94141
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#theatre #lacrimosa #reelsmusic #reelsindia #fyp
When the last light in the Theatre
Was finally put out
We found each other
By the sound of our voices
And told stories of how we survived that darkness.
Requiem for a Theatre was born in the rubble of Indianostrum Theatre. While we filled trunks and cartons with costumes and properties, we had no vessel large enough to contain our songs, stories and memories. So we have made this play.
As a theatre company in exile, we have wandered far from our home but have been offered refuge here, in Pune, a city brimming over with the spirit of theatre and music.
And, finally, we will be taking stage on the 10th, 11th and 12th of April at Shreeram Lagoo Rang-Avakash to tell the story of how we found each other by the sound of our voices in the dark.
Requiem for a Theatre is produced by Indianostrum Theatre in association with the Maharashtra Cultural Centre and Les Francophonies - Des écritures à la scène, Limoges-France.
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10/11/12 April, 2026
7pm
SLR, Hirabaug, Pune
To a clown passing by, a child asked:
What pleasure do you take in falling and making me laugh?
The pleasure of hearing your laughter...
What pleasure do you take in making me cry?
The pleasure of seeing your heart lighter...
What pleasure do you take in provoking me?
The pleasure of seeing you react...
What pleasure do you take in criticising me?
The pleasure of seeing you resist...
And that is why we go to theatre, to feed the insolent child inside all of us, to stride across a wasteland and to go to the edge of the society of which we are the centre.
The theatre is a closed space open to the general public.
We who stand in lines outside, shall enter when the theatre doors are flung open to us all...
And on stage, the unknown and illustrious heroes shall awake.
for an nth performance of the same question:
can we raise a monument to the ephemeral?
Indianostrum Theatre in association with Maharashtra Cultural Centre presents
REQUIEM FOR A THEATRE - The musical
10,11,12 April
7 pm
SLR, Hirabaug, Pune
After a long pause, Indianostrum Theatre returns and that too at the heart of theatre land. Honestly, the welcome couldn’t have been warmer.
PUNE has embraced us with immense love, care, and encouragement, reminding us why we do what we do.
We are happy to announce our collaboration with the Maharashtra Cultural Centre. We are two months into the process at one of Pune’s most loved theatre spaces, Sudarshan Rangmanch, a space with legacy, heritage and the love of theatre.
Something exciting, a little mysterious, and quite electrifying is slowly taking shape.
Stay tuned.
There’s a song I would sing to myself
Before I knew words
Or tunes
Before the world had a name
When I was nothing other than my self.
I hold faint memories of that time
Between latticed fingers, behind unopened doors
In the sounds of wild creatures and
The smell of karpooram.
When I gaze into the dark, silent places of the world,
My fingers part
And my doors are thrown open
And the four winds tear me apart
To make place for you,
O Dhananjaya,
He Who Would Be Me If I Could Be Me.
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#takebacktradition #slideguitar #guitar #arjunchandran #reelsindia
Come, let me tell you a tale
In soft, dark places where the mud keeps our secrets
Where stories unfold
Unbidden, untold
And a glance into truth
Will glitter like gold.
All that I am
And all that I was
Is all that I have and all this because
All things will pass and all Men are told
All we are worth is all that we hold.
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#takebacktradition #slideguitar #guitar #reelsindia #arjunchandran
