Triveni Kala Sangam is 75, place for many arts to meet and become one

New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) Bharatnatyam dancer Sundari Shridharani had but one condition when she commissioned legendary architect Joseph Allen Stein to give shape to her dream of “India’s most beautiful art centre” in the heart of Delhi – sunlight should filter through.

Those were the early days of Independent India. As nascent India grew, so did the Triveni Kala Sangam. The multidisciplinary centre is 75 years this year, a place of architectural, aesthetical and interdisciplinary porousness where the light flows through, just as the ideas that make it Delhi’s cultural centre.

Triveni Kala Sangam, a name given by flautist Vijay Raghav Rao that literally means a confluence of art, stands testament to Shridharani’s vision with its bright classrooms,

open walkways, large galleries, green courtyards, and a philosophy that not only encourages but “forces cross-fertilisation” of ideas and arts.

Painters M F Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Krishen Khanna, performers Yamini Krishnamurty, Ravi Shankar and Hariprasad Chaurasia, actors Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Rohini Hattangadi … just some of the names that have passed through the latticed corridors of the centre in Delhi’s Mandi House.

It has always been more than about the celebs. Triveni is also the place activists down generations gather to discuss campaigns or rehearse a street play, friends meet over coffee, art connoisseurs walk in to see an exhibition and music lovers file into the auditorium for a concert.

It all started in two rooms in Connaught Place in 1950. The story since is one of determination, innovation, creative freedom, and architectural inventiveness.

“My mother was a very stubborn lady, she would not give up,” Amar Shridharani, Triveni Kala Sangam general secretary, told PTI.

Sundari came up with the idea while she was training under Uday Shankar in Almora. It began to take form when Shankar Prasada, chief commissioner of Delhi in the 1950s, visited Sundari and her husband, renowned poet Krishnalal Shridharani, said “a lady like her should get a government land to build art institutes”.

“She forced my father to go back to him. And he said, ‘madam, I say this in every speech’. But she didn’t give up. She forced him to write letters to the minister. And they finally allotted her this land,” Shridharani said.

Sundari went to Stein, who was then working on government commissioned projects, with Rs 10,000 to offer and a freedom “to make it the way he wants”.

“The only condition was sunlight should come through, there should be less painting and more natural finish. There shouldn’t be anything that needs to be painted on the outside,” Shridharani said.

Along the way, then president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and vice president Zakir Husain gave a month’s salary to help Sundari pay for the construction. Other patrons like sitar legend Ravi Shankar helped while the US embassy contributed by taking her under-construction Nizamuddin home on rent for 10 years, which they never used.

Architect Sudhish Mohindroo, who worked with Stein to build the annexe building that now houses the art department, reflected that the idea was to create a building that is open not only to students but the public too.

“A building should not be looked at as a separate element on a property. You take different parts of a building, and arrange them in a way that you create non-building spaces. So the building is created as a U-shape, almost as a square. When you design the uses in the building, like galleries and classrooms, design them in a way that the building is porous, it is open to those unbuilt spaces,” Mohindroo said.

Enter the main foyer of Triveni and you are welcomed by the Shridharani gallery on the right; a staircase leads to the classrooms upstairs and another to the Art Heritage Gallery in the basement.

A sunlit corridor leads to more galleries and the famous Triveni Terrace Cafe at the end, all of which overlooks the amphitheatre, creating an open ecosystem of art and nature.

Triveni currently holds classes across different Indian classical arts, including bharatanatyam, kathak and chhau, flute, tabla, dholak, sitar, Hindustani vocals, theatre, and fine arts such as drawing, painting, and sculpture.

Sit in the garden and you can take in a performance at the amphitheatre, or just listen to the sound of ghunghrus, the bols of tabla, and ragas filling the air.

“Here you’re not isolated. Triveni is three rivers, dance, music, and painting and how they converge. The idea is to be open, and not just to students, to the public. It’s the philosophy of encouraging, making art accessible to people, so that they also become interested,” Mohindroo said.

This is exactly how the likes of artist Rameshwar Broota and theatre veteran Feisal Alkazi saw Triveni the first time they came here.

While Broota, who has been heading the art department since 1967, came to the cafe one day and was enamoured with Triveni’s openness, Alkazi associated with Triveni through his father, theatre legend Ebrahim Alkazi, before becoming a frequent visitor himself.

Alkazi has roamed the corridors of Triveni for more than 50 years, putting up his shows, rehearsing, or simply conversing with like-minded crowds.

“Every weekend, there used to be plays by Om Shivpuri, B M Shah, and Habib Tanvir. Shriram Centre came up much later. LTG came up later. Kamani came up later. Triveni Kala Sangam was the only art centre at that time,” Alkazi recalled.

Broota’s association began in 1963 when he came to Triveni with a friend for tea and a sandwich.

“Then I thought, ‘let’s see what is there’. So I went out and saw the gallery. Then I went downstairs to the art department. There was an art gallery upstairs. At that time, I thought, ‘this is such a good place. I wish I could get a job here after I pass’.” In 1967, then head of department K S Kulkarni called Broota to offer him a job at Triveni. It has been a nearly 60-year association.

Chhau teacher Sapan Acharya noted that students from theatre schools, most prominently the National School of Drama across the Mandi House circle, have come to learn the dance form that relies heavily on facial expressions, agility, and fluid movements.

One of its most notable students is Manoj Bajpayee, who learned chhau for four years under Sapan’s father Lingaraj Acharya.

Triveni has also shaped careers of countless noted artists in its 75 years, including Hema Malini, who received her early education in bharatanatyam under Ramaswamy Pillai.

In a journey spanning almost eight decades, the philosophy of Triveni being a centre of accessible arts has remained the same. Anyone should be able to exhibit and anyone should be able to see a performance or an exhibition, regardless of whether they can afford it or not.

In her later years, Sundari, who passed away in 2012, would tell her son, “If you want to run this place, there are a few conditions.” “There is going to be no salary for you. We don’t take donations. We don’t take government funds. The rental for the galleries is going to be low so artists with a budget can get a chance. We have two auditoriums that you can book, but you can’t sell a ticket,” Shridharani said, recalling his mother’s directives.

“So we have a lot of difficulties renting the auditoriums out. Until now we haven’t used the ticket room, I know we may have to do it one day but right now we are doing pretty fine,” he added. PTI MAH MIN MIN MIN