prelude  The Pariharesvara Shiva temple of Dubi village in Kamrup district was built during the Ahom rule. The temple was endowed with three families of bayan, gayan and nati, brought from the Dergaon Neghariting Shiva Doul, for providing music and dances at appointed hours, the natis had to perform twice each day – at the hours of noontide puja and evening arati. Dances were also performed outside the temple on such occasions as the Pausha and Chaitra sankrantis. These natis wore the same dress as mentioned in our last edition. In recent times, the dancing girls used to wear a plain dress and take to multi-coloured saris and jackets. Ornaments of gold and silver were profusely put on: galpata, galmadali (necklaces), sona (knobs to pin to the earlobes), nak-phuli (nose pins), silver waistband, muthi (bracelet for the arms), rings for the fingers and toes and bharikharu (bracelet for the ankles) working as payeli. Of the two programmes of dancing before the Lord, the evening one is totally lost to us, because there is no one living who could reproduce the intricate music patterns pertaining to the arati dance on the khol. Among the different movements of the body, the most important are khat (somersault), tangalmochara (slowly moving the upper part of the body backward), and khud (bowing down with the hands stretched forward). The starting postures – ara, chata, phul ora and the foot-work are similar with the Satriya school. The instruments khol and bartal are the one we find in Satras. The term ramjani bajana, reminds one of the satriya ramsani. The music of the drums has the same language as those in an eastern satra. A few hastas like pataka, mukula, sikhara and alapadma are found to be used in the dance. E-mail your questions with answers at: only4_pol@yahoo.co.uk or post at: THE COLOSSEUM, Mosaic, Friday Supplement, The Assam Tribune, Guwahati-781003 or SMS at: 9864102417. Send your name in each SMS.

side screen  1) Picture Clue: At his own request, this Austrian composer was buried next to Beethoven, whom he had adored all his life, in 1828. Identify. (Neeroda Singha, Bhangagarh, Guwahati)

harmonisers  From Anupom Bora, Tezpur – 2) What is observed on May 11 each year to commemorate the writer Douglas Adams, which is named after the object that was depicted as an essential thing in his most famous book? 3) The language Meiteilon was recognized as one of India’s national languages in 1992. Which state’s language is this? 4) Which beverage is a named after the diminutive of the Slavic word for water? 5) “Master Chief Petty Officer John-117” is the lead character in which popular video game?

unities  From Saroj K. Deka, Guwahati – 6) Which famous actor, born on May 1, 1913 taught Hindi and English at Santiniketan before joining films? 7) Who won the Academy for best original screenplay for the 1947 film The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer? 8) Who played nine roles in the film Naya Din Nayi Raat?

do-re-me  9) Which famous Indian singer’s recording company is called Tharangini? (Pranjal Kishore Sharmah, Moscow) 10) Do you remember how twenty years ago, Taste the Thunder for English and South Indian channels and Toofani Thanda for Hindi belt channels in India electrified the Indian advertising stage? It had a stylish rock music track. Can you tell who is the composer of that campaign of Thums Up? (Alankar Kaushik, Assistant Manager, Communications, MidDayMeal, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) 11) Which film is about a pig who thinks he is a sheep dog? (Manjil P. Saikia, Tezpur) 12) In Norse mythology, where did the Gods live? (Maharnav Gogoi, A.E.C, Guwahati) 13) Sully Prudhomme was the first Nobel laureate in which category? (Anjum Dihingia, Darrang College, Tezpur) 14) In the Ramayana, what was the name of Dasaratha’s daughter? (Sonmani Das, Nalbari)

crescendo  15) Complete the lines “Till earth and sky stand, presently at God’s great judgement seat, …”? (Himjyoti Talukdar, Ashram, New Delhi)

answers  1) Franz Schubert 2) Towel Day 3) Manipur 4) Vodka 5) Microsoft Halo 6) Balraj Sahni 7) Sidney Sheldon 8) Sanjeev Kumar 9) K. J. Yesudas 10) Hossi Nanji 11) Babe 12) Asgard 13) Literature 14) Santa 15) East is East and West is West and the Twain shall never meet ... from Rudyard Kipling’s Ballads of the East and West