Hello Mr.Shakespeare - An evening in Nehru Centre

Hello Mr.Shakespeare – An Evening in Nehru Centre

Rajashekhar Devarai

(Originally published in Shishuvan Blog at : http://www.shishuvan.com/wp/?p=7484)

http://www.shishuvan.com/wp/?p=7484)

Even after 400 years of his death this mans influence doe not seem to be diminishing by any count.  Was he an elitist, school, well read, highly educated or a genius? How is it that the mankind continues to relish his thoughts and writings.  What is the secret.?  This is the legacy of this great man who could not  live over 52 years. It was altogether a different break for me to listen to Dr.Coomi S . Vevaina yesterday evening at Nehru Centre Worli. 

Shakespeare seems to be her life breath through her thoughts, writings and deliberations.  Let us see how popular Shakespeare remains 400 years after his death.  A simple Google search was done and the results are interesting and as follows ;

Keywords	Number of results
Shakespeare	13 00 00 000
Shakespeare (book search)	24 90 000
Shakespeare (video search)	11 00 000
Shakespeare (News Search)	1 94 000
Shakespeare in India (general search)	2 56 00 000
God	1 31 00 00 000

It is just amazing! The popularity of this man never seem to diminish.  Did he ever realise and imagine that is and his writings would turn out into several libraries, a phenomenon, a wave, an ever expanding school of thought, after 400 years after his death? Perhaps no.  He was a simple unassuming scholar, down to earth, wrote and played for common man of his times. What if he did not know he was a genius, a rare genius! Dr.Coomi’s stock on Shakespeare titled, ‘Hello Shakespeare was rich in contents, thought provoking and sensitizing. She was emphatic on Shakespeare’s deep understanding of human psyche and  social / divine affairs. At the outset Dr.Coomi seemed to be excited to talk and interact. She was full of life and enthusiasm.  She was so proud to pronounce that Shakespeare continues to be more popular in Mexico and India than in his home land UK.  So engrossing was her engagement that I could not stop remembering best of my English teachers at my schools and colleges where I studied (Prof Mumbai, MB Biradar, Shalini Edith and Hanmanth Rao Masther). I wish and hope to listen to her talks often in future. 

Thank you Ms.Donna Reen and Ms.Arati Desai for the kind invite to attend the event.

Event detail :

·        Interactive talk on Shakespeare titled, “Hello Mr.Shakespeare’ by Coomi S Venaina

·        Time : 4.30pm

·        Date : 21^st April 2016

·        Venue : Nehru Centre (Discovery of India Building)

References :

·        http://www.nehru-centre.org/events/hello-mr-shakespeare/

·        http://www.coomivevaina.com/

·        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

·        new Book by Coomi S Vevaina : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eetS5XQvOUk