Keyword-Rang Bhoomi-swati

RANG BHOOMI
Rang Bhoomi can be said to be made of two hindi words, ‘rang’ which means colour and ‘bhoomi’ which means land. So the literal translation of it would be Coloured Land.
In its common usage this word is usually used in contrast with Karma Bhoomi, which again is a composite of two words, ‘karma’ meaning work and ‘bhoomi’ meaning land. So one can make out the larger interplay of work and play in the usage of these word-phrases, something serious as against something playful and jovial.
Rang bhoomi can be described as one open area where one ‘plays’, which allows ‘performativity’ and ‘theatricality’. This clearly differentiates it from two things:
*From an auditorium which is a closed space and where the stage is clearly demarcated from the audience seating area.
*From all utilitarian associations since it is a space used for non-work.
Since Rang Bhoomi is an open space used for performances, it can be said to be the area where street performance, live art, public mobilisation and other similar activities take place. But if we go by the sematic associations of the word, they could all be dismissed as trivial and apolitical. The word might assume that the conceptual categories of the ‘aesthetic’ and the ‘political’ are in adversarial relationship to each other but one cannot deny the power of the cultural intervention in the larger socio-political environment. I believe a careful examination of the cultural can unsettle the hegemonic hierarchies of ideas, organisations and principles that propel the dominant discourses around us.