From Metrolife, May 9, 2005...
Collecting stamps, currency and matchboxes are some well-known hobbies but collecting clippings of newspapers as a hobby is something that is extremely unusual. Pandithar Sivakumar Perumal, an accounts officer from Pune, who was in Bangalore for World Dance Day, is one such unusual hobbyist. He has a peculiar passion for collecting clippings on dance published in newspapers and magazines.
Passion for dance stories on news pages Pravin D Shiriyannavar
Inspiration
Perumal says, “It all started when I watched a dance performance in Pune. Overwhelmed by the performance, I read the review and felt like reading it again to know the nuances of the dance. This fuelled my desire to attend more dance performances and read about them. This went on and I started enjoying collecting newspaper and magazine clippings on dance.”
Sivakumar has collected more than 1000 clippings from 38 newpapers and 12 magazines both in English and other vernacular languages since the year 2000. The whole idea behind his collecting the write-ups was to learn details of various forms of dance. “I have a long way to go and in this process I have learnt the nitty-gritty of dance. Through these clippings, I have followed the way artistes have evolved over a period of time and noticed even the smallest transformations in them,” he adds.
Many hurdles
He has faced many hurdles in getting copies of leading regional newspapers through courier. “Sometimes there are stories on both sides of the same page and I was left with one copy,” he reveals. This collection has not only enhanced his inquisitiveness to read about dance, but also writing. Recently his review was published in a London Dance magazine. Sivakumar now plans to catagorise the clippings and sort them out so that they can be accessed quickly when needed. He is also planning to develop a soft version of the clippings, in order to make accessibility easier.
Shivakumar Pandithar can be reached at spandithar@yahoo.com
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