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Kabir Festival begins: Shun superstition, think rational to stay safe, avers panel
The 10th Kabir Festival featured a session on rational thinking, debunking superstitions, along with performances honoring Guru Dutt and Zubeen Garg.
Busting several myths and superstitions propagated in society, the need for rational thinking was encouraged as part of a session ‘Mad Lab Mysteries’ on the first day of the 10th Kabir Festival on Friday. The three-day festival will continue at UP Sangeet Natak Akademi till Sunday.
Rama Shankar Bajpai and Rajkamal Srivastava during the session highlighted how people are being fleeced out of their money due to superstitions. In an experiment used to bust these superstitions, Srivastava ignited fire without any wood or matchsticks.
He later explained, “It is generally shown that some people light a fire by only pouring some liquid but the basic principle behind it is that the container is already coated with potassium permanganate, while glycerine is poured on it which leads to ignition.
“Similarly, in several videos you might have seen that people end up eating or holding fire. In those videos what is not told to you is that they use camphor which burns only uni-directionally causing no harm to hand or mouth when held or kept on the tongue,” said Srivastava, as he urged people to think rationally before falling prey to such superstitions.
The session was followed by a performance by Rooh, a band, where tributes were paid to filmmaker Guru Dutt and singer Zubeen Garg - celebrating their legacies. It is also the 100th birth anniversary year of Guru Dutt while Garg passed away a few months back.
The melodies rendered by the band including - ‘Jane kya chahe man bawra’, ‘Ya ali’, ‘O mere dil ke chain’, ‘Gulabi Aankhen’, ‘Pyar hume kis mod pe le aaya’, ‘Mere sapno ki rani’, ‘Daulat shohrat kya karni’, ‘Tera pyar kafi hai’, ‘Jane vo kaise log the jinke pyar ko pyar mila’ and ‘Neele neele ambar’ among others had the audience swaying and singing along with the band.
The day began with a Hindi solo play “Bahurupiya”, performed and directed by experimental theatre artist Luckyjee Gupta from Jammu and Kashmir. Written by Rajesh and inspired by the real lives of traditional Bahurupiya folk performers, the play discovered the hidden realities behind the rapidly disappearing art form. As part of the play he brought the hypocrisy, social contradictions, political tensions, and the everyday struggles woven into the performer’s life to light.
The internationally acclaimed play ‘Mezok’, written and directed by Jyoti Dogra was also staged in the evening. Performed with minimal props—a single table and a lone protagonist—the play brought the complex labyrinth of human desires, systemic challenges, and emotional landscapes shaped by real and metaphorical mountains to life. Among the actors were - Ambika Kamal, Jai Prakash and Naveen Kumar.
