Last month, the late Pakistani poet and author Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem titled ‘A lullaby for a Palestinian Child’ birthed a poignant Bharatanatyam performance in Delhi. Titled Lori , the movement piece was Bengaluru-based Aranyani Bhargav’s attempt at making sense of a brutal conflict, and more so, its bearing on children. She was just one of the many performers — spanning mediums and years of experience — who came together that evening for the brutalised children caught in the crossfires of the Israel-Palestine war.
And it was one of 18 such evenings, world over, that artists’ collective Indian Dancers for Gaza’s Children (IDGC) led, to raise funds as well as create a platform for collective outrage, and healing. Being mute spectators to a deafening conflict and the subsequent loss of lives many miles away is jarring. Right from October-November 2023, shortly after the war began, Bhargav, co-founder of IDGC along with South African dance scholar and activist Donovan Robert, was itching to react.
The question was how. “What really struck me was the fact that there is so much targeted violence against children in this conflict. It was unprecedented,” she says.
“Wars are supposed to be fought between armies. Why are children involved?” Aranyani Bhargav’s Lori | Photo Credit:Dinesh Khanna Raising their voices Propelled by a feeling of “absolute helplessness and horror”, Bhargav and Robert decided to try and bring the Indian classical dancers’ commu.