Stringing it Together.

(From Indian Express)

Puran Bhatt PuppeteerTHE Kathputhali colony in the Capital is a bewildering maze of narrow congested streets and bottled-up talent. Men play complicated tunes and show off their juggling while handing you bio-datas, detailing their various trips abroad, even as flies choke the open drains and settle on their sleeping children. You negotiate your way to the centre of the colony, where 46-year-old puppeteer Puran Bhatt sits on his balcony, chiselling away. He is making two sets of puppets - one for a puppetry festival of contemporary performers in Delhi in mid-September and the other for a solo traditional performance of the Rajasthani legend Dhola Maru. ''I am beyond these classifications of tradition and modern. I have managed to make that crossover,'' he says, well aware that he is one of the few from the his community to do so. His son Ajit readies a splendidly wicked-looking witch (she can flip over and become a beautiful woman) for Dhola Maru while Bhatt finishes work on a 12-stringed magician, an incorrigible show-off who is always unscrewing various parts of his body. ''We, the Bhatts, come from Nagore, which was also the home of Amar Singh Rathore, Akbar's celebrated soldier. That is why his gatha is our most popular item. But it also seems to be the only story we narrate,'' says Bhatt. It was one reason why he decided at an early age not to be a puppeteer and became a wood carver instead. That, and the fact that ''we as a country do not respect traditional art''. "Do you know why our puppets are famous? Because we are the only ones in the world who manipulate them without a cross (a wooden stick ...