Re: avadhaanam as a sport

Bapa Rao (baparao@locus.com)
Wed, 6 Mar 1996 15:05:05 -0800 (PST)

>
> Bapa Rao has let his imaagination loose. He is having fun with this topic.
>
> Seriously (yeah, someone gotta do it), at the discussions we had after
> mEDasAni's ashTAvadhAnam in New York, someone suggested that we explore
> the possibility of explaining this "prakriya" to some of our American
> friends, preferably with some poetic bent, and have an avadhAnam, where
> a lot of "running commentary" is given, for better understanding by them,
> as well as our own youngsters.
>
> How about it?

No offense, but for the uninitiated it would be several orders more
boring than watching a golf game on TV. (Maybe if we included some
cheerleaders or Vanna White ... :-) :-) )

One difference between gymnastics (or dommaraata) and avadhaanam is that
the latter is definitely a sport for the cognoscenti. One's enjoyment
tends to diminish rapidly with decreasing command of the language.

My idea for a "sport" version would definitely need ground rules that dumb
the thing down to a "popular" level while still keeping a good part of the
mental challenge.

Bapa Rao