To Kabul, with love

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">A 50-year-old man will get down on Sunday afternoon at the Kabul airport with a box full of biscuits and a mind full of ideas. </div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">Leading Indian mime artist Niranjan Goswami is not only carrying goodwill from the Indian government for the children of Afghanistan but also a form of art where expressions need no words.</div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">The Indian government sends high-protein biscuits as food aid for the children in Afghanistan. However, this time the Afghani children have a surprise waiting for them — pantomimist Goswami is going to make them laugh with his acting, while they eat the biscuits. </div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">‘‘Children like funny things. One has to carefully choose themes that could interest them,’’ says Goswami, who has gone a day earlier to ensure this. </div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">‘‘Tug-of-war, kite-flying, boyand-the-butterfly are some common items liked by the children all over the world,’’ he says. </div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 2002, Goswami has been working for the last 30 years to popularise the art of mook abhinaya. </div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">He has directed full-fledged plays in mime and has been constantly experimenting with this form of art. </div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">Though the artist agrees that unlike other forms of theatre, mime has not been very popular among the masses and artists, but says it’s picking up in a big way now. </div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-top:5pt="" margin-bottom:5pt="">‘‘More and more students are coming forth to learn the art of mime, and what surprises me most is the fact that even classical dancers are showing interest,’’ Goswami says. Sometimes expressions speak louder than words. </div> </div>