It was bursting with young boys and girls from all nationalities. It was a truly multicultural. A country with a small population, Norway opened her doors to immigrants and refugees, most of whom are living amicably and comfortably.
In spite of her riches. Norway is a nation where the crime rate is close to zero, he said. That is why one doesn't see cops on roads. Plus there is a rule against the torture of criminals Even when they are condemned to jail, they live as luxuriously as in a posh hotel - excellent rooms, food, drink etc. Jails are so liberal that the partners of the captive can come and have a good time for three days in a month.
People earn well enough for crime to be unnecessary. Crime is the offspring of the cruel mother of destitution.
Another striking feature of this city of impressive buildings and fascinating water-bod-ies, efficient public transportations and joyful eat-outs is the abandon with which boys and girls, men and women express their love in public. When their unselfconscious love sports are on. passers-by do not show the slightest curiosity of voyeurs, tt is something natural for them. Love is free here. But prostitution is illegal like in Sweden and unlike in other European countries like the Netherlands, where red light areas are a chief tourist attraction and source of revenue. Prostitution too is the child of inhibited societies.
If the presence of fantastic museums, theatres and playing houses are the mark of a city's cultural advancement, Oslo has this in plenty. The meticulous care bestowed on the Ibsen museum maintained by the Ibsen institute is a good example.
Henrik Ibsen is to Norway what William Shakespeare is to England. Though coming from a then marginalised country of Europe. Ibsen (1828-1906) had tremendous impact on theatres of the world. The birth pangs of modernity are the burden of his song. What happens to the poor or women as society progresses? When other countries were going through the throes of modernisation, Ibsen became a paradigm for what issues need to be addressed in society and theatre in all parts of the world. The ethical, intellectual, psychological and aesthetic integrity with which Ibsen explored such crucial problems have made him the darling of world theatre.
Taking advantage of her economic boom, Norway is doing everything to take Ibsen to the rest of the world. In the last two years several festivals, workshops and conferences centring on Ibsen have been held in India. China and Bangladesh, for instance. These are the sites for other cultures to discover and create their own Ibsens. The remarkable recreation of Ibsen's Lady from the Sea by the Malayalam director Jyotish M G or by an Iranian troupe in recent festivals indicates the range of creative uses of Ibsen's classics.
The house Ibsen last lived in is now a museum. What a contrast it is to the Strindberg museum in Stockholm! To my mind Strindberg is no less significant though not all Swedes agree to this, particularly women. Apart from Strindberg's anarchist image, the glory of the Strindberg museum cannot match that of lbs-en's because of the lesser economic might of Sweden. One realises in this happy city that prosperity, not poverty, guarantees equality and fraternity. And also that a socialist democracy is the last hope of the world.
But how long can such islands of prosperity survive in the ocean of poverty and inequality? The huge immigration of the poor from the less fortunate East European countries is already threatening this Utopia.
No man is an island, said John Donne. No country either.
The author is a Kanriada poet and playwright
email: shivaprakash.hs@gmail.com