Hey Bharat this is India... your brother long lost in the Kumbh mela

If I were to ask you to name the best writers of the world across centuries, chances are that most of the writers you'd think up would be western writers. Let's do another exercise. Think of great painters of the world across centuries. Again, chances are that most painters you'd think of would be non Indian. Without getting into the detailed reasons about why that is so, I want to state that this blog is not about writers or painters. I used this exercise to merely state a point: That there is at least a small component of the way we perceive our own, 'local' artists. I use the word 'local' deliberately. The word, in Indian daily usage,  generally implies a lack of quality, sophistication and class.

The term is very popular in the middle class and the 'Ah - of course' westernized (anglicized and americanized) upper middle class and higher classes. In a nation where you aren't worthy of much respect if you don't know english (even though most Indian languages are equally nuanced and complex, if not more).

So why this rambling? because, in my opinion, this is reflective of a nation which is not comfortable in its own skin. And because of this, we are always in this frenzy to be what we are not, and what we even need not be. We anyhow don't need to turn into another America or as our older generation would say, another Britain. We just need to be a better us, on the basis of what we define as better.

When you'd see what I am saying, you'd start noticing that every middle class kid need not only learn guitar, or think it's cool to play rock music. You'd see that India, in it's 'local' self is so beautiful and full of excellence that you might not even need to go to New York Art and Design School to learn about art and design :) (although New York school of Art and Design is a great school). You'd see that India and Bharat have a lot to learn from each other and that each of them is a beautiful part of a much bigger and much more beautiful picture. You'd see that 'local' is not a bad word, and that if we embrace our local and global sides, something very distinctly modern-Indian would arise. Something which India would not need to pretend to like it. Something which would naturally be a blissful state for us.

A perfect embodiment of what I am saying is in this performance below. In this performance, I see Bharat meeting India. Its brother long lost in Kumbh mela.

शिथिलता

कहीं ज़िन्दगी के उतार चढाव में खो सा गया हूँ मैं
इस रौशन, जगमगाती , चकाचौंध कर देने वाली दोपहरी में सो सा गया हूँ मैं

अब पुराने ख्वाब दिखाई नहीं पड़ते हैं
और खून की गरमाई भी कम महसूस होती है
बेचैनी भी अब बस कभी कभी ही मिलती है की भूली हुई कगार पर
जीने के मकसद को ढूँढने के मकसद को कहीं डुबो सा गया हूँ मैं
कहीं ज़िन्दगी के उतार चढाव में खो सा गया हूँ मैं

सुबह उठने पर एह्सास होता है की अध्-सोयी आँखें तो कब की खुल चुकी हैं
और चेहरे पर रहने वाली रौनक तो कई साल पहले ही धुल चुकी है
अन्दर बैठे जिद्दी बालक को सुला चूका हूँ मैं
कहीं ज़िन्दगी के उतार चढाव में खो सा गया हूँ मैं

You can't exist. It offends 'us'

In the news today, among other more immediately critical things, is this news about a paintings exhibition in Bangalore (http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/in-bangalore-moral-policing-means-three-paintings-face-the-wall-326900?pfrom=home-otherstories).

What's the big deal about a paintings exhibition? Isn't it just about some people only putting their expressions on to some canvas? who has time for that right? To be quite honest, I think it would be a big deal when a painting exhibition was actually not a big deal. Sadly, we are not there yet.

So what happened was that in this paintings exhibition, there were some paintings showing a few Hindu Goddesses in the nude. A local BJP 'leader' walks in and sees these paintings and flips out. He ensures that those paintings be put inside out, so that no one can see them. He said "I have reported to chief coordinator of Chitrakala Parishat saying you people should not show like this, Hindu gods and all. We have our own belief, we have our own culture..."

When I read this, I had a mixture of feelings inside me. Besides the obvious questions like 'who the hell is he to be the representative of Hinduism' (I am sure Lord Ram didn't send him an appointment letter, because I think God likes me more than this BJP leader), I was more anxious because I see a special type of slow rape and murder happening here. That of freedom. Not only of speech, but to exist freely. Given that this rape of freedom a slow process, I am sure the government wouldn't care to fix this, as this doesn't affect the elections in 2014, or the local Karanataka elections, whenever they are held.

This is an urgent problem. Not only in Karnataka, but in Tamil Nadu with Viswaroopam, or with the late M.F. Hussain, or with the painters in Ahmedabad whose exhibition was vandalized, or with Deepa Mehta for making Water. The list goes on. And this list scratches our faces with its iron finger nails telling us that you must live in servitude of those who can walk over you whenever they feel like.

Anyway, back to the news. The father of the painter issued a statement: "There is absolutely nothing objectionable in his paintings. If that is so, then all temples should be destroyed."  After reading this statement, I had another mixture of feelings ride inside me. One of which was that of desperation. You see, in the older times people seemed to have more freedom of expression. They 'could' sculpt Hindu Goddesses in the nude. And those sculptures were integrated into temples. In 2013, we have regressed to a time even before them. Maybe stone ages where the whims of a petty local politician were taken to be a decree more critical than the dreams of Rabindranath Tagore.

Of course we could not have one more than one Nobel in literature. For that, we'd need to coexist in this century first...