Kolu (not Golu!)
I was looking at my apartment today and it suddenly
dawned on me that it is as large as the dasara kolu we
used to have at home in India. I am probably sitting in
the area that would have been set aside for Rama's
Pattabhishekam. This is the part of the room that has
the most amount of light coming in through the glass
doorway, and is visible from every part of the house no
matter where one is seated. The gold of the thrones,
the jewels of the royal family, the beautifully
embroidered fabric would have made a magnificent scene
right here.
There was a lot of effort that went into setting up the kolu, with at least 20 people working on it every day for a whole week before the guests arrived to view them for all the 10 days. There were drivers and cooks decorating the ceilings and walls with silk drapes and color lights, maidservants polishing the dolls and setting up the multi-leveled stages, the older generation choreographing the visual 'narrative', younger adults dictating the design and aesthetic, kids helping with the execution (mainly with the forest, water and snow scenes, and the making of garlands). It was a lot of hard-work, but well worth the effort.
The kolu made possible the symbiosis of the young and the old in every possible way. There were several dolls that had been passed on to us from at least three generations. Many of them were now to be handled delicately like holding a butterfly by its wings. They had to be polished and painted on neatly... in some cases they had to be glued together making sure that they looked unblemished. But most of them were intact and looked as new as ever. Then there were the new dolls that were imported from dollmakers in Tamil Nadu and Andhra who have been in this business for many generations.
The oldest generation (grandparents, great aunts) always claimed that the dolls of their childhood were even more ornate and well-crafted than the new ones. I can only imagine how exquisite the dolls were a 100 years ago by making assumptions that perfection is never what I can see now (or can imagine !). There were also some of us who wanted to display our collection of barbie dolls, GI Joes, and hot wheel cars. These were relegated to the kids' corner, which was not to be mixed with the rest of the kolu. In some relatives families, kids were encouraged to create their own dolls for the entire kolu. While, we lacked the enthusiasm for this, we boasted of a bigger, grander kolu, where the scene-setting took up a lot of creativity. Rivers for instance were made with long stretches of blue powder with the waves of many sizes neatly drawn over them with kolam (white rice powder). Forest scenes were made with carefully selected plants from the garden, fields were made with lawn grass, palace drapes were made with pattu padavais (silk sarees)... no material or detail was compromised. Kolus were a matter of pride!
We all practiced the songs that we had to sing at our kolu and everyone else's for all the ten days. We saved the best for our own, and planned carefully so that we didn't repeat any song to the same audience, should they end up in the same houses we were visiting (which was highly possible as there were easily over 100 guests attending kolus in several houses every day). We wore new clothes all ten days and dressed like we would at weddings.
Even the gifts to guests were a place to show creativity. Chundals (seasoned chickpeas) and blouse pieces aside, people had other lovely return gifts that ranged from hand-painted boxes, to little dolls, and custom-made silver lamps. (In this department, ours were the least innovative. We went with the standard! These outwardly gestures with knickknack gifts during festivals were never our territory. We only lavished praise, provided entertainment and made good company)
When the kolu was over, our work didn't end there. We had to wrap up the show (quite literally). The dolls had to be mummified neatly again and put back in the huge steel trunks they came out of. The decorations had to be purged into "re-use and throw" bins, the plants had to be taken back to the garden, the sarees and drapes had to be dry-cleaned and the rooms had to be restored to their original layout. This was again a few days job.
As I reminisce the kolu today, I can see that that era has passed. There are grand kolus still occupying whole rooms, but not the magnificent ones I remember from my childhood. I suppose no one has the time for it, even though we all look back at the past with much longing and fondness. As I think back to the older kolus I also realize that they were expensive affairs, which don't seem practical today.
That being said, the recent ones I have seen in the US and in India, while are smaller (occupying a whole room or half a room), are much more polished than the old kolus. They use expensive dolls collected from all over the world, and seem refined in the aesthetic... and somewhat contemporary even though they boast of traditional dolls that may be many years old.
I have an aunt who has the grandest dasara kolus every year with beautiful dolls collected from her travels, and several dolls that she has made herself. Her kolu makes me relive my nostalgia and in someways also surpass them because they not only transport me back to the past, but also to a whole different world that is new and unfamiliar :) There are few other aunts whose kolus makes me smile. My mom's kolu occupies a whole room and has a lovely collection of new dolls. It comes closest in style to the old kolu of my childhood days, with much of the same style-elements, but I do get on her case a lot to innovate :) (secretly I am also glad she doesn't)
At one point, I used to snobbishly deride the step-kolus (traditional kolus arranged in steps) for showing no creativity, but today as I look at pictures, I find them beautiful and elegant. I wonder why we never tried to fashion our kolus that way at least for change!
Read the rest of this post at your own discretion :) This is just a description of the kolu at home for my cousins to share nostalgia or remind them of what we used to have.
The kolu was split into several parts dedicated to different mythological and historic stories. On the left were the scenes from the Ramayana, starting with the Putrakameshti Yagna.
Dasharatha and his three wives perform a fire sacrifice to appease the gods for progeny • Rama and Lakshmana (two of Dasaratha's four sons) accompany Vishwamitra and help him fight the demons while he performs a yagna • Rama breaks the bow at the swayamwara and wins Sita's hand • Kaikeyi, after being provoked by her servant Manthara, wails to Dasaratha and claims two boons - to make her son Bharata the successor of his throne, and to exile Rama to the forest for 14 years • In the forest Lakshmana having accompanied Rama and Sita, cuts of Surpanaka's nose for seducing the brothers • Sita is enamored by a golden deer and asks Rama to capture it for her • Rama kills the golden deer to find that it is Maricha, who is Ravana's aid sent to separate Rama from Sita • Ravana disguises himself as a brahmin and tricks her into crossing the Lakshmana Rekha and carries her away • Jatayu with a broken wing from fighting Ravana informs Rama and Lakshmana of the abduction • [There were no scenes from Sundara Kanda where Rama and Lakshma meet Hanuman and the entire monkey-entourage] • Hanuman sets his tail to fire and destroys Lanka • Hanuman has himself captured by the warriors and sits in Ravana's court over a throne made out of his tail and urges Ravana to return Sita to Rama • [There were no scenes from the Yuddha Kanda where the battle between Rama and Ravana's forces take place] • Rama and Sita's Pattabhishekam takes place after much rejoining over their victory over Ravana • [There were no scenes from Uthara Kanda detailing the lives of Lava and Kusha]
On the center floor were scenes of Vrindavana from Bhagavata Purana.
Vasudeva escapes Kamsa's prison with baby Krishna and crosses the River Yamuna to Gokula and hands the baby over to Yashoda and Nanda • Krishna tames Kaliya, the poisonous naga serpent living in the Yamuna and dances on his head • Krishna climbs on top of his friends and reaches for the pot of butter in the ceiling • Krishna is reprimanded by Yashoda for eating butter and is amazed to see the whole world in his mouth when he opens it for her • Krishna plays the flute as the gopikas dance around him • [There were several scenes of Krishna and gopikas in the kolu]
On the right floor were a miscellany of scenes from other mythological stories • There were scenes depicting stories of Vishnu's Dasavatara, scenes of Shiva's many manifestations in Mount Kailasa, representations of the several hindu gods and goddesses.
On a separate aisle there was a scene of Vikramaditya's kingdom • some contemporary scenes of villages with whole huts and people interacting with other. • there were housewives going about their everyday chores such as drawing a kolam (or rangoli) in front of the house • maamis gossiping with each other • a family watching TV together • farmers working in the fields • cricketers in full white attire playing a match, etc.
There was a lot of effort that went into setting up the kolu, with at least 20 people working on it every day for a whole week before the guests arrived to view them for all the 10 days. There were drivers and cooks decorating the ceilings and walls with silk drapes and color lights, maidservants polishing the dolls and setting up the multi-leveled stages, the older generation choreographing the visual 'narrative', younger adults dictating the design and aesthetic, kids helping with the execution (mainly with the forest, water and snow scenes, and the making of garlands). It was a lot of hard-work, but well worth the effort.
The kolu made possible the symbiosis of the young and the old in every possible way. There were several dolls that had been passed on to us from at least three generations. Many of them were now to be handled delicately like holding a butterfly by its wings. They had to be polished and painted on neatly... in some cases they had to be glued together making sure that they looked unblemished. But most of them were intact and looked as new as ever. Then there were the new dolls that were imported from dollmakers in Tamil Nadu and Andhra who have been in this business for many generations.
The oldest generation (grandparents, great aunts) always claimed that the dolls of their childhood were even more ornate and well-crafted than the new ones. I can only imagine how exquisite the dolls were a 100 years ago by making assumptions that perfection is never what I can see now (or can imagine !). There were also some of us who wanted to display our collection of barbie dolls, GI Joes, and hot wheel cars. These were relegated to the kids' corner, which was not to be mixed with the rest of the kolu. In some relatives families, kids were encouraged to create their own dolls for the entire kolu. While, we lacked the enthusiasm for this, we boasted of a bigger, grander kolu, where the scene-setting took up a lot of creativity. Rivers for instance were made with long stretches of blue powder with the waves of many sizes neatly drawn over them with kolam (white rice powder). Forest scenes were made with carefully selected plants from the garden, fields were made with lawn grass, palace drapes were made with pattu padavais (silk sarees)... no material or detail was compromised. Kolus were a matter of pride!
We all practiced the songs that we had to sing at our kolu and everyone else's for all the ten days. We saved the best for our own, and planned carefully so that we didn't repeat any song to the same audience, should they end up in the same houses we were visiting (which was highly possible as there were easily over 100 guests attending kolus in several houses every day). We wore new clothes all ten days and dressed like we would at weddings.
Even the gifts to guests were a place to show creativity. Chundals (seasoned chickpeas) and blouse pieces aside, people had other lovely return gifts that ranged from hand-painted boxes, to little dolls, and custom-made silver lamps. (In this department, ours were the least innovative. We went with the standard! These outwardly gestures with knickknack gifts during festivals were never our territory. We only lavished praise, provided entertainment and made good company)
When the kolu was over, our work didn't end there. We had to wrap up the show (quite literally). The dolls had to be mummified neatly again and put back in the huge steel trunks they came out of. The decorations had to be purged into "re-use and throw" bins, the plants had to be taken back to the garden, the sarees and drapes had to be dry-cleaned and the rooms had to be restored to their original layout. This was again a few days job.
As I reminisce the kolu today, I can see that that era has passed. There are grand kolus still occupying whole rooms, but not the magnificent ones I remember from my childhood. I suppose no one has the time for it, even though we all look back at the past with much longing and fondness. As I think back to the older kolus I also realize that they were expensive affairs, which don't seem practical today.
That being said, the recent ones I have seen in the US and in India, while are smaller (occupying a whole room or half a room), are much more polished than the old kolus. They use expensive dolls collected from all over the world, and seem refined in the aesthetic... and somewhat contemporary even though they boast of traditional dolls that may be many years old.
I have an aunt who has the grandest dasara kolus every year with beautiful dolls collected from her travels, and several dolls that she has made herself. Her kolu makes me relive my nostalgia and in someways also surpass them because they not only transport me back to the past, but also to a whole different world that is new and unfamiliar :) There are few other aunts whose kolus makes me smile. My mom's kolu occupies a whole room and has a lovely collection of new dolls. It comes closest in style to the old kolu of my childhood days, with much of the same style-elements, but I do get on her case a lot to innovate :) (secretly I am also glad she doesn't)
At one point, I used to snobbishly deride the step-kolus (traditional kolus arranged in steps) for showing no creativity, but today as I look at pictures, I find them beautiful and elegant. I wonder why we never tried to fashion our kolus that way at least for change!
Read the rest of this post at your own discretion :) This is just a description of the kolu at home for my cousins to share nostalgia or remind them of what we used to have.
The kolu was split into several parts dedicated to different mythological and historic stories. On the left were the scenes from the Ramayana, starting with the Putrakameshti Yagna.
Dasharatha and his three wives perform a fire sacrifice to appease the gods for progeny • Rama and Lakshmana (two of Dasaratha's four sons) accompany Vishwamitra and help him fight the demons while he performs a yagna • Rama breaks the bow at the swayamwara and wins Sita's hand • Kaikeyi, after being provoked by her servant Manthara, wails to Dasaratha and claims two boons - to make her son Bharata the successor of his throne, and to exile Rama to the forest for 14 years • In the forest Lakshmana having accompanied Rama and Sita, cuts of Surpanaka's nose for seducing the brothers • Sita is enamored by a golden deer and asks Rama to capture it for her • Rama kills the golden deer to find that it is Maricha, who is Ravana's aid sent to separate Rama from Sita • Ravana disguises himself as a brahmin and tricks her into crossing the Lakshmana Rekha and carries her away • Jatayu with a broken wing from fighting Ravana informs Rama and Lakshmana of the abduction • [There were no scenes from Sundara Kanda where Rama and Lakshma meet Hanuman and the entire monkey-entourage] • Hanuman sets his tail to fire and destroys Lanka • Hanuman has himself captured by the warriors and sits in Ravana's court over a throne made out of his tail and urges Ravana to return Sita to Rama • [There were no scenes from the Yuddha Kanda where the battle between Rama and Ravana's forces take place] • Rama and Sita's Pattabhishekam takes place after much rejoining over their victory over Ravana • [There were no scenes from Uthara Kanda detailing the lives of Lava and Kusha]
On the center floor were scenes of Vrindavana from Bhagavata Purana.
Vasudeva escapes Kamsa's prison with baby Krishna and crosses the River Yamuna to Gokula and hands the baby over to Yashoda and Nanda • Krishna tames Kaliya, the poisonous naga serpent living in the Yamuna and dances on his head • Krishna climbs on top of his friends and reaches for the pot of butter in the ceiling • Krishna is reprimanded by Yashoda for eating butter and is amazed to see the whole world in his mouth when he opens it for her • Krishna plays the flute as the gopikas dance around him • [There were several scenes of Krishna and gopikas in the kolu]
On the right floor were a miscellany of scenes from other mythological stories • There were scenes depicting stories of Vishnu's Dasavatara, scenes of Shiva's many manifestations in Mount Kailasa, representations of the several hindu gods and goddesses.
On a separate aisle there was a scene of Vikramaditya's kingdom • some contemporary scenes of villages with whole huts and people interacting with other. • there were housewives going about their everyday chores such as drawing a kolam (or rangoli) in front of the house • maamis gossiping with each other • a family watching TV together • farmers working in the fields • cricketers in full white attire playing a match, etc.
Creative Intent
You know how some people like saying there is no limit
to creativity? Of course there is a limit! If there was
no limit, there would be no space for words like
out-of-tune, gaffe, faux pas, plot-hole,
inconsistency,...
That being said, there is creativity when you sing off-key, or paint something butt-ugly, or dance clumsily, if the intent is to be purposefully deviant either to express an idea or challenge the limitations of creativity... and that my friend has rules as well.
For example, when you are being told a song is going to be off-key and you begin to feel like it is not off-key enough, it lacks some creativity because its intention is not met!
The limitation to creativity is relative to the artist's intention and the audience's expectation. It is both negotiable and nonnegotiable. And where it is negotiable, it makes for some excitement. Most disagreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in that negotiable space. Most agreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in nonnegotiable space, where the new-something is new but stays within an already explored and accepted creative space.
That being said, there is creativity when you sing off-key, or paint something butt-ugly, or dance clumsily, if the intent is to be purposefully deviant either to express an idea or challenge the limitations of creativity... and that my friend has rules as well.
For example, when you are being told a song is going to be off-key and you begin to feel like it is not off-key enough, it lacks some creativity because its intention is not met!
The limitation to creativity is relative to the artist's intention and the audience's expectation. It is both negotiable and nonnegotiable. And where it is negotiable, it makes for some excitement. Most disagreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in that negotiable space. Most agreement on whether a new-something is creative or not happens in nonnegotiable space, where the new-something is new but stays within an already explored and accepted creative space.
Roadside shopping!
In the last eight years, I have successfully
transitioned from crying at the sight of roadkill to
casually commenting on it. Now when I see a dead deer
or raccoon, I am thinking "Fresh Kill" or "Flat Meat"
like I am about to pull over and decide which one to
have for dinner! It still makes me queasy and I go
quiet for a few minutes, but I think I am less
sensitive to it now.
In some U.S. states it is legal and even encouraged to eat roadkill. Makes sense! Take just the fact that 1.5 million deer meet their end on the road every year in the US. It made me wonder if the homeless shelters could somehow take advantage of this ... perhaps with the help of the State Trooper Association or the Dept. of Transportation?
There are tons of recipe books and websites dedicated to roadkill --- deer, raccoon, skunk, moose, bear, wolf, dog, cat, rat, elk, armadillo, small and large birds, rabbit, turtle, kangaroo, opossums, some snakes and reptiles, and hold your breath... porcupine!
It was as though the entire zoo was let out on the road to be tattooed with tire threads ... and then eaten!
A few years ago, we bumped into a very friendly couple in La Jolla in Sandiego who (apart from teaching us how to pronounce La Jolla) enlightened us on local culture... there was a whole assortment of facts peculiar only to san diego that we were happy to learn about... But related to roadkill, I remember being told that Roadkill Bingo was a popular game in the west coast. It is a nice way to kill time in long distance travel while encouraging kids to learn the animals of their natural habit.
Roadkill undoubtedly is a worldwide phenomenon (at least wherever there are roads with lots of traffic) There is clearly a lot of culture developed around it... For instance, I saw an interesting book that teaches you how to cook directly on a running car engine... I bet it was written by a very resourceful person who had a lot of experience making delicious meals out of fresh kill.
Having read Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil recently, I thought it was possible that roadkill art is popular with taxidermists. They could probably make a living by choosing to do just roadkill! So I went on a web search frenzy and found several sites full of roadkill art.
I also found lots of roadkill toys. Some look disgusting, or creatively mean-spirited, but there are a few that are actually not too bad. There is even a roadkilltoys.com (!)
About five years ago, Kraft Foods was forced to kill one of their gummy products. Their Trolli Road Kill Gummies were gummy-animals shaped like roadkill complete with tire threads. People thought it sent out a very bad message to kids. I wonder what that bad message was! Especially given that New Jersey, which strongly lobbied against this gummy actually lets you eat roadkill if you have a permit. Why then do they think it offensive to eat fake roadkill?
It is the equivalent of letting you eat a real human brain and banning the human brain shaped jello!
That also makes me wonder if there is protest against all other kinds of gross candy. I see several in candy stores. There are jello molds shaped like human body parts - heart, brain and intestines, candies shaped like eyeballs, sour gummies shaped like toilet plungers, bugs and worms, pigs pooping out candy. Is anyone protesting against them? (Not that I mind either way.)
One of my favor go-to comic books is Stone Soup's Road Kill for the Closet. FYI: It has nothing to do with roadkill. The comic is about a single mom bringing up her two kids. Living with her are also her mom and her recently-divorced sister who is in love with her neighbour! As simple as that. It is the most endearing comic I have read. Funny, heartening and absolutely lovable. Since the title has Road Kill on it, I thought now might be a perfect time to promote it. :)
I wonder if I might find this in my library: Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways
In some U.S. states it is legal and even encouraged to eat roadkill. Makes sense! Take just the fact that 1.5 million deer meet their end on the road every year in the US. It made me wonder if the homeless shelters could somehow take advantage of this ... perhaps with the help of the State Trooper Association or the Dept. of Transportation?
There are tons of recipe books and websites dedicated to roadkill --- deer, raccoon, skunk, moose, bear, wolf, dog, cat, rat, elk, armadillo, small and large birds, rabbit, turtle, kangaroo, opossums, some snakes and reptiles, and hold your breath... porcupine!
It was as though the entire zoo was let out on the road to be tattooed with tire threads ... and then eaten!
A few years ago, we bumped into a very friendly couple in La Jolla in Sandiego who (apart from teaching us how to pronounce La Jolla) enlightened us on local culture... there was a whole assortment of facts peculiar only to san diego that we were happy to learn about... But related to roadkill, I remember being told that Roadkill Bingo was a popular game in the west coast. It is a nice way to kill time in long distance travel while encouraging kids to learn the animals of their natural habit.
Roadkill undoubtedly is a worldwide phenomenon (at least wherever there are roads with lots of traffic) There is clearly a lot of culture developed around it... For instance, I saw an interesting book that teaches you how to cook directly on a running car engine... I bet it was written by a very resourceful person who had a lot of experience making delicious meals out of fresh kill.
Having read Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil recently, I thought it was possible that roadkill art is popular with taxidermists. They could probably make a living by choosing to do just roadkill! So I went on a web search frenzy and found several sites full of roadkill art.
I also found lots of roadkill toys. Some look disgusting, or creatively mean-spirited, but there are a few that are actually not too bad. There is even a roadkilltoys.com (!)
About five years ago, Kraft Foods was forced to kill one of their gummy products. Their Trolli Road Kill Gummies were gummy-animals shaped like roadkill complete with tire threads. People thought it sent out a very bad message to kids. I wonder what that bad message was! Especially given that New Jersey, which strongly lobbied against this gummy actually lets you eat roadkill if you have a permit. Why then do they think it offensive to eat fake roadkill?
It is the equivalent of letting you eat a real human brain and banning the human brain shaped jello!
That also makes me wonder if there is protest against all other kinds of gross candy. I see several in candy stores. There are jello molds shaped like human body parts - heart, brain and intestines, candies shaped like eyeballs, sour gummies shaped like toilet plungers, bugs and worms, pigs pooping out candy. Is anyone protesting against them? (Not that I mind either way.)
One of my favor go-to comic books is Stone Soup's Road Kill for the Closet. FYI: It has nothing to do with roadkill. The comic is about a single mom bringing up her two kids. Living with her are also her mom and her recently-divorced sister who is in love with her neighbour! As simple as that. It is the most endearing comic I have read. Funny, heartening and absolutely lovable. Since the title has Road Kill on it, I thought now might be a perfect time to promote it. :)
I wonder if I might find this in my library: Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways
Losing Your Bata and Other Thoughts
Hyderabad, observe with me. (America, learn) :)
I counted 13 single (i.e. one in a pair) flip-flops on main roads all over the city over the last one week. Could they have just slipped off the feet of people sitting on scooters OR are slippers being flung at unsuspecting riders? If you have lost yours, or have had them flung at you, you are not alone! The Chappal Punch may be a bigger nuisance than we realize. :)
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Helvetica, which is one of the most popular fonts for commercial use all over the world hasn't yet taken over as the preferred typeface on lorries and autos :) I am happy to report that lorries and autos still have beautiful artwork painted on them in bright colors. I have been seeing the most exquisite paintings of mythical figures and auspicious symbols exemplifying several ideals and desires: spirituality, secularity, patriotism, good fortune... It is always amusing to see the permutation varieties of "Horn OK Please" painted in different typefaces. :) It's especially amusing that the phrase is still in use. The OK indicates On Kerosene and was used back in the day (around the 2nd World War) when lorries ran on kerosene, which is highly unstable. The traffic regulations don't require this warning to be attached, but it still continues to remain a cult tradition with lorry drivers. Some lorries even say "Horn Please, OK? Tata" :) There is also an Indian film called "Horn Ok Pleassss"
Why autorikshaws have "Please Sound Horn" or "Keep Safe Distance" is a mystery to me (unless we assume that they have a wicked sense of humor and want to tease us with the warning). They are the ones usually straining to squeeze between vehicles and hazardously sound their fancy tijuana-style horns to the rhythm of the music playing from their custom-mounted boom-boom stereos .
I remember my driver telling me many years ago that owners spend up to a lakh rupees per lorry getting just the bodywork done (autos spend between Rs. 5000-10,000). They take a lot of pride in the aesthetic of their conveyance, but beyond the aesthetic it is also a way to build their brand and look legit to patrons. For instance, the beautiful ornamental fittings above the lorries cab help owners hide excess goods from the traffic police. The sounding chains on the side dissuade small vehicles from driving recklessly.
It used to be that tongas and cycle rikshaws had the most beautiful flowers and birds (mostly lotuses, peacocks and tigers (or cows), which are our national flora and fauna) painted on them. They also had elegant floral or velvet hoods (if they could afford it). Some of them had these shiny pompoms hanging from both sides of the handle and ornate metallic baskets or plasticine cutouts jutting in the front. The seats had bright upholstery covers, the back rest had oil-painted portraits of film actors and actresses (sridevi), and the platform was either of a bright reflective metal kind or had rangoli painted on it. Some of them were made to look like Rathas or temple chariots. I don't see these rikshaws anymore (although DC and Manhattan are abundant in their contemporary equivalents with environmental messages pasted on them)! Here, both the cycle rikshaws and their pullers look quite haggard! I read some heartbreaking stories of their difficult lives over the last few days and it's hard to say what would make them happy - if rikshaws were banned altogether or promoted more widely. Whatever it is, I hope they at least make them safe and respectable! (Note to self: Watch Men of Burden: Pedaling Towards a Horizon)
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I find that each mode of transport is a harbinger of a different kind of message. For instance buses have become moving billboards with product ads, political posters and social messages. I am told they are highly effective and are being sought out more than ever, because they drive alongside their target audience and therefore leave a long-lasting impression. On the other hand, regular billboards catch your attention only fleetingly except at the traffic stops.
Unlike buses, autos are less propagandist and more reflective of the driver or owners' personalities. The loud music aside, their disco-style flamboyance is exhibited more inwardly (with their interiors and music).
You know how when you talk about one kind of street art, you feel the need to list out every other kind of art you see around you? (like graffiti, wall posters, billboards, retail store sign boards... also dressing up of cows, horses and camels) and then you become cognizant of your city's eye-appeal and creative use of space.... Advertisements are omnipresent! If there is a perceptible medium in view, such as a flyover, a building, a wall, a tree, a circle, a divider, a light pole, a vehicle... it becomes a canvas for some plug!
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There are plant thieves all around us. Everywhere I go, battle plans are being drawn on three broad fronts. There are the tropical summer fruits (mangoes, pomegranates, sapodillas (chikoos), jackfruits) growing on high and medium branches, vegetables growing closer to the ground, religious flowers blooming in abundance in every height, shape and form... the fear I think is also that their invasion is endangering home security. I have sat through some really hilarious conversations in at least three places where relatives were strategizing how to protect their vegetation from "hungry and religious" thieves. The good news is no one seems to be interested in wild flowers, ornamental plants, seedless vascular and nonvascular plants (that I like) and the gardens are full of them! Thieves aside, I am mostly thrilled to see beautiful gardens everywhere I go. Despite the growing jungle of buildings, I see spectacular gardens and patches, and even timberlands with tropical trees of irregular shapes that stand out beautifully amid the concrete.
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There are more bird species in Hyderabad than you can count. You only notice them when you are back on a visit after leaving the city for a few years (and have the "real" bird-flu) :) So the next time someone laments that they have all vanished wake them up at 5 in the morning and take them outside. Hyderabad is still a birds paradise with at least 20 species right in ones backyard, and hundreds in sanctuaries. There are many migratory birds traveling here all the way from eurasia every year. I have also been seeing a lot of bright-colored insects and vertebrates in the garden, especially when it rains.
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I am nurturing the tourist in me and reading up on hyderabad. I was excited to learn that the city (and the deccan plateau on the whole) is full of beautiful monolithic rocks that are among the oldest and hardest in the world. Many of them are over 2500 million years old. To put it in perspective, the himalayan mountains are 70 million years old. The city's grey and pink granite ridges are among the oldest in the world. There are trees over 500 years old (including a banyan tree in Pillalamarri near Mahbubnagar that is 700 years old). While I have spent my time both admiring and bemoaning our new and old manmade heritage (albeit ignorantly), I don't know why I never learnt about these natural wonders. I am also picking up a lot of other interesting facts and legends about the city and falling in love with it all over again. In the mean time, Hyderabad has also been keeping me entertained culturally. There's always something going on in the city - walks (like the ones organized by Greater Hyderabad Adventure Club), art exhibitions, music concerts, dance programs, plays.... There is so much variety to choose from and so little time to enjoy everything. (FYI: cluburb.com is a great place online to find events in Hyderabad)
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The cell phone music syndrome, where the caller is tormented with music, and the receiver hears a more conservative "ring ring" is shifting from bollywood and bhajans to Kabir and Tulsi Das' Dohe.
FYI from one brahmin to another: the gayatri mantram you still have as your ringtone is meant to be recited inwardly to Savitr (sun god: the impeller, rouser, vivifier) during sunrise and sunset by brahmin men only (especially that secret para you learnt during your upanayanam). Must you share your praise and appeal for wisdom and enlightenment so brazenly with us low-ranking women (also non-brahmin men) and have us commit the transgression of learning it?
Also shouldn't the "ring ring" be on the callers side and the mantram be on your side? or is the reasoning that Savitr might call you one day and listen to your appeal!
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I haven't still figured out if it is a good thing or a bad thing that there are 6 sales representatives to cater to one customer in retail stores! They all look bored, underworked and eager to help! But, perhaps, they are happy to be employed?
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In hyderabad (especially), the sine qua non is to popularize one "neutral" god or god man and celebrate him to the point of saturation. The last time I came, Shirdi Sai Baba was in vogue, this time it is Buddha. Don't get me wrong. I am not trivializing genuine devotion one feels towards spiritual powers. I am only harboring my reservation on the intention behind this craze. My suspicion is that there is some other unsavory explanation for why a sea of Buddhas has emerged everywhere all of a sudden. Could it be a sign of impudence? For instance, why was Buddha standing at the hotel entrance holding his crystal frock and flaunting it to welcome his guests? Isn't it as outrageous as drawing Mohammed? He is supposed to have renounced worldly desires in search of enlightenment!
I counted 13 single (i.e. one in a pair) flip-flops on main roads all over the city over the last one week. Could they have just slipped off the feet of people sitting on scooters OR are slippers being flung at unsuspecting riders? If you have lost yours, or have had them flung at you, you are not alone! The Chappal Punch may be a bigger nuisance than we realize. :)
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Helvetica, which is one of the most popular fonts for commercial use all over the world hasn't yet taken over as the preferred typeface on lorries and autos :) I am happy to report that lorries and autos still have beautiful artwork painted on them in bright colors. I have been seeing the most exquisite paintings of mythical figures and auspicious symbols exemplifying several ideals and desires: spirituality, secularity, patriotism, good fortune... It is always amusing to see the permutation varieties of "Horn OK Please" painted in different typefaces. :) It's especially amusing that the phrase is still in use. The OK indicates On Kerosene and was used back in the day (around the 2nd World War) when lorries ran on kerosene, which is highly unstable. The traffic regulations don't require this warning to be attached, but it still continues to remain a cult tradition with lorry drivers. Some lorries even say "Horn Please, OK? Tata" :) There is also an Indian film called "Horn Ok Pleassss"
Why autorikshaws have "Please Sound Horn" or "Keep Safe Distance" is a mystery to me (unless we assume that they have a wicked sense of humor and want to tease us with the warning). They are the ones usually straining to squeeze between vehicles and hazardously sound their fancy tijuana-style horns to the rhythm of the music playing from their custom-mounted boom-boom stereos .
I remember my driver telling me many years ago that owners spend up to a lakh rupees per lorry getting just the bodywork done (autos spend between Rs. 5000-10,000). They take a lot of pride in the aesthetic of their conveyance, but beyond the aesthetic it is also a way to build their brand and look legit to patrons. For instance, the beautiful ornamental fittings above the lorries cab help owners hide excess goods from the traffic police. The sounding chains on the side dissuade small vehicles from driving recklessly.
It used to be that tongas and cycle rikshaws had the most beautiful flowers and birds (mostly lotuses, peacocks and tigers (or cows), which are our national flora and fauna) painted on them. They also had elegant floral or velvet hoods (if they could afford it). Some of them had these shiny pompoms hanging from both sides of the handle and ornate metallic baskets or plasticine cutouts jutting in the front. The seats had bright upholstery covers, the back rest had oil-painted portraits of film actors and actresses (sridevi), and the platform was either of a bright reflective metal kind or had rangoli painted on it. Some of them were made to look like Rathas or temple chariots. I don't see these rikshaws anymore (although DC and Manhattan are abundant in their contemporary equivalents with environmental messages pasted on them)! Here, both the cycle rikshaws and their pullers look quite haggard! I read some heartbreaking stories of their difficult lives over the last few days and it's hard to say what would make them happy - if rikshaws were banned altogether or promoted more widely. Whatever it is, I hope they at least make them safe and respectable! (Note to self: Watch Men of Burden: Pedaling Towards a Horizon)
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I find that each mode of transport is a harbinger of a different kind of message. For instance buses have become moving billboards with product ads, political posters and social messages. I am told they are highly effective and are being sought out more than ever, because they drive alongside their target audience and therefore leave a long-lasting impression. On the other hand, regular billboards catch your attention only fleetingly except at the traffic stops.
Unlike buses, autos are less propagandist and more reflective of the driver or owners' personalities. The loud music aside, their disco-style flamboyance is exhibited more inwardly (with their interiors and music).
You know how when you talk about one kind of street art, you feel the need to list out every other kind of art you see around you? (like graffiti, wall posters, billboards, retail store sign boards... also dressing up of cows, horses and camels) and then you become cognizant of your city's eye-appeal and creative use of space.... Advertisements are omnipresent! If there is a perceptible medium in view, such as a flyover, a building, a wall, a tree, a circle, a divider, a light pole, a vehicle... it becomes a canvas for some plug!
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There are plant thieves all around us. Everywhere I go, battle plans are being drawn on three broad fronts. There are the tropical summer fruits (mangoes, pomegranates, sapodillas (chikoos), jackfruits) growing on high and medium branches, vegetables growing closer to the ground, religious flowers blooming in abundance in every height, shape and form... the fear I think is also that their invasion is endangering home security. I have sat through some really hilarious conversations in at least three places where relatives were strategizing how to protect their vegetation from "hungry and religious" thieves. The good news is no one seems to be interested in wild flowers, ornamental plants, seedless vascular and nonvascular plants (that I like) and the gardens are full of them! Thieves aside, I am mostly thrilled to see beautiful gardens everywhere I go. Despite the growing jungle of buildings, I see spectacular gardens and patches, and even timberlands with tropical trees of irregular shapes that stand out beautifully amid the concrete.
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There are more bird species in Hyderabad than you can count. You only notice them when you are back on a visit after leaving the city for a few years (and have the "real" bird-flu) :) So the next time someone laments that they have all vanished wake them up at 5 in the morning and take them outside. Hyderabad is still a birds paradise with at least 20 species right in ones backyard, and hundreds in sanctuaries. There are many migratory birds traveling here all the way from eurasia every year. I have also been seeing a lot of bright-colored insects and vertebrates in the garden, especially when it rains.
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I am nurturing the tourist in me and reading up on hyderabad. I was excited to learn that the city (and the deccan plateau on the whole) is full of beautiful monolithic rocks that are among the oldest and hardest in the world. Many of them are over 2500 million years old. To put it in perspective, the himalayan mountains are 70 million years old. The city's grey and pink granite ridges are among the oldest in the world. There are trees over 500 years old (including a banyan tree in Pillalamarri near Mahbubnagar that is 700 years old). While I have spent my time both admiring and bemoaning our new and old manmade heritage (albeit ignorantly), I don't know why I never learnt about these natural wonders. I am also picking up a lot of other interesting facts and legends about the city and falling in love with it all over again. In the mean time, Hyderabad has also been keeping me entertained culturally. There's always something going on in the city - walks (like the ones organized by Greater Hyderabad Adventure Club), art exhibitions, music concerts, dance programs, plays.... There is so much variety to choose from and so little time to enjoy everything. (FYI: cluburb.com is a great place online to find events in Hyderabad)
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The cell phone music syndrome, where the caller is tormented with music, and the receiver hears a more conservative "ring ring" is shifting from bollywood and bhajans to Kabir and Tulsi Das' Dohe.
FYI from one brahmin to another: the gayatri mantram you still have as your ringtone is meant to be recited inwardly to Savitr (sun god: the impeller, rouser, vivifier) during sunrise and sunset by brahmin men only (especially that secret para you learnt during your upanayanam). Must you share your praise and appeal for wisdom and enlightenment so brazenly with us low-ranking women (also non-brahmin men) and have us commit the transgression of learning it?
Also shouldn't the "ring ring" be on the callers side and the mantram be on your side? or is the reasoning that Savitr might call you one day and listen to your appeal!
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I haven't still figured out if it is a good thing or a bad thing that there are 6 sales representatives to cater to one customer in retail stores! They all look bored, underworked and eager to help! But, perhaps, they are happy to be employed?
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In hyderabad (especially), the sine qua non is to popularize one "neutral" god or god man and celebrate him to the point of saturation. The last time I came, Shirdi Sai Baba was in vogue, this time it is Buddha. Don't get me wrong. I am not trivializing genuine devotion one feels towards spiritual powers. I am only harboring my reservation on the intention behind this craze. My suspicion is that there is some other unsavory explanation for why a sea of Buddhas has emerged everywhere all of a sudden. Could it be a sign of impudence? For instance, why was Buddha standing at the hotel entrance holding his crystal frock and flaunting it to welcome his guests? Isn't it as outrageous as drawing Mohammed? He is supposed to have renounced worldly desires in search of enlightenment!
Art of Money
I find myself eating a lot of ice cream every time I
think about money. It makes my stomach bloat from the
lactose and exacerbates my asthma. Given the little
money I have, it actually makes sense to either spend
it all without worrying about my future OR squirrel
away my savings under a tree and forget about it until
I have become really old. Why must I put myself through
this futile, soul-destroying obsession with
accumulating mass (both weight-wise and wealth-wise)?
Today I was looking at some ancient coins from around the world with beautiful images of kings and celestial beings, royal emblems and cyphers, nature and art... all chiseled intricately in every kind of metal and in every possible shape. There is so much to appreciate in old money. The coins alone were designed to give pleasure through beauty, a concept I hope is true for today as well, although it is only in nostalgia that we sometimes appreciate beauty.
For instance, I think of India's early decimal coins (post-independence) that I used to find lying around in some drawers at home - the flower-shaped 2 and 10 paise, the square shaped 5 paisa, the hexagon shaped 3 and 20 paise, the round 25 and 50 paise... there was a variety in metal (bronze, copper, aluminum and nickel) that I don't think exists today. It is probably all ferratic stainless steel now. But when the steel coins were introduced, I remember being so beguiled by their smooth, shiny surface that I eagerly got rid of the old coins whenever I could to exchange them for shiny steel ones. Even now, I find new coins beguiling... I save dollar coins every time I get them, because they are so rare (I don't understand why!)... but I miss the variety in the old coins. Now I realize that all those old coins I took no notice of had stories to tell that I am only learning about now, after their disappearance.
I don't mean to go off on a tangent... but what the heck! I can speak of currency notes, can't I? It's not entirely off topic. :)
I remember the animals on Indian currency notes: the tiger, the rhinoceros and the elephant, all three of which I can't help but notice have dwindled to a few thousand in population today. I wonder if we will look back at the notes with these animals in the future and speak of them in a mythical way... Will we speak of them in the same way we do the coins of the old times with kings and celestial beings, royal emblems and cyphers, nature and art?
Suddenly money is looking more meaningful to me.
I read some very interesting stories on how money have been used over the years and how it has changed over time. I quite enjoyed the legendary stories around currency. It was compelling to see how it changed the course of history from time to time and easily created and destroyed empires and nations. There were also some fascinating articles on money in fictional works like books and movies. It was interesting to see how fiction borrows from reality, but also to see how it manages to be very different from all modern, and historic currency as well. In a way, fiction is exploring money in ways we haven't considered with much seriousness in real life.
By the time I came to our nonfictional present, the money world got very complex. For one thing, it is oftentimes not in a tangible form. Some of it went over my head, especially where it spoke of how money is organized today (I clearly live in some storybook world seeing as I find the past and the fictional world more relatable). I figured however, that the sheer complexity of today's financial markets, of currency management, exchange rates, financial infrastructures, foreign investments are overwhelming, but also fascinating. It is a beautiful world we live in where money flows in simple and complex ways almost artfully. I can imagine a whole orchestrated dance with several contrasting movements and prominent themes, competing for space and attention, while playing almost harmoniously... there are parts you can only perceive but can't see, so it can be as abstract as art... There are of course the discordant bits, but I think they only make it more real. (Art can also be discordant, can't it?)
Now I am ending my day with thoughts on how I would like to see myself... A money hoarder (of the realistic world with an eye on the future) or a coin collector (absorbed in a more abstract world with an eye on the past). The latter seems to be more promising of acquiring mass in a less soul-destroying way. Moreover, numismatics (currency collection) sounds so much more cooler than saving or investing.
Today I was looking at some ancient coins from around the world with beautiful images of kings and celestial beings, royal emblems and cyphers, nature and art... all chiseled intricately in every kind of metal and in every possible shape. There is so much to appreciate in old money. The coins alone were designed to give pleasure through beauty, a concept I hope is true for today as well, although it is only in nostalgia that we sometimes appreciate beauty.
For instance, I think of India's early decimal coins (post-independence) that I used to find lying around in some drawers at home - the flower-shaped 2 and 10 paise, the square shaped 5 paisa, the hexagon shaped 3 and 20 paise, the round 25 and 50 paise... there was a variety in metal (bronze, copper, aluminum and nickel) that I don't think exists today. It is probably all ferratic stainless steel now. But when the steel coins were introduced, I remember being so beguiled by their smooth, shiny surface that I eagerly got rid of the old coins whenever I could to exchange them for shiny steel ones. Even now, I find new coins beguiling... I save dollar coins every time I get them, because they are so rare (I don't understand why!)... but I miss the variety in the old coins. Now I realize that all those old coins I took no notice of had stories to tell that I am only learning about now, after their disappearance.
I don't mean to go off on a tangent... but what the heck! I can speak of currency notes, can't I? It's not entirely off topic. :)
I remember the animals on Indian currency notes: the tiger, the rhinoceros and the elephant, all three of which I can't help but notice have dwindled to a few thousand in population today. I wonder if we will look back at the notes with these animals in the future and speak of them in a mythical way... Will we speak of them in the same way we do the coins of the old times with kings and celestial beings, royal emblems and cyphers, nature and art?
Suddenly money is looking more meaningful to me.
I read some very interesting stories on how money have been used over the years and how it has changed over time. I quite enjoyed the legendary stories around currency. It was compelling to see how it changed the course of history from time to time and easily created and destroyed empires and nations. There were also some fascinating articles on money in fictional works like books and movies. It was interesting to see how fiction borrows from reality, but also to see how it manages to be very different from all modern, and historic currency as well. In a way, fiction is exploring money in ways we haven't considered with much seriousness in real life.
By the time I came to our nonfictional present, the money world got very complex. For one thing, it is oftentimes not in a tangible form. Some of it went over my head, especially where it spoke of how money is organized today (I clearly live in some storybook world seeing as I find the past and the fictional world more relatable). I figured however, that the sheer complexity of today's financial markets, of currency management, exchange rates, financial infrastructures, foreign investments are overwhelming, but also fascinating. It is a beautiful world we live in where money flows in simple and complex ways almost artfully. I can imagine a whole orchestrated dance with several contrasting movements and prominent themes, competing for space and attention, while playing almost harmoniously... there are parts you can only perceive but can't see, so it can be as abstract as art... There are of course the discordant bits, but I think they only make it more real. (Art can also be discordant, can't it?)
Now I am ending my day with thoughts on how I would like to see myself... A money hoarder (of the realistic world with an eye on the future) or a coin collector (absorbed in a more abstract world with an eye on the past). The latter seems to be more promising of acquiring mass in a less soul-destroying way. Moreover, numismatics (currency collection) sounds so much more cooler than saving or investing.
Defence Against the Dark Arts
Art and I are as apart from each other as the Everest's
summit is from its base. But, as long as we are on the
same mountain, there is the hope that I can climb to
the top of it at some point, or at least look up and
appreciate the daunting wonder that is the Everest
(art)! :) But, lately I have been looking up and seeing
a summit polluted with cruddy, mannerless men. It is
upsetting beyond the boundaries of what is reasonable!
Let me share some perplexing news stories that I came across over the last few days.
In Maria Abramovic's "otherwise" celebrated exhibition in MoMA, her eight new performers who were standing on display were poked, prodded and groped by visitors until they had to be thrown out of the museum. What is such a disreputable lot (and I speak of the visitors, not the art-people) doing in an art museum anyway? I wonder if this is all we have to write about the "21st century art-loving neanderthals" in our history textbooks of the future: Will this be described as the era where the art-viewing experience of adults involved "touch-and-feel", as did their book-reading experience as kids? (On a slightly-unrelated side note: I love the children's touch-and-feel books. I find them fascinating even now. My first one as a kid was a book called the "Egg in a Hole". In it, Henny runs around the farm looking for her lost egg and meets lots of farm animals on the way. It was the book I read almost everyday for a whole year. Back then, I used to think of it as a work of art, although today there are tons of other sophisticated touch-and-feel books that are far more engaging and innovative. Which brings me to my point: Is there an expiry date on art? Do some kinds of art cease to be considered art once they have been improved on?)
In another news, The Bloomberg administration wants to shrink the art space in New York, because there are way too many art vendors crowding parks and streets, and making it difficult for pedestrians to walk, especially on the sidewalks! I can see why this poses problems from a pure logistics point of view. But, shouldn't we be looking for alternative avenues for these artists to express themselves and sell their works? There is no talk of requital... only wreck-quital! What does it say about us that we are struggling to find space for artists to make a living in the open? It raises a lot of existential questions that I don't even know how to begin to ask!
There is also news that NYPD is peeved with the complaints it is receiving from people about statues on top of buildings that look like real people who are about to jump down! This, I think is a valid concern! As it is, tall buildings apart from mountain cliffs and monuments attract a lot of self-destructive people. (Disclaimer: I am only being sarcastic... don't mean to me insensitive) But, in anycase, I also have to wonder what the public can do if a person is about to jump down from a building. The thought alone scares the living daylights out of me. Should these First Aid manuals also teach us how to respond to suicidal situations? What I am really surprised about is that the police haven't received any calls from people worried that the statues (easily weighing more than 100 humans) might fall on their heads! To me, that seems more probable. What is even more interesting is that London had a similar statue-project going on all over their city three years ago and it didn't attract the paranoia that threatens to overwhelm the NYPD now.
Then there was Robert Ebert's declaration that video games can never be art. Even though I disagree with him, I am not eager to defend video games either. I think the discussion itself is rather silly... and like someone else said, the counter argument is turning out to be like a 26-year-old trying to convince his parents that he's a grown-up. But, I am disappointed that someone the likes of Ebert would get into petty two-dimensional (no pun intended) arguments about art! As much as I enjoy his film reviews and think highly of his style of critiquing, he isn't really an authority on art!
Ok. This next piece of news is not entirely bad. In fact, it may be good in some ways. Museums around the world are raiding their own closets to find artwork to display, so that they can cut down on their costly "art exhibition" budgets during this challenging economic time! The Metropolitan Museum of Art pulled out some rare Picassos from their vault. The fact that museums display less than 10% of the artwork in their collection at any given time is alone something to think about.... then the fact that they are hoarding art by artists the likes of Picasso for a rare "economic apocalypse" is beyond anything I had imagined.
There is another intriguing article about street photography becoming "a contested sphere in which all our collective anxieties converge: terrorism , paedophilia, intrusion, surveillance". I remember a discussion I had very recently with someone about the "right to privacy" on the streets. People-watching is for the most part an accepted hobby. We like haunting places where there are lots of people; we enjoy concertedly observing everyone as they go about their lives, while at the same time being aware that we too are being observed just as much. I won't say we are all entirely oblivious to our roles in this experience as "watchers and watchees". We dress well and present ourselves as befits the place and the occasion and we conduct ourselves with some consideration for where we are. Point is, we all know that "observing" and "being observed" are part of the deal (even if openly gawking at people is considered disrespectful... Indians notwithstanding)... but there is still the illusion of placidly going about our lives as if the world around us exists only superficially, as "ambience" and the only thing we care about is that thing we came to that place for (shopping at the mall, enjoying a concert, eating at a restaurant etc). But, the minute you pull out your camera and take a picture of this very same person you have been gawking at, you are invading their privacy! It is to say, you can take pleasure in their presence all you want (even clandestinely), but can't capture a fraction of a second of their lives even if it is only the slightest of everything you have entertained yourself with in them! The ethics of people-watching are grey while pretending to be black and white! I find that objectionable! I also find it thought-provoking how this is the rare case where sly covert operations are considered more respectable than direct, honest-to-goodness appreciation.
Although this post is about bad or borderline-questionable news regarding art, I can't help but share some good news. The New South Wales Government announced recently that people charged with child pornography offenses will no longer be able to claim the "artistic merit defense". Previously, this was a grey area, and criminal law had to consult art experts to clarify if some artwork portraying children should be considered art or child abuse (that it should be either-or is debatable, but I am happy this issue is being addressed). Having said that, I think about old mythological paintings and sculptures of nude children and wonder if they will be held to the same standard and be banned as well! (Fair to ask?)
Have you ever wondered why only a few art collectors in the world end up with lots of really good artwork? Of course, the obvious reason is they have the means to pay for it, but beyond that, how do they get to those pieces before someone else does? In the art market, oftentimes art gets sold to a select group of buyers even though there might be people willing to pay more for it! This exclusivity of the art world, the unspoken rules of trade, the competitive nature of bidding, even in these hard economic times is intriguing. Art world can be so murky sometimes. But, which world that sells products worth millions of dollars is not?
Let me share some perplexing news stories that I came across over the last few days.
In Maria Abramovic's "otherwise" celebrated exhibition in MoMA, her eight new performers who were standing on display were poked, prodded and groped by visitors until they had to be thrown out of the museum. What is such a disreputable lot (and I speak of the visitors, not the art-people) doing in an art museum anyway? I wonder if this is all we have to write about the "21st century art-loving neanderthals" in our history textbooks of the future: Will this be described as the era where the art-viewing experience of adults involved "touch-and-feel", as did their book-reading experience as kids? (On a slightly-unrelated side note: I love the children's touch-and-feel books. I find them fascinating even now. My first one as a kid was a book called the "Egg in a Hole". In it, Henny runs around the farm looking for her lost egg and meets lots of farm animals on the way. It was the book I read almost everyday for a whole year. Back then, I used to think of it as a work of art, although today there are tons of other sophisticated touch-and-feel books that are far more engaging and innovative. Which brings me to my point: Is there an expiry date on art? Do some kinds of art cease to be considered art once they have been improved on?)
In another news, The Bloomberg administration wants to shrink the art space in New York, because there are way too many art vendors crowding parks and streets, and making it difficult for pedestrians to walk, especially on the sidewalks! I can see why this poses problems from a pure logistics point of view. But, shouldn't we be looking for alternative avenues for these artists to express themselves and sell their works? There is no talk of requital... only wreck-quital! What does it say about us that we are struggling to find space for artists to make a living in the open? It raises a lot of existential questions that I don't even know how to begin to ask!
There is also news that NYPD is peeved with the complaints it is receiving from people about statues on top of buildings that look like real people who are about to jump down! This, I think is a valid concern! As it is, tall buildings apart from mountain cliffs and monuments attract a lot of self-destructive people. (Disclaimer: I am only being sarcastic... don't mean to me insensitive) But, in anycase, I also have to wonder what the public can do if a person is about to jump down from a building. The thought alone scares the living daylights out of me. Should these First Aid manuals also teach us how to respond to suicidal situations? What I am really surprised about is that the police haven't received any calls from people worried that the statues (easily weighing more than 100 humans) might fall on their heads! To me, that seems more probable. What is even more interesting is that London had a similar statue-project going on all over their city three years ago and it didn't attract the paranoia that threatens to overwhelm the NYPD now.
Then there was Robert Ebert's declaration that video games can never be art. Even though I disagree with him, I am not eager to defend video games either. I think the discussion itself is rather silly... and like someone else said, the counter argument is turning out to be like a 26-year-old trying to convince his parents that he's a grown-up. But, I am disappointed that someone the likes of Ebert would get into petty two-dimensional (no pun intended) arguments about art! As much as I enjoy his film reviews and think highly of his style of critiquing, he isn't really an authority on art!
Ok. This next piece of news is not entirely bad. In fact, it may be good in some ways. Museums around the world are raiding their own closets to find artwork to display, so that they can cut down on their costly "art exhibition" budgets during this challenging economic time! The Metropolitan Museum of Art pulled out some rare Picassos from their vault. The fact that museums display less than 10% of the artwork in their collection at any given time is alone something to think about.... then the fact that they are hoarding art by artists the likes of Picasso for a rare "economic apocalypse" is beyond anything I had imagined.
There is another intriguing article about street photography becoming "a contested sphere in which all our collective anxieties converge: terrorism , paedophilia, intrusion, surveillance". I remember a discussion I had very recently with someone about the "right to privacy" on the streets. People-watching is for the most part an accepted hobby. We like haunting places where there are lots of people; we enjoy concertedly observing everyone as they go about their lives, while at the same time being aware that we too are being observed just as much. I won't say we are all entirely oblivious to our roles in this experience as "watchers and watchees". We dress well and present ourselves as befits the place and the occasion and we conduct ourselves with some consideration for where we are. Point is, we all know that "observing" and "being observed" are part of the deal (even if openly gawking at people is considered disrespectful... Indians notwithstanding)... but there is still the illusion of placidly going about our lives as if the world around us exists only superficially, as "ambience" and the only thing we care about is that thing we came to that place for (shopping at the mall, enjoying a concert, eating at a restaurant etc). But, the minute you pull out your camera and take a picture of this very same person you have been gawking at, you are invading their privacy! It is to say, you can take pleasure in their presence all you want (even clandestinely), but can't capture a fraction of a second of their lives even if it is only the slightest of everything you have entertained yourself with in them! The ethics of people-watching are grey while pretending to be black and white! I find that objectionable! I also find it thought-provoking how this is the rare case where sly covert operations are considered more respectable than direct, honest-to-goodness appreciation.
Although this post is about bad or borderline-questionable news regarding art, I can't help but share some good news. The New South Wales Government announced recently that people charged with child pornography offenses will no longer be able to claim the "artistic merit defense". Previously, this was a grey area, and criminal law had to consult art experts to clarify if some artwork portraying children should be considered art or child abuse (that it should be either-or is debatable, but I am happy this issue is being addressed). Having said that, I think about old mythological paintings and sculptures of nude children and wonder if they will be held to the same standard and be banned as well! (Fair to ask?)
Have you ever wondered why only a few art collectors in the world end up with lots of really good artwork? Of course, the obvious reason is they have the means to pay for it, but beyond that, how do they get to those pieces before someone else does? In the art market, oftentimes art gets sold to a select group of buyers even though there might be people willing to pay more for it! This exclusivity of the art world, the unspoken rules of trade, the competitive nature of bidding, even in these hard economic times is intriguing. Art world can be so murky sometimes. But, which world that sells products worth millions of dollars is not?
Art # 2 • Abloom •
(From now on I am including descriptions of these pictures: Among the gifts I get abundantly, coffee mugs are the hardest to get rid off. One because they have profound messages on them or¸ words of endearment... Two, I consume a lot of hot drinks! But, I find that the more mugs I have out, the more they fill up the sink and and the more dishes I have to wash. :) So this art marks the end of some of my favorite coffee mugs. The one with the big leaves was the hardest to get rid of.)
Art # 1 • Labyrintham •
(To those who asked about this picture: While cleaning my study, I found some old gift wrap papers that I didn't have the heart to throw out. I figured if I created a collage of them, then the guilt of getting rid of them would be less painful. So that's exactly what I did! I took their pictures and layered them into this labyrinth design. If you look closely, you will see 7 papers.... for some reason the collage turned out looking very Indian, even though some of the papers had comic figures, or some very English flower designs.)
Innit Creepy? Cute?
Dearest Prabha,
What is this photo amma has forwarded to me with you appearing in pigtails? Vighnesh commented " ayyayo!! achacho" That describes my feelings about it too. Is it the kind of creative effort in the field of photography which passeth my understanding? We cannot recognize you at all. Given a million guesses, I wouldn't have said it is you. Daddy appa was annoyed at my negative comments and was furious at me saying that it is just not properly taken. Truly, what kind of photo is it? Lulu chithi was silent for a long time and then said "her chin is like mine" I don't know what to think of that photo.
Love ,
Ammamma [My Grandmom]
Dearest Ammamma,
The picture I sent amma was a joke I played on her. But, the picture you are about to see is the joke amma played on me! It is a kind of "creative" [quite literally if i may add] accident in the field of destiny which I am having to live with everyday!! I hope for all our sakes that it passeth your understanding. You made a contribution as well.
Love ,
Prabha
How Can You Imagine What You Can't Imagine!
To those who read my latest
Art
post and went "Holy Crap! What
Was That!" (you know who you are)
What I meant to say in the post was...
Art is not always a result of what we create but what we imagine. Take for instance the natural rock formations that we celebrate in all the scenic places of the world - the perfectly spherical boulders, the naturally formed bridges, the panoramic view of hoodoos... Humans did little to nothing to contribute to them, but we still celebrate them as art. They are artful because of their sheer existence.
Then take our activity of painting pictures in the clouds or in the craters of the moon. We can keep on imagining them to take shapes of rabbits and flying horses, and will still not run out of our capacity to imagine. When we do stop imagining, it is because we have grown weary of imagining and would rather think of possibilities as being endless and beyond our limited capacity to dream up.
And even if we consider only the things that we physically create to be art, it is still so vast that we wouldn't know where it begins and where it ends.
Heres an example. If you are given three colors and a sheet of paper, there is no limit to the different paintings you can create with just those three colors. Even your imagination cannot limit you, because if you paint even with your eyes closed, you will have created some art without your knowledge of what it looks like.
Moreover, there is more than just painting that you can do with colors and paper. You can create infinite types of origami. you can create a beautiful papermat or a hat or even wrap yourself in it and walk on a fashion ramp... :) And if that does not satisfy you, you can close your eyes and imagine the paper and color morphing into different things, and then write a poem about it.
And in all this, there is a philosophical angle to art that intrigues us more than just the aesthetic aspect. We are constantly in awe of the idea that there is more to something than we can comprehend. So we keep searching for layers of hidden meanings in poems. We notice subtle nuances in the musical modulations of a singer, we comment not only on the melody and the background score, but also the tonal qualities of musical instruments and wonder how the songs might have sounded if it were played on other instruments, we look for cultural or religious symbolism in a song or a sculpture, we discuss the politics that influenced the evolution of a genre. And beyond all that we theorize endlessly on what art is - given that there are infinite things that can may be considered art - from dance and music to gymnastics and tai chi and so on.
Not to mention, mixing of art - where a flute plays beautiful music, but the instrument itself can be a piece of art in the way it is crafted and painted on.....
I often compare art to religion. Because to a lot of people who are strong believers of god, their vision of god is really that of someone who is capable of doing things of such magnitude that they can't even imagine them. But here's the thing.. if we created god or the vision of god, how can we not comprehend what he is capable of doing? It is because, our reverence is for the unimaginable. God arouses awe because he cannot be envisioned. We are awed and humbled by the belief that there is something that no one on earth can conjure up. That overwhelming feeling that there is something greater out there, beyond our reach, keeps us grounded and aware of how little we know.
Art too is beautiful because it is unimaginable. What more? It derives from religion as much as religion derives from it. But where it differs is that it bridges the gap between the theists and the atheists and everyone in between, because it can both be perceived and be limitless beyond imagination.
For instance, atheists only care about that which they can perceive or imagine and can't feel awe for things that don't quite exist for them, just because they simply cant imagine them! They feel no emotion towards that which cannot be experienced, and that which does not concretely exist. Since there is art that can be experienced and that concretely exists, it finds an audience among atheists. But what they cannot understand is the concept of art that is beyond anything they can imagine. How can you imagine what you can't imagine!
I decided to clarify my views with the hope that you will see the light in enlightenment! :) Out of the goodness of my heart, I am unwilling to wait for you to recognize my brilliance posthumously. Monet denied us the privilege of conveying his vision of his impressionistic paintings while he was alive. If only he felt the need to defend his work, he would havesaved us the mental exertion of figuring out what exactly he meant to convey with his sci-fi like compositions of life that depict change and movement over time and space. He also didn't take the time to thank his family and friends for being eternally critical of his work like I will. I thank my family and friends for being eternally critical of my work (including dad who doesn't read my blog, despite much pleading).
I agree that the Art Post was badly written, which I think was the point I made in the text in orange ;-).. But, that should not detract from the message I convey, in the same way that Mahatma Gandhi's bad handwriting should not come in the way of his writing. :D
What I meant to say in the post was...
Art is not always a result of what we create but what we imagine. Take for instance the natural rock formations that we celebrate in all the scenic places of the world - the perfectly spherical boulders, the naturally formed bridges, the panoramic view of hoodoos... Humans did little to nothing to contribute to them, but we still celebrate them as art. They are artful because of their sheer existence.
Then take our activity of painting pictures in the clouds or in the craters of the moon. We can keep on imagining them to take shapes of rabbits and flying horses, and will still not run out of our capacity to imagine. When we do stop imagining, it is because we have grown weary of imagining and would rather think of possibilities as being endless and beyond our limited capacity to dream up.
And even if we consider only the things that we physically create to be art, it is still so vast that we wouldn't know where it begins and where it ends.
Heres an example. If you are given three colors and a sheet of paper, there is no limit to the different paintings you can create with just those three colors. Even your imagination cannot limit you, because if you paint even with your eyes closed, you will have created some art without your knowledge of what it looks like.
Moreover, there is more than just painting that you can do with colors and paper. You can create infinite types of origami. you can create a beautiful papermat or a hat or even wrap yourself in it and walk on a fashion ramp... :) And if that does not satisfy you, you can close your eyes and imagine the paper and color morphing into different things, and then write a poem about it.
And in all this, there is a philosophical angle to art that intrigues us more than just the aesthetic aspect. We are constantly in awe of the idea that there is more to something than we can comprehend. So we keep searching for layers of hidden meanings in poems. We notice subtle nuances in the musical modulations of a singer, we comment not only on the melody and the background score, but also the tonal qualities of musical instruments and wonder how the songs might have sounded if it were played on other instruments, we look for cultural or religious symbolism in a song or a sculpture, we discuss the politics that influenced the evolution of a genre. And beyond all that we theorize endlessly on what art is - given that there are infinite things that can may be considered art - from dance and music to gymnastics and tai chi and so on.
Not to mention, mixing of art - where a flute plays beautiful music, but the instrument itself can be a piece of art in the way it is crafted and painted on.....
I often compare art to religion. Because to a lot of people who are strong believers of god, their vision of god is really that of someone who is capable of doing things of such magnitude that they can't even imagine them. But here's the thing.. if we created god or the vision of god, how can we not comprehend what he is capable of doing? It is because, our reverence is for the unimaginable. God arouses awe because he cannot be envisioned. We are awed and humbled by the belief that there is something that no one on earth can conjure up. That overwhelming feeling that there is something greater out there, beyond our reach, keeps us grounded and aware of how little we know.
Art too is beautiful because it is unimaginable. What more? It derives from religion as much as religion derives from it. But where it differs is that it bridges the gap between the theists and the atheists and everyone in between, because it can both be perceived and be limitless beyond imagination.
For instance, atheists only care about that which they can perceive or imagine and can't feel awe for things that don't quite exist for them, just because they simply cant imagine them! They feel no emotion towards that which cannot be experienced, and that which does not concretely exist. Since there is art that can be experienced and that concretely exists, it finds an audience among atheists. But what they cannot understand is the concept of art that is beyond anything they can imagine. How can you imagine what you can't imagine!
Bogus Art Genuine Appreciation
(I wrote this while I was making a film inspired by VS
Ramachandran's book called "A Brief Tour of Human
Consciousness: From Imposter Poodles to Purple
Numbers". The essay has very little to do with the
book or the movie, but it really was a consequence of
everything I had been reading about related to art and
the mind at that time)
40,000 years ago, the "Mind's Big Bang" contributed to the explosion of human mental abilities, including art, language and culture. Until then, we lived with social and mechanical intelligence and probably a quest for natural history. It is said that due to certain environmental triggers that acted on the human brain, it pre-adapted to create those cultural innovations that make us uniquely human.
Art, math and even aspects of language are said to have been invented "accidentally" in one place of the brain and spread very quickly using what are called mirror neurons to other places. Certainly this accident is the essence of human life. Whatever we are, as we know ourselves in our conscious thought is a result of this evolutionary phenomenon. We are now a species that can appreciate beauty.
Still, the Mind's Big Bang obviously cannot be the only answer to all the riddles of evolution. How we evolved is really a mystery, and one that we have to work by ourselves to figure out. All the same, leaving those intricacies of the human brain to the neuroscientists, I choose to shift my attention towards the less formidable folk, art and art appreciators.
"Art" is defined much more broadly than most people realize. It is debatable whether art is truly art if it's meaning needs to be explicitly stated. Or simply put, from an intellectual point of view, art seems to be dependent on context, from an aesthetic point of view it is boundless. However, with more art appreciators than artists in this world, and more art than art appreciators, the intellectual point of view seems to find itself struggling to override the aesthetic point of view. The former is always convinced that there is an explanation for art and that the significance of art overshoots plain enjoyment. This only makes sense, given that to an art appreciator who already appreciates the aesthetic, the intellectual explanation adds a new layer of wonder.
Take Pythagoras for instance. He exposed a mathematical explanation for what intervals in music are considered harmonious by the greeks. They are in the ratio of 1:2, 2:3, 3:4. In fact, his rational view of the world, extended to his thought that the essential qualities of man and nature – reason, masculinity, femininity, justice and marriage had objective representations in whole numbers or in relationships between whole numbers. Not only was everything composed of numbers but he also believed that the explanation of an object's existence could only be found in numbers.
Beyond logical explanations, our engagement with art calls upon our most subtle and complex forms of perception. It develops forms of literacy that give us access to different kinds of meaning. They cultivate the sensibilities so that the subtle is seen, the covert counted and the important effectively articulated.
It goes beyond an amateur's graffiti and doesn't stop at Van Gogh's starry night. It communicates emotionally and intellectually the individuals thoughts and feelings concerning themes about self, dreams & visions, issues, or relationships.
Art exists where it is not seen and where it is known to a few. A beautifully structured computer code supporting your Apple computer is as much art as Roger Federer's multi-faceted game. It doesn't stop with what is created by man. It is in everything that suggests anything. In point of fact, it is hard to speculate what came first, art or religion and in what way they influenced each other. Truth be told, if art is the same as beauty, and beauty is all-pervasive, including our perception of the supernatural, even in our devotion, then art is beyond our imagination. Our lack of imaginative capacity then only be blamed on the overwhelming nature of art itself and not the limitations of the human brain. From what I learn, art might actually be nature's first attempt at virtual reality.
40,000 years ago, the "Mind's Big Bang" contributed to the explosion of human mental abilities, including art, language and culture. Until then, we lived with social and mechanical intelligence and probably a quest for natural history. It is said that due to certain environmental triggers that acted on the human brain, it pre-adapted to create those cultural innovations that make us uniquely human.
Art, math and even aspects of language are said to have been invented "accidentally" in one place of the brain and spread very quickly using what are called mirror neurons to other places. Certainly this accident is the essence of human life. Whatever we are, as we know ourselves in our conscious thought is a result of this evolutionary phenomenon. We are now a species that can appreciate beauty.
Still, the Mind's Big Bang obviously cannot be the only answer to all the riddles of evolution. How we evolved is really a mystery, and one that we have to work by ourselves to figure out. All the same, leaving those intricacies of the human brain to the neuroscientists, I choose to shift my attention towards the less formidable folk, art and art appreciators.
"Art" is defined much more broadly than most people realize. It is debatable whether art is truly art if it's meaning needs to be explicitly stated. Or simply put, from an intellectual point of view, art seems to be dependent on context, from an aesthetic point of view it is boundless. However, with more art appreciators than artists in this world, and more art than art appreciators, the intellectual point of view seems to find itself struggling to override the aesthetic point of view. The former is always convinced that there is an explanation for art and that the significance of art overshoots plain enjoyment. This only makes sense, given that to an art appreciator who already appreciates the aesthetic, the intellectual explanation adds a new layer of wonder.
Take Pythagoras for instance. He exposed a mathematical explanation for what intervals in music are considered harmonious by the greeks. They are in the ratio of 1:2, 2:3, 3:4. In fact, his rational view of the world, extended to his thought that the essential qualities of man and nature – reason, masculinity, femininity, justice and marriage had objective representations in whole numbers or in relationships between whole numbers. Not only was everything composed of numbers but he also believed that the explanation of an object's existence could only be found in numbers.
Beyond logical explanations, our engagement with art calls upon our most subtle and complex forms of perception. It develops forms of literacy that give us access to different kinds of meaning. They cultivate the sensibilities so that the subtle is seen, the covert counted and the important effectively articulated.
It goes beyond an amateur's graffiti and doesn't stop at Van Gogh's starry night. It communicates emotionally and intellectually the individuals thoughts and feelings concerning themes about self, dreams & visions, issues, or relationships.
Art exists where it is not seen and where it is known to a few. A beautifully structured computer code supporting your Apple computer is as much art as Roger Federer's multi-faceted game. It doesn't stop with what is created by man. It is in everything that suggests anything. In point of fact, it is hard to speculate what came first, art or religion and in what way they influenced each other. Truth be told, if art is the same as beauty, and beauty is all-pervasive, including our perception of the supernatural, even in our devotion, then art is beyond our imagination. Our lack of imaginative capacity then only be blamed on the overwhelming nature of art itself and not the limitations of the human brain. From what I learn, art might actually be nature's first attempt at virtual reality.
Dolly the Sheep, I am
“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.”
Lao Tzu (600 BC-531 BC)
Founder of Taoism
There are individuals in this world who are able to appear in two or more places at the same instance in time. Everywhere they appear, they interact with the surroundings, move around, talk to people, touch objects, experience sensations as naturally as we all do. They are not ghosts or spirits or apparitions. They are great monks who can bend time and space.
By the end of your life, you will have seen at least one such great monk, but beware of the evil Doppelgängers. They are harbingers of bad luck and impending destruction. They cast no shadows and have no reflection. When they appear, they make themselves known as advisors. Heed not the word of the Doppleganger! Be especially wary of the ones that look just like you.
And if you still should want to see yourself in a different form,
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
over time |
 |
|
 |
 |
as a different tribe | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
inspiring thought | |
 |
|
as the other sex | |||
 |
|
a primate | |||
 |
|
or even just with a befuddled mind |
try the Face
of the Future , a project by the University of
St. Andrews. It is not exact science, but we are
getting there. Have fun with it, but more
importantly, acknowledge the otherness in you in a
controlled environment! =)
Metal-Birdwatching
 |
 |
 |
I love Joe Pogans work. He creates fascinating
animal sculptures using nuts and bolts and other
discarded-metal objects that he finds here and
there.
On his website he talks about his style: "I start by welding a frame to make the general shape. Then I weld or braze the metal objects one at a time, to form the outer shell of the sculpture. I use a "blending" technique that leaves no space between the objects, so the sculpture looks solid. This allows me to hide interesting objects all over each piece, which enhances the excitement of discovery. Some of the works are mounted on a hardwood base that I finish with natural oil." |
Animal sculpting seems to be a recurrent theme with a lot of ecoist artists. While that's "natural" (no pun intended), what's interesting is the use of metal for these sculptoral creations. Come to think of it, I don't see why not. Metal is a very versatile and textural design element which appeals very well to our visual senses. It is long-lasting and is one of the most recyclable or reusable materials we know and are familiar with. It's only an added bonus that these artists decided not to buy metal but make use of metal that already exists in familiar product forms.
 |
 |
For instance, Anna Built creates colorful metal birds with abandoned cans and bins. I find her work fascinating, because it's colorful and ingenious. More than that however, it takes me back in time. As a kid, I used to visit a city fair (that we call the exhibition) with my friends and relatives. Like in any part of the world, a visit to the fair generally meant the fun rides on the roller coasters and the ferris wheel (that was human powered in India), magic shows and bike shows, and loads of popcorn and flavor-free pink cotton candy. Now that's the fair bit. There was also the exhibition bit, where craftsmen and other small sellers sold everything from beautiful clothes and artwork to cheap vinyl and rubber toys in hundreds of haphazardly organized stalls. The whole ambience was a multi-sensory experience. Coming back to the stalls, there were some toys that I always came back with - the yo-yo, the slinky spring toy, and a metal click toy (i wish i knew what it is called) made with old tins.. I should have had a huge collection of these by now, if not for the fact that I was (and still am) quite short-sighted. The best part of the click toys, apart from the click itself is the fact that I could sometimes identify what purpose they served before they were converted to toy form. Usually, they were paint cans or old tins with "caution" labels on them. There were even some with a lot of text, making them borderline questionable. Anyway, of all metals toys, I wish I bought one type of toy that I always avoided then. They were the discarded-metal wind-up toys, usually a walking parrot, a clapping monkey or a dented car. I really see them in new light today (the wistful mushy reminiscence light).
There is one artist whom I find
particularly inspiring today. Going by the
hundreds of pages on google about him, I can say
with some certainty that he is very popular.
Joseph Cornell is an artist with absolutely no formal art training. However, his love for surrealism (note: not the environment or recycling) inspired him to make some very beautiful collages. He shopped local junk shops and dime stores and used his collection of maps, toys, marbles, springs, feathers and sequins to create boxes "filled with fantasy and longing".
My apartment is filled with junk. I don't even need to make a trip to a junk store. So with some inspiration and patience, I should be able to explore l'art de junk sculpture. I have nothing stopping me (except, not having a creative bent of mind!)
