INDIA is a place that can be at once intimate, and yet remote. Even to those well schooled in the Indian scene and sounds, the country is far easier to wonder about, even adore, but a lot harder to live with and accept. Even the natives are for ever, as the expression goes, restless.
So greatly varied is the country it cannot be grasped fully by any single mind. Heaven knows many have tried over the centuries. Down through the ages, India learned to so completely get wrapped up in itself, that it seldom engaged others in any conscious way or display overt assertiveness. Nor did India ever seek to dominate others.
Such is our India, one for the world, even if at times not of this world. Speaking in an infinitely varied tongue, and laden with endless grievance, she can seem aloof and inaccessible at times. Even, devoid of a sense of her place in the larger world.
Although historically venerated as Bharath Matha (Mother India) by her children, India is more like a perpetual new mother who never seems to graduate to the status of a mother-in-law. To the modern world at large, she is only shyly aware of desire and self-knowledge. In the big bad mansion of the brave new world, she is just the recently-wed, still a daughter of the house. Still tending to her infant, nary a moment for the rest of the household, or the world. It really could not be be otherwise, for every epoch of her history and every moment of her life, has been an epoch or a moment laden with renewal and recognition. Ever familiar, India is ever brand new.
SHE IS a mass of contradictions: she amazes and exasperates, consoles and confounds, rollicks and ruminates, submits and synthesizes, titillates and thrills, whimpers and whoops.
As an ‘advantaged’ citizen of the times, it behooves the author — to wonder about the nature of this country and its people; to speculate on the origins of these contradictions; to ponder the comings and goings of the tides of time. The processes shaping it all, of what has come to pass and what might yet.
THIS then is a voice of wonderment about a civilization in search of self, about a people who remain unfinished.
As a legatee of this ancient land, nothing less will satisfy.
Acknowledgment of Photo:
The richly meaningful photo above, “Woman Praying Behind Taj” was taken by the immensely talented Indophile photographer Claude Renault. A cropped version appears on the masthead of the blog.
The photos of Claude Renault cover the whole length and breadth of India. They capture the intimacy and color of the land like few others. Claude Renault kindly permitted me to use the photo. Should this blog survive birthpangs and see the light of the day clearly and well, I intend to feature more of his photos in some sort of a sidebar widget, provided I earn his permission. His photo collection is huge, and worth every second of your time. Please visit the wonderful, magical, and extensive photo collection of Claude Renault. You won’t be disappointed, I promise!
Symbolism of the photo:
When I first saw this photo at Claude Renault’s website I was instantly struck by how the Taj was not the whole story of the photo. We have all seen thousands of pictures of Taj from dozens of angles and hundreds of lights and lens settings. But this particular picture humanizes the Taj like few others, with little gimmickry involved. I knew right away it captured something of what I was feeling, at that very moment of time.
This photo captured, at least for me, the many layers and textures of India: groups of simple citizenry going about their ‘little lives’ in the shadow of a wonder of the world, while in the distance, the land, the river, and the sky merged into a monochromatic murky haze. Not unlike a look back into time.
An aged lady, an even more aged monument to a lady, and an ancient river of a lady, that’s a trifecta.
A head that is bowed toward the waters, a back towards the marble edifice; frail female worshipper bent in crescent form and the enduring sturdy white stone of the crescent culture; two symbolic gestures from two diverse worlds.
Do I need to go on? Ah yes, of course, the great Indian trash by the sacred river…
Thanks for the write-up of our blog. We really appreciate your thoughtful analysis and the time you took to parse our words and understand our outlook. We’re truly grateful for your kind words!
– Dave and Jenny
You are quite welcome, Jenny and Dave. I enjoyed your blog, and it’s obvious you have built up a sizable following. Keep up the good work. We’ll revisit in due course of time.
Normally ‘thebutterflydiaries’ gets half a dozen views and progresses placidly. I was taken aback to suddenly find my daily readership in three figures. I know know whom to thank.
Thank you for reviewing my blog. I feel uncomfortable under the mantle you have placed over me. Blogging was fun for me – an opportunity to be creative, just that.
I had noted your appreciative comment on my blog and patted myself on the back – another satisfied customer. Suddenly I was overwhelmed by pingbacks. Getting to the root of the problem – I found to my horror that I had been reviewed. Egads! Critics!
Then I relaxed, it was just another blogger and he was very kind, far too kind! Its obvious you took much time and effort to read what I had written.
Its a funny feeling – being assayed; a lightly made statement gets highlighted, while some of one’s most ponderously prepared statements are ignored. I really dont know what clicks and your review has proved it. So I’ll just go on writing ‘shtuff’ (as BB calls it) which I like.
BTW BB is no ordinary guy. At the risk of offending his modesty and saintly demeanour (under which he goes around these days), I hereby inform you that he rediscovered an extinct bird, Jerdon’s Courser. There – its done, now he can just feel offended at his friends who are so obviously and erroneously so proud of him.
Thanks for the tip about what is locally known as “kalivi kodi” and the legend of Aithanna. It appears that there is a lot more to Bharat Bhushan than razor wit. A renaissance man, no less. There seems to be an entire post, in there … in good time. Thanks again, and please keep a sharp watch on the wild kingdom, on behalf of those who are far away.
Thank you. I am completely blown away by the generosity of your words. It is truly gratifying to know that you enjoyed the comic just as deeply as I enjoy creating it. Your words has inspired me take up the challenge to live up to the standard you have raised and praised my comic to.
Living worlds apart, as we do, it is always a surprise to see where creative energy is coming from, who is doing what, and such. The simple answer, of course, is that everyone is creating something. Yet, the undeniable truth is that there is an amazing amount of pent up creativity bursting forth in India lately. One of the pleasures of roaming the Internet is the likelihood of stumbling upon a site such as yours. Hope you stay with your art, develop your story, and publish lots more comics. Good Luck!
Wonderful blog! Thanks so much for the mention in ‘Fun with Indian English’! I’ve been trying to leave a comment on that post for the past couple days; for some reason the comments section does not show up. Tried looking for a contact email as well; didn’t find one. Just wanted to say thank you 🙂
gauri
You are quite welcome, gauri, you deserved the mention totally. I so enjoyed it. And thanks for bringing the other business to my attention Fixed it, comments are now enabled; email option positioned at the top of the sidebar. Naturally, I love hearing from readers!
Thank you for the special mention of Anceint Indians University – eGurukula and the very kind words you have written about it. I felt very happy.
Satya
A small imperfection in your review about The ButterflyDiaries has been how my name has been spelt. It was a matter of amusement to me but I now realise it could cast aspersions on your copy-editing skills and attitude towards those whom you review. It is time all Ashwins were spelt the same – don’t you think?
Of course, yes! And, humbled by the errant ways, my apologies. Thanks for your indulgence, Ashwin. May your blog burgeon!