A cultural behemoth

Culture is a little like dropping an Alka-Seltzer into a glass, you don’t see it, but somehow it does something. – Hans Magnus Enzenberger.

A cultural behemoth, India has produced some of the most compelling literary and cinematic works of the last half century. As the world awakens to the potential economic might of this sub-continental country, its cultural output is becoming more ubiquitous, especially in the English speaking world. However despite India’s rising prosperity, it is still a country blighted by poverty and deprivation, something depicted in much of the books and films emerging from India. Rudyard Kipling might have had the western perspective on India, but Indian literature has also been captured by famous authors like Chetan Bhagat whose book, “One Night @ the Call Centre” portrays the apprehensions that beset the large Indian middle class, “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2008, depicts the complexities of globalized India.

Indian art walked much ahead of corporate India before world took notice of vibrant Indian economy and began believing in Indian capacity to consistently maintain two digit annual growth. Indian contemporary artists who were confined mostly to Indian sub-continent and ignored by western media and art world reached Europe and America even before IT professionals began crowding many international airports. Though, not noticed by Indian media or Indian establishments, Indian art helped to change the stereotype image of India into a vibrant country of immense possibilities. Today, Indian art is witnessing exponential growth both culturally and commercially. Despite meltdown, it is considered as the fourth most buoyant market in the world. Indian artists have also taken shelter behind philosophical thought that the “absolute” can not be created nor be destroyed but it can only be felt and understood. Universal language of abstractionism is also not new to India. Using traditional abstract form of expression on canvas, Indian art has really become global. As a result, Indian masters are being appreciated by major art auction houses, curators and art lovers form west. Just to give a few examples, Jogen Chowdhry, Bhupen Khakhar, F.N. Souza, Prabhakar Kolte aare dominating art auctions world over. They stand out for one reason, they not only link with the Indian way of life but at the same time create modern myths based on their own personal interpretations. Author Ranjit Hokote, poet Gieve Patel, and other curators are putting Indian art twith proper perspective for west to understand it in a more meaningful manner.

Indians have also made significant advances in architecture, Taj Mahal, mathematics, the invention of zero and medicine, Ayurveda. Different regions have their own distinct cultures. Languages, religion, food and the arts are just some of the various aspects of Indian culture. There is no official language in india, according to a Gujarat High Court ruling in 2010.

How can one talk about culture and not mention weddings?! An Indian wedding is a grand occasion, very colourful and very lavish with a lot of pomp and show. But I personally feel that the true essence of culture stems in the very unspoken but extravagant sangeets. It is the adorning of ‘heena’ on the palms of all the women of the household and close friends. Heena, usually in local language, Hindi, is known as mehendi. All the female member of an Indian family is familiar to Heena paintings. Mainly during festivals all the girls and women paint their hands with the paste of Heena. It is a kind of flowering shrub, to make dye for heena, first of all leaves are dried and crushed to make powder. After that a paint brush or a thin plastic cone is used to apply mehendi on hands or any part of body, After applying the mehendi at least it should be kept for three to four hours to dry. This type of body paintings is prevalent from centuries and it will remain for centuries in Indian art history. It is a belief that that if the bride’s mehendi is getting darker, her husband will give her lots of love.

Thus this how the Indian traditions are so vast and diverse but at the same time it portrays a very unique and rich culture in the eye of the world.

- Amatullah Fatehi