Writing from a friend?s office in Ballard Estate in Bombay, one is reminded of what a stunning city Bombay must have been and how terribly haphazard and uncared for Mumbai has become. It is the reality of all metropolitan cities where corrupt municipalities have exploited historical strengths and reduced us to third world status. All we need is a reframing of the dos and don?ts and we need to ensure people abide by the rules whoever they are and in whatever office. Mumbai fortunately has young and dedicated conservation architects like Abha Narayan Lamba who have successfully cleaned up DN Road ? these professionals must be given the responsibility of drafting the new parameters.
The Harmony Art Show opened at the World Trade Centre on April 1, inaugurated by Karan Singh, who spent one- and-a-half hours walking the length and breadth of the spectacular space, absorbing the scale of the 500 works of contemporary Indian art that were put together for the vast numbers of Bombaywallahs who were there. Never before has such an exhibition been curated in India. Tina Ambani is the mastermind of this yearly event and has added new dimensions to it each year. Criticisms abound as traditional and ?elitist? bastions are broken and supercilious, sarcastic questions like ?Was the work special and unusual?? abound. The work is as good as the competence of the artist and that is true anywhere in the world. What has to be lauded in this instance is the sheer scale, the opportunity for the unknown painter, and the across-the-strata numbers that stream in through the 10 days. I have never seen anything like this in Delhi, our cultural capital.
Dying species
Krishen Khanna and Ram Kumar were awarded the lifetime achievement award this year and Khanna happened to be present at the show. He too was amazed by the response. We seem to be finally transiting from purdah into the big bad world, the world of competition. The world over, museums abound. India is lagging far behind in this area as in the area of conservation and in the energy generated from pride. A country as rich and diverse as ours could have a museum in virtually every mohalla but that is not so. Even our national and state museums and archives are in a shoddy state, run by babus who have neither the training nor the inclination, comprehension, style or aesthetics to creatively showcase the best of India. Worse, they do not allow private initiative in such institutions.
To think that the National Museum in Delhi is not the hub of creative activity is mind-boggling. It is the saddest institution, one that smacks of all we abhor about babudom. It must be made into an autonomous corporation with the babu as an ex officio member. That will be its salvation. Instead of negotiating the buying of F-16s or whatever other destructive devices, it may be appropriate to ?buy? the methodologies and systems of cultural management from the US, whose ?culture? is in its infancy but who conserves and showcases it with pride.
And, a tailpiece on the tiger ? this species continues to be butchered each day as the ministry spends its time misleading and misgoverning. More killings are being recorded across India and the killers know that by the time government begins to do something through a non- babu task force, there may well be no tigers left to protect ? it will have become extinct in this country like the cheetah did. It is sick-making to witness the cover-up of corruption by the babu. If only they could put their ?genius? to better use and live by morality and integrity. No heads have rolled except those of the tiger, which ensures what little there remains of forests and the water of India. Kill it and the forests will become concrete deserts ruled by land mafia.
