Two cities, two tales
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This week New Delhi saw some works from artists who seldom get public accolades and the platform they deserve. RANA SIDDIQUI
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KUMBH IMAGES: A photograph from Prabhat Singh's collection.
Photography may not be preferred pursuit for many in India, yet a few enthusiasts haven't given up. One of them is Allahabad-based Prabhat Singh.
For the sake of photography he chose to study Kumbh Mela and Tharu tribe living in the foothills of the Himalayas and across the border in Nepal. Organised by PR.9, his works along with those of Mumbai's Sanjay Kumar, were on display at India Habitat Centre's Habiart Foundation this week.
The photographs capture a sadhu at Kumbh Mela tying and untying his five feet long hair to get ready for a documentary made by a foreigner, images of coolies with trademark pagdi at Jaipur railway station, vessel and lantern belonging to Tharu, the cracked feet of a hard worker, a child groom amid film posters and so on.
States this photojournalist from Amar Ujala, Merrut, whose Tharu and Kumb images have brought many curious responses, "When I started my study of Tharu, I was surprised to see that since 1963, no study or documentation has been done on this tribe. Only a thesis by one S.K. Shrisvastva published by Agra University in 1963 was available. Even Anthropological Survey of India, Dehra Dun, had no material on it. Since then there is a missing link which I am trying to study through the traces available and capturing them in pictures and notes."
Earlier the people belonging to this tribe used to wear a topi and a loin cloth, now their children wear denim jeans and sport shoes, they paste Michel Jackson, Sridevi and Sita Ram pictures in their `bansatta', a cot-like tent, during mass marriages, he observes.
Singh has countless other interesting tales to narrate. "Their society is women-centric as they are descendants of royal Rajputana gharanas who escaped to Tharu jungles during battles for kingdom and freedom. They married in this tribe.
And till date, they don't serve their men folk food in the thali themselves. Instead, they slide it with their feet towards them. While women go to field and make wine, men folk sit at home, drink wine and watch television. Earlier they had no idea of religion, now they call themselves Hindus without actually following the rituals.
And this is because from time to time, ISKON, to Shanti Kunj to Christian missionaries come to convert them."
The community, he observes, has a strong social fabric because it usually has the concept of mass marriage.
"On the day of marriage, the persons in whose house marriage is to take place go to help out and do not stay at their own homes. This kind of fabric is now getting loose because of the onslaught of such religious and social organisations," he laments.
Two-dimensional paintings
On the other hand, Sanjay's bright oil paintings depict an amalgam of man, woman and child. His works are also appreciated for the frame that forms a part of the canvas.
He engraves shlokas, gods and goddesses and other such elements on the wooden frame that gives his works a two-dimensional approach.
"I never make abstracts. I believe no painting can be purely abstract. It has to have a realism to begin with," says the artist who is an ardent admirer of Van Gogh and Souza.
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