[Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi

[Prabhakar Singh]

Yes I, agree.We,being the lucky few ones who have managed to received some meaningful education in this poor country,should behave in a responsible ma nner and ensure that we contribute something worthwhile to our society,nation and the world at large forgetting about our personal preferences of comforts.Through this forum we should be able to evolve a consensus and serve our nation.Scoring a point or winning an arguement should not be our prime concern.Listening to others,respecting them and appreciating their points honestly will take us to new heights.Discussing for the sake of discussion may be avoided.
The issue of global warming has been raised.It is in our mind.We tend to be hot-headed and intolerant increasing entropy of the universe resulting in sins,greed,hatred,exploitation and violence.We will have to make our life green first.It means consumption to the barest minimum resulting in minimum violence on nature.The western model of life leading to more comforts, more consumption,more profits,creating artificial needs,selling more and more come what may,ever increasing exploitation of natural resources has brought our Mother Earth to the brink of disaster and extinction.Mother Earth has enough for the need of all but not enough for even one man's greed.We all are responsible for the reckless consumption.Do we switch off lights,fans,airconditioners etc.in our offices or homes when they are not needed?Do we see to it that water is not wasted unnecessarily? How much food is weasted in our homes,in public places or in hotels? Are we switching off AC in
 car when outside weather is tolerable?Are we using our car even for very short distances which we can easily walk? Are we putting on the curtains on windows when daylight is available and switching on the electric bulbs? How much solar energy is being used which is freely available in abundance? Why we have to play matches in nights under artificial lights when they can be easily played in daylight?  How much use of daytime and daylight we are making in our day-to-day work? Are we shifting our working time to night time requring artificial lighting and additional scarce electrical energy? How much use of non-conventional energy we are doing which are easily available? How much use of local materials and local skills we are making? How much use of energy-intensive products we are making? These are very simple steps through which we can fight the problem of global warming.

Regards,

Prabhakar


----- Original Message ----
From: Jeebesh <jeebesh at sarai.net>
To: Sarai Reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Thursday, 28 August, 2008 4:47:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi

dear Prabhakar,

It is absolutely true that Hinduism is not understood. It is not at  
all a religion. Religion is a new concept, developed a few hundred  
years to confuse people. It was always a way of life and remains so.  
Totally agree with you. That is why is very important for people like  
you or chanchal to give some new ways of thinking ahead. Like in case  
of global warming, how will this old civilisational way of life give a  
fresh insight.? These are global questions of urgency and if properly  
given thought can upturn the way world thinks. Please give it some  
thought.

warmly
jeebesh

On 28-Aug-08, at 4:23 PM, Prabhakar Singh wrote:

> Very rightly said ! Hinduism is not a religion.It is a way of  
> life.If Hinduism is a book all religions on earth are its  
> chapters.It is a great sin to abuse it without properly  
> understanding it. We should first take trouble to understand its  
> philosophy as little surface knowledge may prove to be dangerous.
> Prabhakar
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: chanchal malviya <chanchal_malviya at yahoo.com>
> To: A Khanna <A.Khanna at sms.ed.ac.uk>; Prabhakar Singh <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com 
> >
> Cc: inder salim <indersalim at gmail.com>; reader-list at sarai.net
> Sent: Wednesday, 27 August, 2008 9:33:07 AM
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi
>
>
> Dear Khanna,
>
> 1. There are people in this world who are not ready to take the  
> positive side of their own identity. There are people who would love  
> to rape their own mother and motherland. And there are some people  
> who even protect their intention as personal attitude. Great. Not to  
> say anything to them.
> 2. You telling that motherland is a metaphor and nothing else  
> explains in itself what you feel about India. I am sure such person  
> also feel the same for their own mother and sister. And I have  
> written earlier that such person would not come to protect their  
> mother also, what to say about the broader concept of motherland.
> 3. As far as Hinduism is concerned, it has to be recognized through  
> the text only. It cannot be recognized at least now by actions of  
> people. Because India is more Islamic and Christianized than a Hindu  
> country. Of course, people like you are a part of it. Hinduism is a  
> mere subject of attack in India. What I told about Hinduism is  
> exactly what is HInduism. And why Hinduism, this word came into  
> existence only when other Religions forced it upon the people of  
> Sanatan Dharma.
>
> I know you will not be able to understand the difference between  
> Dharma and Religion. For you and Gandhiji both are same. But Dharma  
> means Righteous duty and Religion is what you all are talking about.  
> Hinduism is science and teaches righteous duty in scientific manner.  
> World outside India is recognizing this, but our Indians will  
> understand it only when a 'Gora' will come and say and that also  
> when he is ruling us. Sorry.
>
> Sex is a power of nature that is to be won by human through various  
> methodologies described in Hindu text. And that is an important step  
> towards Self-Realization. Attempt is that only. Women taking bath  
> nude didn't cover their body when Sukdeva (son of Veda Vyas) crossed  
> them, because they knew that he is a child in his nature on this  
> matter. But they immediately took cover when Veda Vyas crossed.
> There are many stories where Saints are being enticed by Apsaras for  
> sex. And the theme of all story is same - sex is a very powerful  
> natural factor. And winning over it is the biggest win in life.
> If sex would have been so prominent in Hindus, we would have found  
> Hindu society also marrying multitude of women.
> Please do not try to put Hinduism under charge, for this.
> I have already told you the meaning of Deities, and yet you do not  
> understand and ask me stupid questions.
>
> Unlike Islam, where one is allowed to marry as many as they like as  
> per their capacity and in addition keep as many women as their right  
> hand posses (Hindu women) for sex. It is unlike Christian where sex  
> and love are the same thing.
>
> M.F.Hussain is a gift of Islam. So, he will see even his motherland  
> only with his Madhuri attitude. No, he is seeing India nude with his  
> Islamic attitude. He has seen Madhuri also with his Islamic  
> attitude, though film stars have a different life style and we may  
> not be protective of them in this matter.
>
> It is so simple, if M.F.Hussain is so clean, let him paint his  
> mother. Or if you or the protector of M.F.Hussain has so large  
> heart, please send a photograph of your mother to him and ask him to  
> paint her nude. Let me see, how many of you are not of double  
> standard.
> Either you all are in favor of Darul-Islam, or you are abusing your  
> own motherland by supporting bloody Hussain.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: A Khanna <A.Khanna at sms.ed.ac.uk>
> To: Prabhakar Singh <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com>
> Cc: chanchal malviya <chanchal_malviya at yahoo.com>; inder salim <indersalim at gmail.com 
> >; reader-list at sarai.net
> Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 3:36:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi
>
> chanchal, prabhakar, Everyone Else,
>
> there are three issues i'd like to reflect on in light of your rather
> rabid postings on the issues of the attack on M.F. Husain's
> exhibition. Apologies for the rather long posting, i do hope some of
> you will find it interesting.
>
> First, a rather obvious contestation relating to Chanchal's gratuitous
> offer to speak the 'truth' of 'Hinudism', and more broadly, the
> aggressive claim of Hindutva forces of a monopoly of what the terms
> 'Hindu' and 'Hinduism' may mean. More particularly, this is a
> contestation of the place of sexualness and eroticism in them. What
> makes it possible for the claim to be made that 'sex is not erotic in
> hinduism' on the one hand, and the demeaning of artists who brought
> out erotics in sex as 'failed' Hindus? What exactly is the fear of the
> erotic? Why are these strange people trying to cleave eroticism away
> from the lives of 'Hindus'??
>
> Surely you are aware that there is a diversity of practices,
> festivals, mythologies, political economies, cosmologies if you like,
> in different parts of the country and in different communities in the
> same regions, that may lay claim to the name 'Hindu'. This is even in
> the face of colonial, and more recent hindu fundamentalist, attempts
> to reduce this diversity into a rather boring, often  textual,
> normative frame. Chanchal offers, in other words, one peculiar vision
> of some 'pure' or 'original' 'Hinduism' as though it exists in texts
> (particular ones that by perhaps little more than historical
> serendipity, and sex anxious coloniality, came to be seen as
> containing the 'truth' of 'Hindu culture'), rather than in the
> embodiment and practices of people. chanchal's vision, of a “faith
> (not religion) that talks about winning over the senses (particularly
> sex)” is one that, for the large part, stands miles away from various
> realities, practices and beliefs of those who consider themselves
> 'Hindu'.
>
> In my travels around India researching sexualness and eroticism I
> encountered a confounding multiplicity of festivals, rituals,
> identities and idioms in which eroticism, desire and sexualness are
> central. Way too many of these take place in temples, way too many of
> these are central to local religious practices, and the logics and
> experiences of faith, way too many of these lay claim to being
> 'Hindu', for me to accept chanchal's description of Hinduism as an
> achievement over sex. Or of the Lingam as light. (is it just me or
> does this sounds closer to a Victorian Christianity? – a reading of
> colonial anxieties around sex race and gender into the truth of the
> self?)  So chanchal, unfortunately yours is one peculiar vision of
> 'hindu', and a pathetically unimaginative one at that. It sounds to me
> like the collective voice of a masculinist upper caste that is yet to
> come to terms with (or even recognise) the damage done to it through
> the colonial experience and one which clings to rather fragile stories
> of the self. And it is unfortunate that the political economy of
> Hindutva allows such a vision so much importance today. (Let me
> clarify that i am not particularly invested or interested in
> reclaiming Hindu from the bare teeth of the aggressive masculinist
> claimants. But i do want to point to the right of others to do so.)
>
> The second interesting point in the postings is the tension around
> nudity. Nakedness. Such a beautiful experience. Do you not love the
> human body? Do you not love your own selves? Is it a fear or disgust
> with the self or some other trauma that brings about such anxiety
> around nakedness? But ofcourse this is not just the representation of
> the naked human body that seems to have caused this anxiety – it seems
> to be, more precisely, that you necessarily see sexualness and
> eroticism in the naked human body. But hold on, it is not just
> sexualness and eroticism of the naked human body that has caused this
> anxiety, it is a very particular nakedness – the nakedness of
> 'Motherland India'. Because, the problem with 'perverted Husain' is
> that to him “Mother Indian and Madhuri are the same” – therefore,
> actually its alright for him to paint Madhuri, in fact you probably
> sat at the edge of your seat, enthralled as many of us were, as
> Madhuri oh so sensuously thrust her beautiful breasts forward,
> inviting you to a world of phantasmic pleasure, nevermind the
> performance of outrage at the LYRICS of Choli Ke Peechhe (and i'm not
> talking merely of pleasure for the male gaze of Masculine Men. I for
> one, wanted to be Madhuri). Its the nakedness of Mother India, or
> Motherland India that caused anxiety. So lets face this ponderous
> image of a naked, sexualised Mother India head on. There are two
> things that i find fascinating here.
>
> First, the Motherland is a metaphor. A very powerful metaphor
> admittedly. But a metaphor nonetheless. India is experienced as many
> things, and through many metaphors – a place, sometimes a 'people', a
> postcolonial nation state, a geographical entity with multiple and
> complex cartographic existences, a cricket team, a zone of intense
> gastronomic density, a colonising force, an a series of competing and
> collaborating political economies...But India is not simply a woman.
> And Kashmir is not the head of this woman (as we were unfortunately
> taught in school in the 80s). The power of this metaphor is truly
> fascinating.
>
> But how does one strip a metaphor?? This must be one hell of a
> brilliant painting! (on which note, are there any weblinks to images
> of this painting? If someone knows a link i implore you, please share
> it on this list). If it is true that this painting has managed to
> actually bring this metaphor into an embodiment, and then brought out
> an eroticism in it (rather than what it seems like, the attackers not
> having even really seen and experienced the the painting) then what it
> has done is expose Mother India as a metaphor, and weakened the power
> that 'she' wields. Brilliant. The second thing is of course that once
> we see Mother India as a metaphor into which we are constantly
> investing a sense of reality, the metaphor becomes a contested space.
> And perhaps this is what is creating anxiety for the likes of
> prabhakar and chanchal?
>
> So lets look at what it is about the stripping of this metaphor that
> has gotten them, and the attackers of the exhibition so aggressive?
> What is the power of this metaphor? One of prabhakar's email hits the
> nail on the head. “If some artist in the name of art paints your
> mother nude and displays it in art galleries and exhibitions to public
> how would you feel and how would you react?”, s/he asks. A similar
> point is made by chanchal when s/he says “I am sure, a person who
> paints his motherland nude, must have done much more nonesense (sic)
> to his mother and sister”. This leads me to understand that the
> anxiety over the depiction of Mother India in such a way that she may
> be seen to be sexualised, as erotic, is actually an anxiety around the
> possibility that heris mother is sexual, or has an erotic side to her.
> Is it scary, prabhakar, chanchal, for you to imagine that your mother
> may be a sexual being with erotic desires, and with a body that is her
> own, and which can be naked? Is it a fear of this possibility that
> evokes in you, such strong emotions when you see (or perhaps hear of)
> what some artist has done on a piece of canvas with paint? Is it this
> fear that you will allow to dominate your very imagination of the
> Nation of India? Freudian psychobabble, in other words, offers itself
> up tantalisingly here. Is their Hindu nation structured around an
> Oedipal anxiety over desire for the mother? (ugh!)
>
> The troubling effect of this is of course the denial in nationalist
> discourse of sexualness or rather the right to sexualness of women, as
> after all, the big obligation on the good woman is to become the
> mother of (male) children. This justifies mechanisms of regulation
> over women's sexualness, and the meting out of punishment and
> exclusion to those who fail to live within these boundaries, or
> transgress them at will. The protests against the film Fire being a
> case in point. But how does a woman become a mother (over and over
> again, atleast until she begets a Son), when she is bereft of
> sexualness? Is this an imagination of immaculate conception, or, a
> belief that the only form of legitimate sex is heterosexual rape? The
> point here is that if the metaphor of the Motherland and the lives of
> women must feed into each other, the demand for the recognition of
> sexualness and women's right to sexuality must also address the
> sexualness of the metaphor of Mother India.
>
> This brings me to my last point. I was brought up with a sense of
> patriotism, stories of the freedom struggle, stories of the success of
> Big Nehruvian development and images of Mother India. In fact i
> sometimes still experience a sense of nostalgia for that heady emotion
> of being part of that particular 'something bigger'. (yes, i cried
> when i watched Rang De Basanti). I have, in other words, experienced
> the power of Mother India, and surely all that investment by the state
> into making sure that this experience marks my psyche forever entails
> me to owning the metaphor. I claim the right, in other words to invest
> this metaphor with things. If i bring my travels around India to bear
> on this, i'd say 'Mother India', to me, is one hell of beautiful,
> sensual, sexual, erotic figure, a polymorphous queer body, who laughs,
> flirts, makes love, has soul-baring intense sex. Oh, and, sigh, S/he
> also makes steel.
>
>
> Love,
>
> akshay
>
> -- 
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>
>
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