Beautifully depressing

Fernando Botero's paintings were on exhibit in the Doe library at Berkeley. The subject: torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib at the hands of American soldiers.

Botero has attempted to capture the event which the American government is all set to erase from its memory. The government has ordered that the prison be brought down.

The hall had a melancholic atmosphere. No one spoke throughout. Not even in whispers. I can not describe the paintings. The words would only be too crude. It was quite depressing to stay in the exhibition hall. I realized it after quite a while. And I realize now how depressing, how sickening, it could have been to undergo such torture, when it was so depressing to stand there, and so difficult to write now about the paintings.

After a successful display in Europe, there was no museum in the US which offered space to Botero. Indeed, Berkeley is the first museum exhibit of the paintings in the US. As I walked out, I realized that the exhibition was open to everyone. Nevertheless, the fact that most museums turned down the offer does demonstrate the parochial, almost escapist attitude that most of the American institutes have.

A society is healty if it can take criticism. If it can look inside and find faults. And I see a possiblity of a healty society by the popularity the exhibition had. By the fact that there was no malicious attempt while the exhibits were on display.

Which brings me to my second point. Could such an exhibition have happened in India? I think Indians are more open to criticism. Indeed, the greatest cynics of the India Shining story are Indians themselves. But the attitude undergoes a total change when it comes to certain beliefs. Religion, early leaders, religious heads, to criticize them is akin to attacking people personally. Surprisingly, some criticisms which non-secular countries in the world are able to digest, there are uproars in India. The Da Vinci code, the Satanic Verses. Or sometimes, the zeal to protect those beliefs is such that the protestors miss the whole point. The criticism of Gandhigiri, and of Gandhi himself (I am sure Gandhi wouldn't have agreed with the protestors. Or their methods.). Why are we so averse to differences in opinion? Why are we so insecure? Are we being escapists, too?


Update : A university article : http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/03/27_botero.shtml
says fifteen thousand people visited the exhibit while it was on display. Commendable, isn't it?

Shamrocks on the way...

... happy Saint Patrick's day!

Hawking's musings

Stephan Hawking came to Berkeley to give a popular science lecture on "The Origin of the Universe". Curiously, the lecture was in Zellarbach hall, and organized by Cal Performances, putting him at equal footing with the rock stars!

I went there for pure entertainment. With that perspective, you can not be disappointed. And entertainer he was ...

"What was God doing before He made the world?

Was He preparing hell for people who asked such questions?"

Sitayana

Anand, a labmate, showed me short animation films based on Ramayana made by Nina Paley. She is not Indian, has seen the Ramayana TV series (in her words "you can never have too many close-ups"), and has read different versions of Ramayana. The presentation is anything but conventional. She claims that it is Sita's perspective to Ramayana (hence, 'Sitayana'). I don't know how accurate that is.

Regardless, the animation series is pure joy to watch! Background scores are 1930's light Jazz songs. All the characters are caricatured, reduced to a few simple characteristics. Rama is stoic, capable, uncaring. Hanuman is having a ball, with an extremely funny dance. And Sita is the seductress in love, and crying ALL the time. With streams from her eyes and all. The episode "Trial by Fire" is hilarious!

Part of my joy is in imagining the reactions of the grandma's and grandpa's (and the green nekar-wallah's) to this (he raam! or, he Sita!) :-)

Here's the link :

http://www.ninapaley.com/Sitayana/

A feel-good article

Most of my reading habits changed once I arrived at Berkeley. Moving from the Hindustan times to the Daily Cal, news became very local, almost too close for comfort.

One reading I continued was the Sunday articles in the Hindustan Times. Karan Thapar's 'Sunday Sentiments' and Vir Sanghvi's 'Counterpoint' still occupy my mind the whole day. The anticipation of seeing these articles has stayed the same, and maybe, even increased. Its a pity that Vir's Rude Food is not available online (or, well, he stopped writing it).

While 'Sunday Sentiments' is, well, quite sentimental, almost personal, 'Counterpoint' is (arguably) better thought of, and quite strong. The former leaves you smirking, giggling, or frowning, while the latter almost always leaves you contemplating. I can never, ever, forget the words in 'Counterpoint' analyzing the Gujarat riots, and its consequences.

Over the years, though, 'Counterpoint' has become more and more emotional (and less and less logical!). Nevertheless, Vir Sanghvi is fun to read for the conviction he has in his words. For the way he structures his article. And for the way he ends it.

Here's this week's article. Despite it presenting an incomplete picture, its
fantastically feel good :-)

http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1944719,00300001.htm

enjoy!