If was a cultural artifact that really represents everything India is today, what would it be? Ever since I went to watch director Nikhil Mehta’s Blackbox play, I have been grappling with this question for the record In Delhi last month, the play threw up several tangible and intangible cultural artifacts—the Taj Mahal, yoga, Carnatic music, samosas, Khajuraho, rasgulla, Sanskrit, and so on.
If we choose the right object, it will be a statement of who we are and a signal to the world how we are different.
The great British Museum curator Neil McGregor wrote in his seminal book History of the World in 100 Objects Historical objects have greater meaning because they “speak of society as a whole and of complex processes rather than individual events, and tell the world for which they were created, as well as how later periods have reshaped or shifted them.” “
And yet, no one thing can do that for India.
Still Dil Hai Hindustani
The plot of Mehta’s play revolves around a government tribunal set up in 1971 to send three Indian artifacts to the United Nations. After seven days, the tribunal remains undecided, and the five-man team ends in debate, fighting and disagreement. But the all-pervading Bharat object is elusive.
If you are Amartya Sen, you would say that this act of dissent and debate is the essence of India. His 2005 book, rational indianToday, almost feels like a relic. It came to the fore when you used to see disagreement as a pin on your coat. Exactly five years before the book, there was a film called Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Still Dil Hai Hindustani Whose title song prides itself on our daily, beloved flaws and discrepancies, and is quintessentially Indian. Bollywood had more offers. Raj Kapoor sang it was Ganga, and Manoj Kumar offered Zero.
It was a different India.
Today, in 2022, the quest for uniformity is the biggest goal – whether it is the interpretation of religion, freedom, citizenship or nationalism.
In fact, the artistry of the play makes you question the need for an idea, a tone and an object.
Read also: Shahrukh Khan was Bharat. And then India changed
Is democracy, non-violence our calling card?
If we were to choose a historical item to send, what period would it be? Pre-Vedic Period, Buddhist India, Gupta Period, Pre-Islamic Period, Chola Dynasty, or Mughal Rule? Objects have stories, and the story of each of these eras is a story of continuity and being together. These periods do not exist in tightly boxed, neatly wrapped silos. Cultures flow into each other. Poet Ashok Bajpai called it the ‘unity of cultures’ that Indians carry within themselves.
Furthermore, “the history of objects can never be perfectly balanced because it depends entirely on what it takes to survive,” McGregor wrote. In the case of India, today we have things that have survived invasions, occupations and foreign rule. So, are they the most authentic patrons of India?
Instead, if India were to send an abstract idea as its ambassador, it would be democracy and non-violence.
The third may be ‘unity in diversity’ – but then again, it’s not really Unique For India, as much as we might like to believe. You can look at the United States, China, Russia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan – they are all diverse. Indian exceptionalism on this front is a lullaby we sing to ourselves. It helps us feel proud. But that’s all there is.
Non-violence is a criterion we carry, a fascinating souvenir from our freedom movement. But if we go beyond the freedom movement to claim that Indian civilization has never conquered other cultures, it can be difficult, argued Author Anirudh Kanisetti. The Cholas invaded Bengal, Indonesia; Kashmiri rulers invaded Afghanistan, Xinjiang.
We are a vibrant democracy, this is our unique calling card. Yes, India is the biggest. Shall we limit it to elections, voting and EVMs? After all, regular elections are held in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. We vote it’s no miracle in this area.
If we extend this to the real freedom of civil rights and institutions, there are many nations that leave us behind.
Read also: What gives Indian democracy its longevity? Choices make the elite
flash of nostalgia
The problem with obsessing without studying or questioning is that it evokes postcard-style nostalgia. We didn’t live in better times, we didn’t live in simpler times. The past was even more chaotic, unjust, violent and frantic.
Today India is looking to the distant Vedic past for the complete origin story that can inspire us to move forward. Anyone who questions that idyllic life is stigmatized and maligned. There is an important line in the play that sums up this moment in our country: ‘Protest is not the enemy of culture. There is nostalgia.’
Nostalgia traps us in a fixed, unchanging culture as the imagination of the past. But the culture is fluid, developing. And accepting this liquidity is what makes a nation strong. We call ourselves a living culture. By its definition, it means that we improve and optimize. Culture will slip from your fingers like sand the moment you try to define it.
It is not surprising that the new Prime Ministers’ museum is central to Delhi’‘continuity’ or continuity. But then, you can say that for any nation. It is not unique to us.
Read also: The PM’s Museum dazzles and entertains. But it doesn’t tell us who we are
Kohinoor, between Chai and Gandhi
And yet, the 1972 tribunal in drama secured a blank. The members fought and could not reach any definite conclusion. There are many Indians today who cannot agree on what the country stands for. The past is too complicated for us to implement our reform demands of the 21st century.
When one member performs Carnatic music, the other accuses him of being casteist. when another offer Mughal-e-Azam, another says that it is fake and not authentic history. Then another presents an artwork of a dancing girl, but then someone tells that it was from Mohenjodaro, which is not in India but in Pakistan.
They are so disappointed that they decide to pick one up via game show. Bizarre choices are thrown in and voted on. Bodhi Tree Vs Gandhi. Mahabharata: vs salt. Iyengar Yoga Vs MS Subbulakshmi. Taj Mahal Vs Zero Kanjipuram Saree Vs Darjeeling Tea. This simplification of the identity of the nation is political satire at its best.
An actor says maybe they should first bring back the Kohinoor and then send it to the United Nations as an artwork of India.
If I had to choose one today, I would be mad too. I can think of many beautiful, iconic items, but not one.
The fact is, Indians would argue themselves for any one idea, identity or representative artwork. Because whatever you say about India, the reverse is also true. So the ending of the play is the dialogue: ‘India is nothing. This is too much.’
Rama Lakshmi is ThePrint’s opinion and features editor. She tweets @RamaNewDelhi. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Neera Mazumdar)