What a shame! Our culture has gone down the drain. Look at
the way she is dressed! Mr. Dutta was all over the case of “diluting Indian
culture” again. Sipping a cup of Assam handpicked tea with ½ spoon sugar owning
to the fact that he was diabetic and munching on his favorite Osman biscuits
that I got him over my last visit to Hyderabad, looked troubled again over the
exposure of oneself through the decreasing dress lengths which was rampant now
among the colony girls.
I sat with
him in his balcony, a projected space on the third floor of the apartment,
secured by the iron railing which were adeptly decorated by the creepers planted
by Mrs. Dutta when they moved in five years ago.
Mr. Dutta was a bank employee, a man from old school and an orthodox to
a large extent with a little flexibility to allow his daughter, Aakruti, to go
to Hyderabad to pursue her engineering from a reputed college.
“Do
you think our Indian culture has really lost its roots? With all the
westernization and adulterating of morals, Nudity in the first place, I am more
than worried about the course of our culture in the country”, he picked up the
last biscuit from the plate and stared in the open space over his balcony,
expecting an answer.
“Nudity is in the thinking”, I pitched my voice loud enough to smuggle
these words clearly in his ears while placing back the cup of Assam tea. “It
has always been a part of our culture since long but we seem to have
adulterated our thinking over it”, I continued. “What are you talking about…
been a part of our culture? What do you mean by that?” Mr. Dutta was demanding
a justification of my words now.
I pointed at
the replica of a sculpture of nude pairs from Ajanta and Ellora caves that hung
elegantly in his hall. “India is the mother of art that celebrates the beauty
of nudity and freedom of expressions. Kaamasutra, the compilation of urging
desires between two bodies and souls, the sculptures of Ajanta and Ellora, the
elaborated depictions of nude divine figures at Khajuraho, few of the paintings
of Raja Ravi Verma, have been the pride of our culture. People then did not
adulterated their thinking but rather celebrated the creation of beauty and
appreciated it. Doctors do not see the patient’s exposure as nudity and forsake
treatment. Children are never ashamed to expose themselves infront of their
mothers. Nudity is in the thinking Mr. Dutta and it has been a part of our
culture but what was not is the fact that we adulterated our thinking over it”,
I proclaimed clearly.
(A replica of a sculpture from Khajuraho, inspiration of the sketch above)
