On August 15th, I woke up and fired up my mail. Was really surprised to see a scrap by Rahul Easwar. If you don't know who he is, please google. I was even more surprised to see this as the scrap heading.
SAD INDEPENDENCE DAY
I checked out the blog he had mentioned and was horrified to be frank. It had the pictures of the great artist MF Hussain. The pictures of the nude hindu Goddesses. I had seen one of the pictures earlier and was not very affected. After all, artists should have freedom of speech. But after seeing the entire collection, I have to say that Hussain deserves all the flak that he is getting and more.
Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. One should be able to speak ones mind without fear and should be able to create things one like. Freedom is a right. Creativity is a power that not everyone has. As it is said in Spider Man, "With great powers come great responsibility."
You can say that these Gods and Goddesses are just mythical fairy tales and pictures of models who lived in 19th century (as one commenter said in Rahul's blog). You can also say that there is no God and this is all bull shit. You can also cite the references from old temples about the promiscuous sculptures and paintings, and scream double standards. You can quote Voltaire and say, "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall
defend, to the death, your right to say it." In fact I calm myself down in arguments by thinking this quote. But there is a vast majority of people who believe is God. Who take respite from religion. Pin their hopes and dreams in prayer. (People say give me solid proof that there is God. Why doesn't the reverse matter to them, the so called scientific methodologists who is said to welcome every question? That will be taken up in a future post.)
Back to our point.
The paintings and art in the old temples symbolized something other than just sex. Do a thorough study and you will find that there are not many (hardly any) art work showing the Gods having a gangbang. I believe it shows the joy of procreation. Assertion of the spiritual nature of sex.
There are millions of people who worship these Gods and Goddesses. There is one other thing every human being should be capable of. Empathy. The ability to understand another human being. It is a must have quality for a writer or an artist. These pictures hurt the feelings of the millions of Hindus. That should be reason enough not to create them. Oh! Its the Hindus we are talking about! Who cares about a fractured vote bank?
Remember the Prophet Mohammed cartoons? The hullabaloo over it? It was all about witty criticism and people bayed for the creators blood. The politicians condemned it. Do I smell double standards? Nah...I am just a right wing extremist who doesn't believe in secularism!
If there is so much creative freedom, let me start drawing cartoons of the women in the family of the so called "liberals". Mind you, I draw some mean ultra xxx rated cartoons. Ask my college mates!
Note: I am a libertarian. Some one benefiting from the global economy. But even a libertarian like me can be driven to intense hatred by these pictures. I was particularly incensed by the portrayal of Seeta banging on Hanuman's tail. If that is creative freedom, then anarchy would be better. Do read the blog I mentioned in the start and see for yourself.
Edit: The dumbass me forgot to mention the main reason behind the post. Hussain is going to get the Raja Ravi Varma award. The award in the name one of the greatest artists of all time. Hussain doesn't deserve this. I hope a mass petition is triggered and the government is dissuaded from doing such an idiotic thing. The involvement of a high profile person like Rahul Easwer can certainly help things and I hope it does help. Otherwise, it would a black mark in the name of a great son of Kerala like Raja Ravi Varma.
SAD INDEPENDENCE DAY
I checked out the blog he had mentioned and was horrified to be frank. It had the pictures of the great artist MF Hussain. The pictures of the nude hindu Goddesses. I had seen one of the pictures earlier and was not very affected. After all, artists should have freedom of speech. But after seeing the entire collection, I have to say that Hussain deserves all the flak that he is getting and more.
Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. One should be able to speak ones mind without fear and should be able to create things one like. Freedom is a right. Creativity is a power that not everyone has. As it is said in Spider Man, "With great powers come great responsibility."
You can say that these Gods and Goddesses are just mythical fairy tales and pictures of models who lived in 19th century (as one commenter said in Rahul's blog). You can also say that there is no God and this is all bull shit. You can also cite the references from old temples about the promiscuous sculptures and paintings, and scream double standards. You can quote Voltaire and say, "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall
defend, to the death, your right to say it." In fact I calm myself down in arguments by thinking this quote. But there is a vast majority of people who believe is God. Who take respite from religion. Pin their hopes and dreams in prayer. (People say give me solid proof that there is God. Why doesn't the reverse matter to them, the so called scientific methodologists who is said to welcome every question? That will be taken up in a future post.)
Back to our point.
The paintings and art in the old temples symbolized something other than just sex. Do a thorough study and you will find that there are not many (hardly any) art work showing the Gods having a gangbang. I believe it shows the joy of procreation. Assertion of the spiritual nature of sex.
There are millions of people who worship these Gods and Goddesses. There is one other thing every human being should be capable of. Empathy. The ability to understand another human being. It is a must have quality for a writer or an artist. These pictures hurt the feelings of the millions of Hindus. That should be reason enough not to create them. Oh! Its the Hindus we are talking about! Who cares about a fractured vote bank?
Remember the Prophet Mohammed cartoons? The hullabaloo over it? It was all about witty criticism and people bayed for the creators blood. The politicians condemned it. Do I smell double standards? Nah...I am just a right wing extremist who doesn't believe in secularism!
If there is so much creative freedom, let me start drawing cartoons of the women in the family of the so called "liberals". Mind you, I draw some mean ultra xxx rated cartoons. Ask my college mates!
Note: I am a libertarian. Some one benefiting from the global economy. But even a libertarian like me can be driven to intense hatred by these pictures. I was particularly incensed by the portrayal of Seeta banging on Hanuman's tail. If that is creative freedom, then anarchy would be better. Do read the blog I mentioned in the start and see for yourself.
Edit: The dumbass me forgot to mention the main reason behind the post. Hussain is going to get the Raja Ravi Varma award. The award in the name one of the greatest artists of all time. Hussain doesn't deserve this. I hope a mass petition is triggered and the government is dissuaded from doing such an idiotic thing. The involvement of a high profile person like Rahul Easwer can certainly help things and I hope it does help. Otherwise, it would a black mark in the name of a great son of Kerala like Raja Ravi Varma.
