Indian dolls reveal the pageant of life<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Pained by present-day politics? Sick of counting
\nstocks and shares? Stories of terrible terrorists becoming
\ntiresome? Take a break then, and escape those streets of Jakarta
\nthat lead to financial pursuits alone for the sanctuary of the
\nNational Museum, where the vivid color of an exhibition of dolls
\nfrom India is bound to return the smile to your soul.<\/p>\n
Dolls inspired by Indian women and the deliriously colored
\nclothes they wear. There are dolls in red, blue, yellow, some
\nsolar, some nocturnal, dark-haired, dancing, covered from
\nhead-to-toe in jewels and rings and yet another doll with her
\nforehead smeared in vermilion, a pigment the color of blood. All
\nthese female dolls are accompanied at the exhibition by their
\nmale counterparts.<\/p>\n
There are brides dressed to kill, in celebration of the sacred
\nunion, of the beginning of life itself, and tribal women
\nsquatting on the roadside, surrounded by their magical wares in a
\ncenturies-old scene, providing a stunning meditation on time
\nitself.<\/p>\n
The exhibition, which runs until Sept. 25, is a lavish pageant
\nof the diversity and variety of life in India, a civilization at
\nleast five millennia old, if not more. India, one billion
\nindividual men and women each differing from one another, all
\nliving in a private universe of thought and feeling. Together
\nthey form a country that is baffling, complex, full of tragedy,
\nbut also of manifold opportunities.<\/p>\n
In some ways it is just like Indonesia, where this world is
\nlooked upon by some merely as a woven warp and woof on water,
\nwhere the present and future continue to reflect the past, but
\nthe complexity of modern life has thrown some into conflict and
\nconfusion. For both Indians and Indonesians, the concept of unity
\nin diversity seems to have become a puzzle unto themselves in
\nthese conflicting times.<\/p>\n
The 50 dolls on display are a microimpression of India's 130
\nlanguages and 1,600 dialects, a country where a multitude of
\nsects and religions have resided sometimes in conflict, but more
\noften in peace since the cosmos came to be, even before man's
\nmemory.<\/p>\n
There is nothing negative to say about the fine craftsmanship
\nof all those who so meticulously created and adorned the
\nbeautiful dolls on exhibit, but perhaps the organizers at the
\nIndian Council of Cultural Relations could have included in the
\nexhibition images of modern Indian. All those Indians who are not
\nin the habit of dressing up like Christmas trees, like the
\nfarmer, teacher and the social worker, are conspicuous by their
\nabsence from the exhibition. For if India indeed is the river of
\ntime that has been flowing since the dawn of creation, gathering
\nnew streams, absorbing new thoughts, technologies and peoples,
\nthan surely it must include the pauper along with the prince in
\nits sacred waters.<\/p>\n
-- Mehru Jaffer<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indian-dolls-reveal-the-pageant-of-life-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }