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Literary Review
Sumptuous spread
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Presenting a `photographic tour of this extraordinary land', Spectacular India is cerebrally and visually pleasing, says ZERIN ANKLESARIA.
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WHEN the Soviet Union was falling apart, a troubled Gorbachev asked Margaret Thatcher how he could save his country from disintegration. "Go to your friend India. Learn from them how they have lived together for centuries despite numerous religions, regions, castes and languages", said The Iron Lady. This remark, which she repeated to Kuldip Nayar, is recounted in the Introduction to Spectacular India, and gives it thematic weight. Otherwise this would have been just another coffee-table extravaganza, a kind of glorified tourist guide.
Each chapter is written by a specialist such as Jyotindra Jain on crafts, Dr. Jamkhedkar on archaeology, Sunjoy Monga on wildlife and so on, and consists of a brief survey followed by pictures with extended descriptive captions. This is a pleasing format, cerebrally and visually appealing, with a fine balance between verbal and pictorial text.
As in any collaborative effort, the quality is uneven. The essay clumsily titled "Ruled by the Religion" is so basic that it could have come from a schoolbook. Each religion is announced in bold type followed by a paragraph or two of elementary explanation. In a work for a foreign readership some simplification is necessary, but it should not be a dumbing down. On the other hand, G.N. Devy and S. Monga write with style and commitment.
Devy's article on village India is a model of its kind. Informatively but with easy grace, he gives a definitive overview of an extensive subject in less than 800 words. The village is seen either as a sylvan paradise with thatched houses, tiny temples and children playing as the cows come home in a picture-perfect sunset; or as a place of darkness, poverty and ignorance, without schools or hospitals, hygiene or drinking water. Between these images are others, as Devy points out, where it is "an economic bulwark, a laboratory for the green revolution, an arena for caste wars, or merely the latest market." No account is taken of its dynamism and resilience, the oral traditions that keep its knowledge systems and superb handicrafts alive, and its social structures which are still essentially apolitical and based on the community's bond with Nature. From these have come the villager's indomitable spirit of survival, which we need as India makes the difficult progression from tradition to modernity.
The book, proclaims the blurb, "presents an engrossing photographic tour of this extraordinary land," and for once the adjectival effusions are warranted. More than 200 colour pictures selected from the work of our best-known cameramen adorn this sumptuously produced volume. Its unusual size gives a dramatic double-page spread of 31 inches, and the foldouts are even larger.
An outstanding example of what can be achieved in this panoramic format is a photograph by Gilles Abbeg of the interior of a Dilwara temple. The aura of sanctity is palpable as a young man stands in prayer before the inner shrine with his back to the camera and the sunlight streams in, throwing some pillars into sharp relief while others remain in deep shadow. The purity of white marble, the delicate carvings that cover every inch of the friezes, arches and pillars, and the white-robed worshipper communing with his God create an unforgettable picture.
The landscapes are almost too good to be true. There are some lovely studies of waterfalls and one of Devprayag, redolent of piety, where pilgrims since time immemorial have stopped on their journeys of faith into the high mountains, abode of the Gods.
Two pictures by Ashok Dilwali are poetic in their understatement. One is a painterly composition showing the deltaic region of Bengal shrouded in a misty haze. In this place of merging and flux where the sea meets the river, and the gently rippling water, the forest and the sky appear to flow seamlessly into one another, a crescent-shaped boat with pointed bows and a standing oarsman are etched sharply in the foreground. The second, in the same muted colouring, is a winterscape of the Bhimakali Temple in Himachal Pradesh, its wooden exterior visually analogous to the bare-branched tree in front, its snow-covered roofs harmonising with the blue and white and grey of the mountains and sky.
Some photographs fall short of expectations. The one of the Taj Mahal is undistinguished and so is that of the Lalbagh Palace at Bikaner. The caption of the latter tells us that its carvings and frescos are "among the finest in the state", and in India one might add, but, with the entire façade crowded into a 7-inch reproduction, none of this shows. A close-up of a part of it would have done far more justice to its delicate jalis and intricate floral and geometric designs.
In the context of the whole, however, these are minor disappointments. All in all, the photographic tour is a huge success, so much so that one is tempted to forego the bother and expense of the real thing, with attendant annoyances such as touts, crowded trains, missed flight connections, unclean or non-existent toilets and so on, and on and on.
What is considerably less successful is the editing. One could perhaps overlook the typos numbering about a dozen such as "lanscape", "tigess", "Hoyala", but the howlers are less forgivable. A caption on p.16 tells us of "Lord Vishnu and his concert (sic) Lakshmi", p.80 has "a horde of cows" instead of a herd, and we learn that "the cricketer Shane Waugh" has adopted Calcutta (p.71). We are also given the surprising information that "India's nearly two Rabaris live in several states such as Haryana, Madhya Pradesh... " (p.88).
The most egregious blunder comes on p.50 where a caption reads, "The Dussera festival is a pomp-filled festival in the old princely state of Mysore. This elephant forms part of a long procession." What we see in the picture however is a North Eastern state with women at a community dance, and the all-important quadruped is nowhere to be found. Here, then, is a double mystery. The Case of the Missing Elephant is soon solved, for, behold, five pages further on there is the selfsame caption with the correct picture, and the elusive pachyderm large as life in the foreground. As for The Mystery of the Stateless Dancers, it shall remain forever obscure. Mapin's editing is usually impeccable. Sadly, this time it is not.
Spectacular India, edited by Charles Schoenfeld, Mapin Publishing, Rs. 2,500.
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