A String Of Thoughts, Broken but Alive.
What sustains us is that warm feeling of belonging in this piercing cold world.
A String of Thoughts is a piece of free verse poetry, written in the voice of Toba Tek Singh, personifying the thoughts and feelings of a place that has no identity now, that his people have moved away. The geographical lines don't matter to him. All that he cares about are the lives of his people. He feels a sudden loss of his sense of belonging and is in a dark place that feels like a labyrinth. With brutality around and no one to call his own anymore, the only thread that he is hanging onto is the hope for a better tomorrow.
For my creative presentation, I've taken a visual approach cause I genuinely believe that a picture is worth a thousand words and that I'd be able to convey my ideas best through art.
On the first page, I have painted shattered glass using coffee. The coffee brings across a rather decrepit undertone to my piece while the shattered glass bears evidence to the idea of a broken state. By combining both these elements I've attempted to set a sombre tone for the piece.
For the second and the fifth sheet I've made newspaper collages out of extracts from newspapers from the day of the Partition. The reason I've chosen this mode of expression is that it gives us an insight into how the partition was perceived by the people then. Newspapers across the world reported the news of India's celebration for her much-deserved independence along with an account of the bloody massacre that the Partition led to. This sheds light on both worlds that day; one with the celebration of freedom and the other with the feeling of estrangement - both poles apart yet strung together.
In the third sheet, I've made a black and white poster with the image of skulls as an emphasis on the barbarity that took place at that time.
In the fourth sheet, I have combined Mandala which is largely used in Hinduism with Zellige, a form of Islamic art, a combination that alludes towards the friction between both religions. The Mandala has a saffron hue which is typically associated with Hinduism, while the Zellige is in green which points towards its Islamic origins. Since the spaces are white, the image hints at the visual of the Indian flag.
The sixth sheet with red linings of dark clouds has the background of dawn, a time of silence that is strangely deafening. When we're in chaos we crave for a moment of peace but when the noise dies down and the silence creeps in, we realize how the voices in our head can make the silence bone-chilling.
For the sixth sheet, the background of sunrise is a symbol of hope. The light at the end of the tunnel is what keeps us going and that's the note that I've ended the piece on.
Creative presentation is crucial in historical re-imagination cause writing alone will not be able to unravel the true essence of the idea. In an audio presentation, the tone, rhythm, voice modulation, and other elements convey the right sense in which the text is to be interpreted. For a visual presentation, the colours, shapes, and patterns set the mood and tone for the piece. Historical re-imagination is a complex idea with several nuances woven into it. Hence, for a holistic understanding of the layered narrative, a creative mode of presentation is key. In A String of Thoughts, I’ve used art to emphasize and intensify the feelings of Toba Tek Singh. I’ve used visual elements like colours and textures to paint a picture of the abstract idea which is the feelings of Toba Tek Singh. The creative expression of something so convoluted gives it the layers that bring out its depth.
I've written this piece in the context of the Partition of India, an incident that left its blood-stained fingerprints on Indian history. Political leaders like Jinnah and Nehru decided that the partition of India was inevitable to put an end to the Hindu-Muslim riots that raged across the country. What we envision as a line being drawn that split the country in two was not quite so. The bloodbath that was initiated by political leaders had an impact that was worse than they could possibly imagine. The repercussions of this decision were left to be borne by the people who had no part to play in it. While the partition was implemented, the leaders hoped to create two countries that were well managed and would rise to unimaginable heights on the pillars of, democracy, equality, and peace. Not only is the present reality quite the contrary but it also is rather alarming.
What if there was no Partition? There certainly would have been a lot less carnage and destruction and people wouldn’t be forced to flee their homes. There would have been the possibility of a future where people from both religions would be able to peacefully co-exist. But this is in the Utopian world. Would it turn out this way? I think that a lot could go wrong in this scenario as well. We would probably be a huge, wildly mismanaged country with raging riots. So I think that the Partition was bound to happen but it could have waited and been executed better. I don't think that a lot could have been done differently in the future as the country's greatest minds have built its foundation in the best way they could, at a time when the country was in shreds. Even with a powerful constitutional and judiciary machinery in place, people still find ways to invalidate its purpose. All that we can do differently is to raise our voices against injustice and stay true to the virtues that our forefathers had intended to build the country on. We need not improve by leaps and bounds, let’s begin with the little steps. At the end of the day, what matters is how we make the most ordinary of things seem exceptional.
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