SUBSCRIBERWRITES: A CALICO KALEIDOSCOPE

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Last month, I had the privilege and the opportunity to rewind time. In my many visits to Ahmedabad,I had been unable to get a booking at the Calico Museum of Textiles, founded and maintained by the Sarabhai Foundation. This time around I made the list! The museum is housed in the Shahibaug premises of the Sarabhai Foundation, called The Retreat – a name that it truly deserves. As soon as I entered the gates of the premises, I was transported into a different (much cooler) atmosphere teeming with abundant flora and fauna. The birds, somehow non-existent on the busy main road outside, were chirping away here, accompanied by the cooing of the peacocks. Everywhere one looked there was greenery which was largely left to stretch in its own unlandscaped glory as much as possible. 

Just as I was about to take a picture of this sudden unexpected beauty that my eyes were met with, the guard at the entrance was quick to tell me “no pictures”, followed by the instruction to deposit my phone and bag. I did feel a preponed sense of loss, because nothing I was about to witness could be captured on my phone. But, I’m glad it was that way. My senses were purely reserved for the here and now as I took in the gorgeousness of all that I was surrounded by, allowing me to step back in time, so I could live the stories the guide was narrating. 

The Retreat is divided into two parts, the Haveli, housing all of the religious art, miniature paintings, and bronze statues; and the Chowk, which is a complex of buildings set like a courtyard inspired by the old Pols of Ahmedabad, with facades, doors and windows set against pillars – all intricately carved, some even painted. When our guide led us through these structures in the Chowk, I was mesmerised, all I wanted to do was stand and stare – she urged me to get inside the building promising that more wonder awaited. 

From there on began what seemed to be an extravaganza of tapestries, carpets, paintings, scrolls – painted, embroidered, woven – all of it so exquisite that I was praying that my mind was recording these memories, these art and textiles from different time periods and parts of the country. In one room I was standing with kalamkari from the mughal times and then I was looking at phulkari from Punjab. I was gazing into Shiva’s bronze eyes and the next minute I was staring directly at Shrinathji from Nathdwara in a Pichwai. At one point we found ourselves in front of an elegant saree weaved by the Salvi family, who have preserved this art for 35 generations. Not 35 years – generations. Let that sink in.

There was one moment where I especially felt I was in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie set. Except that this glorious swathe of textile was indeed a real Royal Mughal tent from the 15th century. The foundation has a book on tentage – but nothing describes the awe-inspiring nature of entering that room. 

I could go on about everything else that was magnificent, but I’d urge the reader to visit this (absolutely free of charge) experience and be inspired. What all of this made me wonder was how did these artisans imagine, innovate and create in the era of no internet & no travel. How did the exquisite kalamkari patterns come about? How did a painter conceptualise and execute a beautifully embroidered Pichwai showing the musculature of a cow using shading,only with thread? 

While I wonder about all of this, I also ask myself, if we have lost the art of imagination, if in the hurried world of productivity, have we forgotten how languidness inspires creativity? Will AI free us up of mundane tasks so we could go back to being and creating, or will we be ushered into another era of pure doing? The guide looked me right in the eye and asked, “imagine these artisans, these monks in meditation, silently embroidering whatever visions the divine universe showed them, only using the light of the day, or a candle by the night. Will you with your phone and your computer and all the knowledge at your fingertips, be able to imagine a quarter of this? And if yes, will you be able to create that vision?”

I had no answer.

I walked away from the tour being grateful for the foundation for having preserved all the interwoven history of this land we call India – from almost all corners of modern India and from the erstwhile Vijayanagara kings to the Mughal kings. Speaking of a seamless culture, nation and its people. 

I walked away wanting to further strengthen and preserve this integrated idea of India where art can be both religious & secular.

These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint

2024-05-02T09:42:13Z dg43tfdfdgfd