Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Rich country Poor Country??

Staying in Pittsburgh for so long, I hadn't visited the famous Carnegie museums. There are a few of them like Art, Science, wild life etc.. So now since its time for going back, I decided to take a quick tour wround Pittsburgh. I went along with my neighbour and her small kid.

The museum was out of the world. Will upload pics soon.. Everything was so unique and ancient. The sculptures, the ancient strutures, the differnt species of animals and many more. I was also impressed by the various paintings and art work by many of them until i came to the section of pictures photographed by an American. I forgot his name.. His theme was "India". I was impressed.. and Happy. Was eager to see what his contributions were..
But i was disappointed and more over angered to see them. His pictures depicted only the poverty in India. He had travelled to Mumbai, Jaipur and Kochi. And in all the cities he visited, he had managed to click pictures of just the poor.
He had shown the Dhobi Ghat of Mumbai, the tired dhobis after their work, some wada-pav wala on the street who was ragged himself with some black stove and kadhayee and the area around him filled with dirt. There was a picture of a sardaji, some old and poor men poorly dressed. Some typical lower class women, a balloon man, some people working in construction sites all covered in mud and sweat...
Not one picture that portrayed what India had to be proud of.

We have the Taj Mahal, the Qutub Minar, the various Forts aorund India. We have Grand weddings that display the richness and high class of people. Esp punjabi weddings or for that matter a Konkani marriage which today is as grand n pomp as a punjabi wedding.. We have our own Well-known industrialists. A shot in CCD or Barista would show the people how Hep and stylish we are too. He could have shown the rich and famous events and people in India.. But there wasn't a single one.

No wonder Americans think we are poor and here as slaves to earn money. Being in US now for more than 6 months, i can tell who are the geuninely nice people and who just show off but inside hate Indians.

I don't think its fair to depict just the poverty of the country. Our country has much more than that! I was not too patriotic as such.. but when people try to show that out country is miserable and poor and filled with poverty, I just couldnt take it !!

Do let me know your views about this. What are we.. slowly a Rich country or just a Poor Country ???

4 comments:

Suneil Kamath said...

This kinda realtes to wat i had to say in my blog dear ..... ON the same lines but the differece is that i was looking onto the positive side of things first!!!!

I think there is one more lesson for you out here......!!!! If that person depicted poverty of INDIA that is his big loss and he is the biggest looser of all... Y break your head on that matter..... Well here is wat u can do ....... Say "SO WAT"... by this u can keep ur life in the NO drama Zone and u can chersih the moments that u have seen in India and u can be happy that u like ur country as the way it . Just by his thought the state of our country isnt like that. U know it I know it and many millions of them know it.... Y consider that one moron, nincompoop, a$$*(0)( word and his perceptions. Let time do the needful and one fine day he wud realise that he was so wrong and he wud do the needful by correcting his mistakes...Take my word for it!!!!

Peace be with you
Niel

Unknown said...

Shradha, First off, you have a nice blogspot. Hope to come and read here on and off.

Lets leave emotions aside for the time being.

Why do people photograph the kind of things you mention in your blog ? Because they exist. If they did not no one would photograph. Its really as simple as that.

As you might already know, knowing is the first step to correcting things. No one can take credit away from the fact that, we have improved quite a lot, but we have long way to go as well. There is no running away from the fact that bitter poverty exists in our country - much of it we have not seen or experienced.

I want you to see www.stevemccurry.com. See his India Gallery. Steve is famous for that Afghan Portrait on Nat Geo Cover page a few years back. He has been to India 75 times, yet says, he has scratched only the surface.

Keep writing.

Shradha Nayak said...

@Ramamohan,

Thank you for going through my blog :-) and complimenting it..

I agree when u say, they photograph coz it exists. Yes I totally agree, it does.. but what i wanna say, Why click only the bad. My question is, Why click just the pictures that depict poverty? Why NOT the other Beautiful things in India. Is poverty the only thing find in India ?? Ok, its good to show the world the poverty too if we want to show them how we have evolved. But no, there is not a single snap to show the beauty and richness of the country. People usually believe what they see and if photographers show only the bad side of it, People will always believe India is Poor and filled with poverty.
Thats the first impression they are giving people..
And i dont think its correct to display poverty alone !

Unknown said...

Shradha, As I mentioned to you, art appeals to a different people at different levels.

When a photographer photographs a poor smiling girl for example, he may simply be portraying how this girl is able to smile and be happy inspite of the poverty.

He is trying to convey the fact happiness is a state of mind.

I am reminded of a Zen proverb which goes as follows : If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.