प्रत्येकात दडलेला (आणि दडपलेला) कलाकार - The Suppressed Artist

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प्रत्येकात दडलेला (आणि दडपलेला) कलाकार

दोन-तीन दिवसांपूर्वी एका मित्राबरोबर बोलत होतो. शाळेमध्ये एका ठरावीक पठडीतील शिक्षण देऊन देऊन कारकून तयार करण्याच्या फॅक्टऱ्या कशा थाटल्या गेल्यायत असा एकंदर सुर होता. मुलांना शाळेत आपण "घोका आणि परीक्षेत ओका" या पद्धतीतून १२-१५ वर्षं घुमवतो, आणि जेव्हा ती बाहेरच्या जगात जातात त्यावेळी अचानक त्यांच्याकडून "प्रॉब्लेम solving" ची अपेक्षा केली जाते. त्यामुळे पिढ्यानपिढ्या नुसते गोंधळलेले आत्मे शाळा-कॉलेजांमधून बाहेर पडत राहतात.

निदान कलेसारख्या विषयांतून मुलांना वेगळ्या पद्धतीचे विचार करायला भाग पाडण्यात यावं अशी अपेक्षा करावी तर तिकडेही सगळा आनंदीआनंद!

दिवसेंदिवस सरकारची कलाशिक्षणाबद्दलची वाढती अनास्था आपल्याला नवीन नाही. शाळेतील या विषयाचा माझा स्वतःचा अनुभवही काही फारसा उत्साहवर्धक नाही. अर्थात आमच्यावेळी निदान आठवीपर्यंत चित्रकला हा एक विषय अभ्यासात तरी होता. आता तेपण नाहीये. असो.

शाळेत असताना मला माणसांची चित्रं काढायला जाम म्हणजे जामच आवडायचं. सुपरमॅन-बॅटमॅनची कॉमिक्स आणि अमर चित्र कथा यामधली कॅरेक्टर्स बघून आणि स्वतःची कॅरेक्टर्स तयार करून मी भरपूर चित्रं काढायचो. आणि त्या वेळी सुद्धा "foreshortening" सारख्या क्लिष्ट गोष्टी माझ्या चित्रांमध्ये येत असत. चित्रकलेचं शिक्षण घेऊनही माणसांची चित्रं काढायला कचरणारी अनेक लोकं मला ठाऊक आहेत. त्यामुळे त्या वयात हा चांगलाच "asset" माझ्याकडे होता.

आता या गोष्टीला आमच्या चित्रकलेच्या शिक्षकांकडून कसा प्रतिसाद मिळावा? तर सगळ्यांसमोर माझ्या चित्रांची लाज काढून त्यांनी मला आमच्या वर्गातील दुसऱ्या मुलाची landscape चित्रं दाखवली आणि मला सांगितलं की "मार्क मिळवायचे असतील तर अशी चित्रं काढायला शीक. माणसांची चित्रं काय काढत बसतोस नुसती?".

पुढच्या वीस वर्षांत मी landscape पेंटिंगला हात लावला नाही!

आता माझी landscapes बघून कुणाचा विश्वास बसणार नाही की कधीकाळी मी या प्रकारच्या चित्रांचा तिरस्कार करत होतो! पण हे खरं आहे.

या गोष्टीवरून मला २ वर्षांपूर्वीची एक घटना आठवली.

"रोटरी" तर्फे एका शाळेत मेंदी, स्केचिंग आणि पेंटिंगची स्पर्धा आयोजित केली होती. मला परीक्षक म्हणून तिथे आमंत्रण होतं. सकाळी सकाळी मी तिथे पोचलो. मुलं-मुली आधीपासूनच येऊन चित्रं काढण्यात दंग झाली होती.

आयोजकांबरोबर नमस्कार-चमत्कार झाले. मी आणि अजून एक चित्रकर्ती असे दोघे परीक्षक होतो. मुलांमध्ये एक चक्कर टाकून त्यांचं काय चाललंय बघायचा प्रयत्न केला. पण परीक्षक म्हणजे कुणीतरी भयानक व्यक्ती अशी त्यांची समजूत करून दिली गेली असावी. त्यामुळे आम्ही आसपास आलो कि त्यांच्या देहबोलीत टेन्शन वाढलेलं लगेच जाणवायचं. शेवटी ही भेट आटोपती घेऊन मी आणि दुसरी परीक्षक मुकाट्याने स्थानापन्न झालो.

शाळेतल्या शिक्षकांनी त्यातल्या त्यात आमचं काम सोपं करण्यासाठी आलेल्या सर्व चित्रांमधून काही चित्रं "शॉर्टलिस्ट" केली आणि आम्हाला त्यातून विजेते निवडायला सांगितलं. प्रत्येक यत्तेसाठी आमच्याकडे साधारण ३०-३५ चित्रं येत होती. त्यामधून तीन-तीन विजेते आणि दोन-दोन  उत्तेजनार्थ पारितोषिकं निवडायची होती.

इयत्ता ६वीची चित्रं जेव्हा आमच्याकडे आली त्यावेळी त्यातील एका विद्यार्थ्यांचं चित्र पाहून मी भलताच इम्प्रेस झालो. त्यांना विषय दिला होता "सण".  त्यानं ख्रिसमस हा सण निवडला होता. त्याची चित्र काढण्यातली कल्पकता मात्र एखाद्या मोठ्या माणसाला लाजवेल अशी होती.

या मुलाच्या चित्रामध्ये एका घराची मोठी खिडकी होती. खिडकीच्या बाहेर लालभडक कपड्यांमधला सांता मोठ्या पोतडीत भेटवस्तू घेऊन उभा होता. खिडकीच्या काचेमधून घरातली रंगीबेरंगी सजावट लक्ष वेधून घेत होती. आणि मज्जा म्हणजे सांता आणि ती खिडकी सोडून त्यानं सगळा कागद रिकामा सोडला होता! त्यामुळे आपोआपच बाहेरच्या बर्फ़ाळ वातावरणाचा इफेक्ट तयार झाला होता. नाही म्हणायला त्यानं त्या रिकाम्या जागेत काही हिमवर्षाव दाखवला होता.

त्याची या लहान वयातली ही "कॉम्पोझिशन" ची समज बघून मी थक्क झालो. मोठ्या-मोठ्या लोकांनाही जे सुचत नाही, ते या सहावीतल्या मुलाला नुसतं सुचलंच नव्हतं तर त्यानं ते कागदावरही सुंदर उतरवलं होतं. दुसरं कोणतंही चित्र त्याच्या जवळपासही नव्हतं. माझ्या मते पहिला क्रमांक निर्विवाद ठरलेला होता. माझ्याबरोबरच्या दुसऱ्या परीक्षकाचेही तेच मत पडलं.  

जेव्हा आम्ही ठरवलेली विजेत्यांची यादी शाळेतल्या शिक्षकांना सांगितली तेव्हा त्यांची प्रतिक्रिया बघून मी नुसता थक्कच नाही तर हतबुद्ध झालो! शाळेतल्या कलाशिक्षकांच्या मते हे चित्र पहिल्या क्रमांकाचं सोडा, कोणतेही पारितोषिक देण्याच्या लायकीचं नव्हतं! "तुम्ही अगदीच म्हणत असाल तर या चित्राला एखादं उत्तेजनार्थ बक्षीस देऊ" अशा शब्दांत माझी बोळवण करायचा प्रयत्न झाला.

आणि या सगळ्या तुच्छतेचं कारण काय? तर म्हणे त्या मुलानं सगळा कागद भरला नव्हता! म्हणजे ज्या उत्कृष्ट "कॉम्पोझिशन" बद्दल मला त्या मुलाचं मनापासून कौतुक वाटलं होतं ती गोष्ट कलाशिक्षकांच्या मते त्या मुलाचा मोठा प्रॉब्लेम होता!

शेवटी बऱ्याच वादावादीनंतर त्या मुलाला दुसऱ्या क्रमांकाचं बक्षीस देण्याचा निर्णय झाला.

त्या दिवशी पुन्हा एकदा मला जाणीव झाली की कलेसारख्या कल्पक क्षेत्रातही केवढं कल्पनादारिद्र्य आहे! जर प्रत्येक गोष्ट चौकटीत कोंडण्याचा शिक्षकांचा आग्रह असेल, आणि त्याबद्दलच बक्षिसं वाटली जात असतील तर मुलांना कल्पनाशक्ती वापरणं हि शिक्षाच वाटणार!

ज्या वयात काहीतरी वेगळं करण्याची उर्मी असते त्याच वयात मुलांचे पंख छाटून त्यांना "कारकून" बनवण्याची प्रक्रिया चालू होते. आणि मग हीच मुलं मोठी होऊन काही नवनिर्मिती करण्याऐवजी आयुष्यभर "तुझं पॅकेज मोठं की माझं पॅकेज मोठं" हा कॉर्पोरेट खेळ खेळत बसतात.

हा सगळा प्रकार बघून मला कुठेतरी ऐकलेलं वाक्य आठवलं... "प्रत्येक व्यक्ती कलाकार म्हणूनच जन्माला येते, पण हा कलाकार शालेय जीवनाच्या अखेरपर्यंत जिवंत ठेवणं हे मोठं आव्हान असतं!". 

The Suppressed Artist

A couple of days ago, I had a discussion with one of my friends. The conversation was about the modern “clerical factory” that our education system has become. We force our children to rote and write in examinations. When these same children, who are equipped only for spoon-feeding get into the real world, we expect them to be equipped for problem solving! This has created generation after generation of consumed souls.

It’s not wrong to expect that a creative field like arts would be exempt from this clerical madness. But the government’s apathy, coupled with old jaded ideas has sniffed out even that hope.

When I was a school student, we had drawing as a subject till 8^th standard. Today, children have very little exposure to any creative subject.

I will share with you my own experience of how school act as creativity killers.

When in school, I looooved to draw human figures. And I was quite good at it. I started with imitating the drawings from DC comics and Amar Chitra Katha, and quickly graduated to designing and drawing my own characters. I even wrote my own crude comics. When I did not even know perspective concepts, I could intuitively draw foreshortened bodies.

I know many people who, in spite of formally being educated in fine arts, still hesitate to draw human figures. So, looking back, I can see that it was quite an asset I had.

And how do you think my drawing teacher reacted to me drawing human figures? Yes, you guessed it!

He admonished me (in front of many fellow students) for not drawing enough landscapes. He even pointed me to other students and told me that I should start drawing landscapes like them if I hoped to get any marks.

The result?

I never painted a single landscape for next twenty years! I hated landscape painting.

People find it hard to believe now that I hated landscape painting for so long. But that’s a fact.

I encountered a similar corrosive incident a couple of years ago.

A couple of years ago, I was invited to a Rotory club event in a school. The event was about a henna, sketching and painting competition for secondary level students. I was invited as a judge for the competition.

I reached the venue early in the morning. The students had reached even earlier and were already engrossed in their artworks.

After some formalities and small chat, I was ushered into a large hall where many students were sitting. The organizers introduced me to the other artist who would be my co-judge for selection of the winners.

I tried to mingle and interact with the students. But it was clearly evident that they would feel the pressure of the judges’ presence and could not concentrate. So we decided to remain at our assigned seats.

To ease our job, the art teachers from the school shortlisted and handed over the top artworks to us for selecting the winners. For every standard, we would get between 30-35 artworks. We were expected to select three top artworks and a couple of artworks for consolation prizes.

When I had a look at the standard 6th artworks, I was blown away by one of the artworks. The subject given to the students was “A festival”. This little artist had chosen Christmas as his subject.

In this painting, one could see a large window to a house from outside the house. Through the window, one could see the colorful decorations adorning the living room, and the happy family within. Outside the window was Santa clause with a gunny bag full of gifts and a mischievous smile on his face.

Apart from Santa, the colorful window and some snowflakes, the paper was left completely blank, automatically creating a sense of snowy, white landscape. The bright red clothes of Santa and the bright yellow and orange colors of the interior of the house had created a great contrast against this white foreground.

I was astonished by the sense of composition and contrast shown by this little artist. This sixth standard student had not only imagined this off-beat composition, but also successfully transferred his imagination onto the paper. No other artwork was even close. In my opinion, the winner was decided! When I discussed this with the other judge, she came to the same conclusion.

However, I did not expect the rude shock I got when I discussed the same with the art teacher employed with the school.

In the opinion of the art teacher, this artwork was not even worth giving a consolation prize. Reason? Because the student had not filled up the entire paper with colors!

So, the exceptional and imaginative composition was a huge drawback in the view of the art teacher.

After much heated “discussion”, we finally settled on awarding the second prize to the little artist.

That day, I realized how a so-called creative field like art is plagued by poor creativity. How can creativity survive in an environment where every free thought is stifled as non-compliant? If thinking within a box is rewarded, and thinking outside the box is always punished, how are the youngsters’ creativity supposed to thrive?

This process of clipping the creative wings starts at an early age and morphs them into stunted versions of themselves. Rather than create scientists and visionaries, it creates cookie-cutter versions of clerks. Then these children grow old playing the corporate game of “Who’s got a bigger package?”.

After this incident, I recalled one saying… “Everyone is a born artist, the challenge it to remain an artist through the school years!”.

Adultery Law and the Future of the Family System

Last week, the supreme court of India announced a landmark verdict quashing the 150 years old adultery law. As expected, it attracted widespread criticism, outpour of emotions and knee jerk reactions from the facebookers and social media (armchair) warriors.

The moral brigade was utterly, absolutely demoralized, and declared that the true Indian marriage and family system would be dead in a few years.

Netizens, depending on their current situation, were either afraid that their wives would start sleeping with anyone except them, or happy that they would (legally) sleep with someone else’s wife!

There was a flurry of jokes on social media about a certain celebrity couple, and few padosans. And there were even speculations that the judges who wrote this verdict did it to legalize their own affairs!

Sadly, the main point of the truth was, as always, buried under all that noise.

To know that truth, let’s see what the adultery law was. (This is my understanding of the law, which is written in my own words. If you want to debate on the nitty-gritties of this law, find a lawyer and argue with him/her!).

The adultery law stated that “If a married woman has sex with another man WITHOUT HER HUSBAND’S CONSENT, her husband could initiate criminal proceedings against the woman’s partner and send him to prison (up to 5 years!). However, the woman would be considered innocent and would not face any criminal charges”.

In relating this archaic law with the sanctity of marriage, we overlooked some important aspects which the law inherently stated:

1.      A married woman is the property of her husband, since she needs a permission from her husband to sleep with anyone else.

2.      The husband however, does not require such permission from his wife to sleep around (provided the women he sleeps with are unmarried, and not someone else’s property!).

3.      If a man sleeps with the wife of another man without his permission, the husband can press criminal charges against him (akin to pressing criminal charges for using his property without his consent).

Thus the law was completely biased and inherently bigoted, and I am sure it must have been blatantly misused by so many disgruntled husbands against other men, as all such one-sided laws are often used.

Which brings us to a far more crucial point.

Should the government dictate what two consenting adults do behind the closed doors?

I often observe this growing trend of confusing between legality and morality.

Law is supposed to uphold what is legal, not what is moral.

What do I mean by this? Let me explain.

Law is supposed to be black and white. You steal something, you are guilty. You don’t steal, you are not guilty. If you kill someone in anger or in cold blood, you are guilty. If you kill in self-defense, you are not.

There are no grey shades in a law.

Morals change person to person. For one person, eating meat is as natural as breathing, while for someone else, it’s a grave sin.

Same goes for drinking habits of people, and sex.

When legality and morality mix in a law, it leads to ambiguity in law.

Ambiguity in law is a recipe for disaster, since it’s a highly fertile ground for corruption. It gives the authorities free reign to interpret the law as it suits them and exploit and blackmail the masses.

And finally, such corrupt practices destroy a society or government systems. The fallen empire of communism is the best example of such a corrupt system.

So, let’s understand the fact that the family system will not be destroyed by presence or absence of a law which most people did not know existed, and most people do not still understand. The thought itself is absurd!

Let’s welcome this decision by the judges who acknowledged the right of the women on their own bodies and get on with our lives!