About the painting - My India

About the painting - My India [2025]

Theme: Patriotism, nationalism, wear it on the sleeve, be proud

Why did I paint this? 

I am a proud Indian and want all Indians to be proud of my country. With this painting I would like to lend the force of my voice to magnify the message that has been so passionately worked on by some of the greats across fields and especially in the Indian music world. This painting is my small contribution to making India heard.

The round canvas denotes that Bharat has played and will continue to play a very big role in shaping the world. 

I have relied on two Hindi film songs to carry the narrative. I would like to put on record my heartfelt gratitude to those who help the lay men and women articulate their emotions of love and respect for their country. I couldn’t have come up with a better way to say this.

One is an old 1960s song -hai Preet Jahan ki reet sadaa - made famous by Nationalist actor Manoj Kumar.

This song is in the lower half of the canvas and the book covers are in muted / jaded colours.

There was time that we Indians would speak about our cultural greatness in a mild tone. We would explain calmly to the world about our civilisation, merits and contributions to the world / to humanity. We still remember our past and proud of that as well while acknowledging that we need to change our ways to survive and flourish.

Our behaviour has been one of quiet tolerance.

The other song is a more recent one - suno gaur se duniya walon - which more a statement of intent. Loud and clear, we let the world know that we are here to stay and proud to be who we are. This song occupies the colourful upper part of the painting 

The youth today does not carry the memories of colonialism and we Indians are now more accepting of ourselves without embarrassment…

…and that’s why this sentiment has been depicted in a show case!

The essence of the songs are in the book titles

The symbolism of women dolls

Our women hold the fabric of our society together and nurture it and they are enough to deal with the world. Determination lies concealed in their quiet and calm demeanour. We are still quiet and tolerant as a race.

Also that I the artist has seen and witnessed both eras. The women are Penn-Naari.

[Penn-Naari - 'Penn"means 'Girl' in Tamil and 'Naari' means 'Lady' in Hindi.]

The symbolism of the many sparrows:

Sparrows exist and thrive in most parts of the world as do Indians. We blend in and yet retain our unique identity. We tend to adapt and our way of life is well liked and being adopted across races.

There are many views on nationalism and grades of nationalistic passion amongst us Indians. And as much as some of us might try, the Indianness in an Indian does not ever go away from us!