Chandramohan being pushed around by hooligans

Feeling like a Caged Bird

Chandramohan, the art student who was the eye of the storm in the last month, in this fictional interview speaks to JohnyML. Fictional interviews are legitimate in the field of journalism as they try to look at the issues from a different angle. The opinions expressed by Chandramohan are the fictional work of JohnyML and he stands responsible for the answers.

JohnyML: Chandramohan, the authorities confined you at the Baroda Central Jail of five nights and five days. The whole art scene in India erupted in protest. The artists from every nook and corner of India prayed for your well being. Now you are free. What do you think about all what happened in your life?

Chandramohan: I am very thankful to all those who stood with me during the time of crisis. I don’t know many of them. But I would like to thank each of them personally for coming forward to protect the artistic freedom. I believe it is a great gesture. Those people who tried to strangulate the freedom of expression should know that the art community should not allow them to do anything they want.

JML: What are you feeling now?

CM: I am thinking about my future.

JML: Did your parents know what was happening to you during those days of crisis?

CM: I come from a very backward area. There are no communication facilities. Hence, in the first few days, they did not know anything about it. Later some of my friends managed to send the message to them. However, they did not know the seriousness of the issue.

JML: What do they think now?

CM: Like any other normal parents they are worried. They are worried about my security and my future.

JML: Do they know the magnitude of the issue now?

CM: As I told you, I belong to a very backward village. There politics is not a serious issue. People struggle to meet their both ends. I belong to a family of artisans. My education was supported by two scholarships. My parents want me to get a job and settle in life. They don’t know anything about freedom of expression or right wing fundamentalism.

JML: What was the provocation to do ‘objectionable’ works for your annual display?

CM: Primarily, I was not planning to do any provocative or objectionable works. But I was conscious of what I had been doing throughout my course. I wanted to look at religion and its symbolism in very personal way. I was not being blasphemous in those works. Instead, I was trying to see the issue of ‘faith’ and the ‘legends’ that give birth to such faith in a new light.

JML: Are you dejected with religions?

CM: No, I love religion and I feel religions give a lot of freedom to human beings. They function as pressure valves also.

JML: But you seem to be quite dejected..

CM: If at all I am dejected and bitter, that is with my own self. My whole effort is to solve that problem with my own self. I have been silent for two long years. And my only way out was art.

JML: One of your teachers told a journalist that your lack of proficiency in spoken language was the reason for your silence. You could not communicate except through Telugu and a bit of Hindi. Did it choke your existence?

CM: Perhaps, that is not the case with me alone. There are so many students, coming out from their rural existence and living in urban and cosmopolitan academies. They find themselves quite inadequate in the new environs. They will not be able to communicate with their peers in an effective way. During my post graduate years in Baroda, I was like a caged bird. I could not communicate with people effectively. There were many discussions and debates in the faculty. Many talked about the subaltern and things like that. I did not understand a word of it. It is a terrible feeling when you are not able to connect to your peers and teachers through a common language. Perhaps, I was choked by this feeling.

JML: Do you think that there should be a permanent solution for this problem?

CM: Only the university authorities can rectify this problem. There should be counseling centers for students like me. If we are not good at language, there should be methods to make us feel confident in the academic environment. In the elite academies like Fine Arts Faculty, Baroda, the English speaking students always get a chance to be heard. Or at least those who can communicate up to an extent get noticed. The lacuna between these two communities- the English speaking and the non-English speaking communities- should be bridged using modern methods.

JML: I have heard that lot of gallerists visit the fine arts faculties and select artists for their future exhibitions etc. Have you been picked up by some gallery in these two years?

CM: No. I don’t think many people have seen or noticed my works.

JML: Do you think that now you will have an easy ride in the art scene as you are famous now?

CM: I don’t know.

JML: Do you think that this fame would help you to find a place in the gallery circuit or this fame will be a curse on you?

CM: I don’t know.

JML: From my experience I know that most of the students in Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda have boy friends and girl friends. Do you have one?

CM: I don’t have a girl friend….How do you expect me to have a girl friend especially when I am not able to communicate with people?

JML: In love communication is spiritual. It does not need a language. Love itself is a language. I mean…in that sense…no girl was interested in you?

CM: You should be asking the girls.

JML: Okay, were you interested in girls in the faculty?

CM: I am an artist. I have the ability to dream.

JML: Dr.Shivji Panikkar has become a victim in the whole issue. He stood for the students. Now his life and position is under threat. What do you think about him?

CM: I am very grateful to Dr.Shivji Panikkar who stood up for the student’s rights. I respect him. As a teacher, I don’t know. I never understood all those grand theories taught in the art history department.

JML: What do you think about the Indian contemporary artists?

CM: Personally I don’t know many of them. But I have seen the works of many of our contemporary artists.

JML: What do you think about the Indian art market?

CM: Artists need not only creative freedom but money also. The art market provides them with money. So it is a very good thing. Artists become confident with money and freedom that it gives.

JML: Where shall I find you in the coming two years?

CM: I will remain an artist even if I am doing some job in my village. But I would like to try out my luck in the cities. I would like to get money from my art. I want to look after my family. I want to fall in love. I want to lead a dignified human life.

JML: Are you afraid of the right wing fundamentalists?

CM: What do they have to do with me? They wanted an issue. They got the mileage. It is not necessary that even they remember me in the coming days. Their issue is not Chandramohan.