Blues. Paeans to an Art

In these difficult times of constant anxiety – stress & worry are deceitful mistresses. While our environment seeks to fill us with dread, the ‘Colour Blue’ serves to create a sense of calm, peace, tranquillity and has a soothing effect on our mind, body and ‘soul’. Blue is a ‘peacemaker’. Blue, as a hue, has no time for baseless fears. Blue inspires us to live in the present and bid farewell to our stress. By creating an air of serenity, the colour does just that. On a particularly challenging day, consider looking up at the sky and feel the stress melt away.

 Stretching across the wide spectrum of blue, Dr Kausik Ghosh’s photos drape us with tones that soak away the blues. Precisely, their blue tempts us, soothes us and balms our eyes with that such heavenly tints that dispel the distress. His pictures goad us not only to look up to the sky but also nudge us to pick finer details of blue in nature and objects all around us. The peace and stillness of the blue in his pictures brush aside the sadness and adds stability to our thoughts – precisely what music does. Indeed, there is music in each of his frames. The angelic note of a harp going there, a violin’s note ringing there and a flute blown so close to our earlobes that even the heart tingles. I could see the golden caterpillar ‘glide’ on the painted blue cable, the ice flakes rappelled down the branches of the tree set against the cerulean blue. Whether it was the colour blue in ceramic motifs outside a house or the unending blue tiles running from columns to the domes of Central Mosque in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Each shade of blue brings us closer to the divine touch moving us towards serenity, as if holding our hands and offering the much-needed trust.  

In his pictures you’ll find an oasis of calm gazing up at the clouds. ​Known for its composed demeanour, blue has a tranquil presence. It doesn’t intrude or pester. Instead, it merely makes itself known. In terms of the psyche, the colour blue is known to impact the mind positively. Blue represents patience and understanding, which is why we feel so comfortable around it. When overwhelming emotions consume us, we’re encouraged to decompress with the colour blue. It’s also commonly associated with the ocean, which further highlights its soothing essence.

Creating pictures for larger comfort is a yearly ritual with him; this being Dr Ghosh’s 15th exhibition. He heals not just with his expertise in orthopaedics but also with his sensitive eye. Fifteen years of commitment to humanity with his blessed hands. The hands that for some set a bone and the same hands when holding a camera – for some set the mood.

 As a peacemaker, the colour blue doesn’t intend to stir the pot. In fact, it loathes the idea of creating conflict. Blue doesn’t like being in the spotlight, so it keeps to itself. Regarded as one of the more reserved hues, blue is tight-lipped. Though it doesn’t have a strong personality, blue does have a unique spirit.

 Cool, calm, and collected that’s how I have always found Dr Kausik Ghosh – and that’s what – his latest creation is – ‘Presence and Perception of Blues’. Now, the blues here are not the pangs of Heart but paeans to an Art. 

Rajinder Arora, 29 December 2025, Delhi

दुनिया परछाइयों की

THE WORLD OF HINDI CINEMA

और सब भूल गए हर्फ़-ए-सदाक़त लिखना
रह गया काम हमारा ही बग़ावत लिखना

  • हबीब जालिब

अगर आप शिराज़ हुसैन उस्मानी की कला, उनकी खताती (कैलिग्राफी), उनके स्टूडियो ‘ख्वाब तनहा’ और उनकी शख्सियत से वाकिफ नहीं हैं तो आप बहुत कुछ मिस कर रहे हैं। अपनी क्रीऐटिवटी और अपने हुनर से कल शाम शिराज़ साहब ने महफ़िल लूट ली। मौका और नुमाइश (‘दुनिया परछियों की’) तो हिन्दी सिनेमा के फिल्म पोस्टर, गीत पुस्तिकाएं, लॉबी कार्ड और बड़े छोटे परदे पर चलती तस्वीरों की थी पर शिराज़ हुसैन के बनाए परदों पे थिरकते हर्फों नें देखने वालों पर ना सिर्फ जादू कर दिया पर वो आज के माहौल पर एक तबसरा भी हैं ।

जाने माने फिल्म इतिहासकार और कला क्यूरेटर आशीष राजाध्यक्ष ने इस प्रदर्शनी को पुराने फिल्मी पोस्टरों, लॉबी कार्ड, थिएटर के अंदर का माहौल बना कर मल्टी-मीडिया के इस्तेमाल सिनेमा के प्रेमियों के लिए खास तरीके से पेश किया है। यह प्रदर्शनी रोजमर्रा की भारतीय जिंदगी में सिनेमा की अमूर्त उपस्थिति को उजागर करती है।

अर्थशिला दिल्ली में लगी “दुनिया परछाइयों की” प्रदर्शनी “भारतीय सिनेमा के सच्चे सिनेप्रेमियों के लिए है। हिन्दी सिनेमा 21वीं सदी के भारत में सबसे बड़े सांस्कृतिक प्रभावों में से एक रहा है। प्रदर्शित पोस्टर 70, 80 और 90 के दशक की सिनेमाई स्मृति को याद करते हैं।”

प्रदर्शनी 27 सितंबर 2025 से 4 जनवरी 2026 तक रहेगी। बेहतरीन, ज़रूर देखिए। बाकि जानकारी @arthshila_delhi

Lado Bai

If you don’t know Lado Bai, you won’t know how maternal love can transform art. Lado churns the very earth and its souls with her visuals. Simplistic to a tee, yet stunningly profound, her art and the Bhil form are nothing short of poetry in visuals. Designing these kinds of indigenous art projects satiate me to the core. Salutes to the master artist Lado Bai. 

Lado Bai show at Ojas

Mohan Upreti – Pahadi theatre

<Remembering Mohan Upreti on his death anniversary> ​I have never tasted  ‘Bedu’, the fruit, but for some inexplicable reason its taste lingers in my mouth. I have even dreamt of it during climbing or trekking season, I can’t think of a single evening in the tent high up in the Himalayas when a bad/good day would NOT have ended with two fabled Kumaoni folk lyrics. One was बेडू पाको बारामासा and the other was जिला नैनीताल, अल्मोड़ा, पिथोरगढ़ की बचपन की  ..  Tucked in our sleeping bags these lyrics, coming from Pahari friends, would warm up the cold dripping tents. The fruit has stayed with me long after I first heard of it from Mohan Upreti at the Parvatiya Kala Kendra, Delhi. He is credited with setting to tune the lyrics of this romantic and fabled verse and making it legendary and so popular that this song is played as first and the last number in traditional Kumaoni festivals. I have also wondered if there is any fruit, any, which would grow all twelve months. Mohan Upreti, was one among the finest theatre directors, playwrights and music composers. Why I have not tasted or eaten Bedu, despite my hundreds of visits to Kumaon is because the fruit is never there when I am, i.e. Sept to December.

Cheers Comrade.

Sculpted beauty

When time and elements sculpt or fashion what man has neglected and discarded the results are sheer beauty of raw art. Other than nature only poets find beauty in crumbling surroundings. This piece of art, a monument in itself, is on an easy stretch just as after Shahmat Ganj area of old Bareilly. Troops of monkeys rule this stretch creating trouble for shopkeepers and residents who, strangely, depend on large printed posters of langurs to keep monkeys at bay. The large stub of dried tree-trunk (right bottom) holding the brick wall together is a piece of art in itself. Despite vehicular pollution Bareilly skies are stunning blue.

<Bareilly Blues, March 2025>

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