This three-part series is a collaborative effort between Banyan Impact Fellows Bijoylakshmi, based in Odisha, covering part one; Akila, based in Tamil Nadu, covering part two; and Santanu, based in Chhattisgarh, covering part three. The series explores everyday art observed at our respective host locations and delves into the lesser-known stories behind them.
Dear Bijoy and Akila,
Greetings from Kabirdham! I was inspired by your updates about various artwork in your host location resonating with the discussion during Midpoint at Dehradun and further, I am showcasing a few photos from the village area and the community that I am working with. Visiting communities in the village and walking through more than a mile gives me immense pleasure in feeling the essence of the simple ecosystem of village life, where I feel accustomed to trees, cows, village homes with decoration and structure, village roads, backyard gardens, and many others. During the initial days of my fellowship, even walking in the village was not very joyful, as I was not aware of the village community and their language, did not know the local areas, and was habituated to an urban-centric lifestyle for the last 10 years; it was painful. However, my observation of the simplicity and uniqueness of the village started changing my perspective, and it was a great moment when I began to click snaps of the village to document its beauty. Sharing some of these observations with both of you and writing this blog is an attempt to disseminate the unique identity of the village community we are working with, where wealth may not decide the beauty, but each one has a lot of perspective and introspection to offer.
The above photos are from villages that I used to visit regularly, but it surprised me today that on the first day of my visit, I never thought this very common photo of a village could pinch me to think further. Being a community worker, the structure of the house, and its design can give me a lot of ideas for the development propaganda of development professionals, where most of the state and central government schemes refer to concrete construction. Nevertheless, the main attraction of the photo for me was the structure and painting of these homes with similar colours like that of a rangoli. Just like before making a rangoli, these homes are cleaned using cow dung, local soil, and water, especially in the early morning, which marks the start of a common day for the women of these homes.
After observing the beauty of this village house, I also felt that the majority of our society has a picture of a house made out of concrete with modern facilities and expensive decoration with tiles, marble, foreign plants, etc. But, this house has structure, and dedicated space for native plants like Tulsi, Bel fruit, many local flowers, and more, as it directly connects with family and individual belief systems.
The above photographs depict that, based on the occasion, festival, household status, and community position, a family puts rangoli in front of their houses.
While observing all these rangoli and their designs, one question comes to my mind: how do people in the village have the same thoughts during festivals where they symbolize them by drawing diya, and other common religious and cultural symbols?
All the above rangoli prove that people in the village hold and nurture great skills. I observed all these decorations through rangoli made by women in the household. Women from this village inherited these creative skills over generations.
This letter starts with a photo of a few village houses that are decorated early in the morning, and it starts the day for a family. This last photo shows my day ending in the evening after finishing my work and field visits. Many households in the village also make a new rangoli and put a diya on it in the evening for their prayers. At this juncture, I would like to invite the entire AIF and BIF communities to my host village to pay a visit and support me in exploring multiple dimensions of village dynamics.
Thanks and Regards
Santanu Bhowmick
