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India, A country of endless impressions.
Some countries we meet briefly, other we only pass, but in India we spend quite some time. Not so strange. The country is a sub-continent with many states, languages, with many different cultures and a large amount of inhabitants. It is bigger then Europe.
We had many presentations in different cities and went all around, but
mainly at the western side of India: Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Agra,
Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Nasik, Pune, Bangaluru, Goa and Mumbai.
India is an experience by it self. As mentioned in other articles, every place has two sides, like every coin has two sides. And India wants to show both sides, simultaniously, continiously, everywhere and all the time. It is a more or less toal mutiple experience without precedent. Every day again.
So we had a great time while we tried to take care of the elements that were not so great. For example driving in the night. If the opinion about a country was based on it's traffic, India would not be classified very positive. Later we heard that being rude in the traffic was one of the ways Ghandi used to create massive public disobedience against the colonizer. The after effects are still visable. The traffic might be a part of the reflection, but there is more.
In the West, like in India, it is said that India is having great economical
development. That is correct. However. This boost of opinion about the
ecomonical development also creates a bubble. Thousents of houses are
build but loose their value even before they are sold. We have recieved
many new paintings in India of Indian artists and one of the first mentioned
the problem of fast development. That artist, Dananjay Goverdhane, mentioned
the fact that the ecomonical development is in fact created by the economy
itself. Globalization helped but also this development is result of long
term changes in the country. Now, he sais, we actually do not need to
take care that much about the economical development. It will help itself.
But what if we focus on economy and do not focus on other elements of
our society? The most people with malnutricion are in India, a huge amount
of people live in poverty. There are massive problems at the countryside;
young people study and do not want to work at the countryside anymore,
alcoholism, a large amount of suicide, devellopers that buy the land etc.
He made a painting with a farmer and said: "what will be the future
of India if we do not take care of our farmers. where will we get our
food?" I think he made a strong point.
Another point that could be mentioned is the fact that India also is a
barrel of explosives if you look at the ethnic situation. During our visit
and right after, several cities were scene of multiple bombings. In Jaipur,
Bangalore, Ahmedabad and New Delhi bombs exploded. It is kind of strange
that we have not seen this item in the stories of the 79 participating
artists, but in my opinion the situation is quite dire. Can you imagine
when 1.1 billion people get really angry?
If we calculate the succes of a country not to one item (in this case
economics) but to 5 items (for example healthcare, social security, economics,
environmental development and international friendship, just to mention
a few) we would be more aware of the real development in different countries.
Now in the west the people are scared of the upcomming forces like India
and China. In case we would have a wider view we would see we do not have
to be scared and instead find more fields for cooperation and partnership.
What
else to say about India? everything can be said. Delicious food, normal
prizes (while in Netherland we pay 2 or 3 euro for a small bottle of coca
cola, in India you pay only 12 cent), nice people.
This
was our first introduction. I truely hope we will be able to visit India
again. It is delicious.
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Name
: Agra
Objectives : our first two days off
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At the Taj Mahal you can really become impressed by things that are, in my opinion, usually not so interesting. |
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Name
: Nashik-Pune road
Objectives : get an impression of road diversity
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The diversity on the Indian roads is realy remarkable. Rickshaws, SUV's, busses, bicycles, cows, anything, anytime, everywhere. Did I mention the sleeping people, the special transport vehicles, the vehicles without light and the massive loads they all can carry? in that case I shall not mention the percentage of traffic that uses the wrong side of the road. |
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Name
: Puna
Objectives : Keep clean
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Puna is a province city with almost 5 million people. In India live over a billion people. The country is in strong development. However, there is a enormous lack of dustbins and garbage cans. |
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Name
: Mumbai
Objectives : presenting at the Podar International School
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Besides many presentatins at art centers we have done some presentations at schools. In Netherlands we have great experience with this. In India this experience is enlarged. Very nice students, disciplined and interested.
link: Stedelijk College Eindhoven, Podar International School |
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Name
: A1
Objectives : Going to Bengaluru
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for a week we went more south from Mumbai-Pune. We went to Bengaluru and Goa. Here is the team with Martin, Abhay, Dilip and Pandurang.
link:
Bharathya Vidya Bhavan , Kerkar art complex |
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Name:
Bharatyan Vidya Bhawan
Objectives : Exhibition Show Your Hope
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BVB is one of the oldest educational Indian institutes. On invitation of Mr Suresh we presented there for two days. But we liked to slogan that much that we preferred this picture instead of their logo.
Link: Bharatyan Vidya Bhawan |
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Name
: Bal Ashram, Virat Nagar, Rajastan.
Objectives : workshop Show Your Hope
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Bal Ashram is a project of Bachpan Bachao Andolan. This is an organization that give rehabilitation to children freed from slavery. Seen ones on TV we decided to contact them and spend good time. And we did.
related website: BBA |
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Name
: Ali in Agra
Objectives : our guide during free time
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Ali is a tourist guide. one that finds you before you know it. One that serves you as a butler without giving you the idea you're in adiffferent position as you are, and without giving you second thoughts. Ali is a man with good ears. He represents the good of the people, in respect and in relation with their position. Ali is our friend. he should mentioned be in the Lonely Planet. |
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Name
: Vaishwik Art Environment.
Objectives : exhibition Show Your Hope
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In Pune we had our main partner in Vaishwik Art Environment. There has been a month presentation and many of the participating artists came to bring their painting to this location. With Bhaskar and Sandhya in the middle of this private gallery, we show this picture including several participating artists.
related website: Vaishwik Art Environment |
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Name
: watching people
Objectives : curiosity
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If you stop your car in India you can be sure that within no time there are some people watching you. Where ever you are.
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Name
: National Park
Objectives : see tigers?
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One of the national parks where tigers lived in the past. In this particular park there has been a scam with international funds while the tigers still got poached. Now the park is in better position but the tigers did not return from heaven, of course.
related website:
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Name
: accident
Objectives : try to drive save
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As mentioned above, the traffic diversity is enormous. We have seen a dozen of trucks and two busses that had serious accidents. Truckdrivers use their hands to point their direction, they have no mirrors. Traffic police shold be more respected in India. That is for sure.
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