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| Kal Bhairab/ Porcia Mannadhar |
It was last term’s Art and design class, my very first art
class ever, when I not only got to try various mediums that I had never
expected to use before but I some how connected most of my assignments to the
culture that I grew up in. Whether it was comparing Ellsworth’s Main Street to
Kathmandu’s Newroad or doing my final project based on thanka paintings, I just
can’t help but think something Nepali.
In my middle school history class we read about the ancient
to medieval to modern kingdoms and one question that we always in our exams was
to describe the evolution of art and their specialty and I remember, it used to
come for a whole 10 points. We all were so meticulous describing every detail
and process and now I think of it, it was worth it. I stopped hating my
three-hour-long social studies exams this very moment.
I have never thought of any Nepali artistic creation or
process so intensely as I have today. Not that I didn’t appreciate it when I
was home but I had never thought of it so deeply.
Since inception to hitherto, Nepalese art is a tradition.
Specific ethnic groups and the castes within then specialize in particular
skill that they pass on from one generation to the other. I’m a Newar, ethnic
group native to the Kathmandu valley, which later happened to be the capital. I
believe we are pretty rich in artistic skills from wood carving to the stone
sculpture to pottery, painting and archietecture. From all the bold mural art
on the walls of Thamel, to the amazing thanka painting in the streets of Patan,
now I know why foreigners get crazy when it comes to buying souvenirs.
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| Photo courtesy: flickr/ Porcia Manandhar |
Now as Nepal moves towards globalization, this art
culture has been slowly diminishing. But here, when I’m a thousand miles away
from home, doing anything artsy… from my art assignment to doing henna on my
friends, I feel closer.
I have never thought of any Nepali artistic creation or
process so intensely as I have today. Not that I didn’t appreciate it when I
was home but I had never thought of it so deeply.
I have never travelled so far from home for such a long
period of time. In the last 138 days being here, which I just came to know
after registering my federal taxes today, I have not really been homesick.
However, I find myself talking about how-we-do things back home almost
everywhere.
Yes, this blog post is all over the place but for some reason I just had to write it.
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| Photo courtesy: Porcia Manandhar |
जय नेपाल।
Jai Nepal.
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