Wednesday 23 January 2013

Lost With Time


People say the world has progressed.Technology being the obvious proof of it.
Are iphones, tabs what makes the world progress ?
What about art and culture ? architecture ?
People make modern buildings,the taller the building the more beautiful it is.
The more expensive it is,the more awe in inspires.
The more apps a phone can support the more beautiful it is.
People are running towards a future,too greedy,too impatient without savouring the present and completely forgetting the beauty created in the past.

People don't appreciate art anymore.People don't appreciate the architecture of the temples and the palaces.Palaces are crumbling to dust all over India and the Goverment and neither the people could care less.

People are more interested in fancy hotel,breakfast in bed,sunbathing and shopping.People are more interested in standing in front of these temples and clicking pictures so that they can upload it on Facebook,make it their DP or cover picture.


I don't see anyone standing in front of an old temple and just admiring the work,the tenacity,the beauty created by thousands of artisans who carved the entire temple out of stone,their bare backs bent,working day and night.What sheer magic they created,created with their bare hands,just like the ones you use to type away on your phone with.They told tales of kings and queens and courtesans,of prince and princesses,gods and goddesses,love and wars,life and death.Stories and legends of a time long gone have been weaved and carved in stone so that they remain alive for future generations to see.
But alas did they realize that the future generation may have technology but they have no soul.




Case in point - Konarak Temple in Orissa.
The carvings are getting destroyed.Its breaking in parts and there are no artisans who can recreate or at least repair the crumbling works.So the Goverment is breaking all the remaining works and replacing it with flat bland stone with no carving,no work,nothing.

Such is the state of the world.
I do not know how it has become so.
What did those artisans have so many years back that we don't ?
We have better technology.More manpower.Better tools.And we still have the same human hands.But we cannot make temples with carving out of stone anymore.So what is it that they had,that enabled them to create such magnificent structures of beauty,beauty that we can now see only in photographs or history book?
What was their secret ?
I fear it is now lost with time.


1 comment:

  1. I have recently visited the Konarak temple and men were at work in repairing the temple. Good to see that.

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