Heritage in Transition

- Vishal Tondon

This article was published in Searching Lines, Department of History of Art, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan, Vol 09, 2011

I write this in reaction to the redecorating of the Department of Art History with a mural by the eminent and our beloved artist K G Subramanyan. I see this as a moment of heritage in transition. But momentous changes are always accompanied by teething problems which in this case is the undercurrent of resentment many people have towards this refurbishing.

When we ascribe heritage value to buildings and art objects, it goes without saying that we would expect these heritage symbols to be firstly, conserved, and second, protected against modifications. I will not comment on the happenings in the whole of Santiniketan-Visva Bharati precincts as my knowledge there is limited, but clearly Kala Bhavan has fallen short of taking care of many a heritage legacy on both the counts I mentioned above.

Many functioning buildings in Visva Bharati are falling apart for want of appropriate care. In Kala Bhavan, many of the murals painted by luminaries and their distinguished students peeled off the walls as scabs drift off diseased skin. The damp and neglected walls of offices and hostels were not able to hold on to the irreplaceable wall paintings. In the last few years, after decades of apathy and neglect, many of the walls and buildings having murals on them underwent restoration and conservation by experts from national restoration organizations like INTACH, but a large body of the lesser works have already been mutilated beyond a point of return. This apathy is symptomatic of a deeper miasm and it is reflected in the general condition of many of the older buildings under the care of Visva Bharati University, including some of the hostels.

For me, this is a point of serious concern for another reason too. We keep on harping about the word ‘heritage’ which has been reduced to nothing more than an abstract concept. If it were not so, then we would have consistently protected heritage structures from being modified. But does the concept of ‘heritage’ cover only inanimate objects and buildings? When UNESCO designates a site as a ‘world heritage site’, in the citation it mentions that the site is a testimony to “human creative genius.” So naturally, people – the creators of the heritage site as well as the inheritors - are included in the implications of the word ‘heritage.’ In the couple of years that I have been here at Santiniketan, I have felt that the term ‘heritage’ here often holds nothing more than a symbolic value now. Otherwise there would be more proactive fighters for the preservation of heritage. Well wishers are seen to make some noise every now and then, but their voices often lose steam.

What about the inheritors of this heritage? Are the students of Kala Bhavan inheritors of this heritage? Does their lifestyle reflect this heritage? What kind of a lifestyle are we providing the students who reside in the quarters provided by Kala Bhavan? While we lampoon each other in our futile attempts – futile because building after building is being altered all the same – to designate which structures are heritage and which are not, we invest far lesser time and money in the betterment of the dormitories where students reside in health and sickness. Some of the students hostels are in appalling state and the students in a college of national and international importance have to live in inhuman conditions. Such is the state of affairs in a college that has for decades claimed to be a torchbearer of Indian cultural renaissance.

Structure after structure was either neglected or mutilated beyond recognition in a national heritage campus, while the persons responsible for their upkeep either looked away or raised their hands in helplessness. Much of Kala Bhavan architecture that stood for the aesthetic that defined Santiniketan was maimed just as many of the murals in the corridors of hostels were choked by the smoke emanating from cooking utensils. Heritage and aesthetic value were discarded in favor of utility.

When I use the word ‘heritage’ here, let us not get technical about it. Heritage is not a value ensured by certificates and medals. It can also be in the sentiment that the building or the artifact holds for the persons who identify themselves with these objects. To rob them of their heritage is to rob them of their identity.

The implications of this new project at the Department of Art History, and the opposition to it are pertinent. While people outside of Kala Bhavan threaten this project with dire circumstances including public interest litigation, the project overlooks all forms of dissent including informal expressions of unhappiness with the project within the institution, and carries on purposefully. Do we realize how inheritors would look back at this project ten years down the line, when objectivity takes over? 

Unfortunately, because of this fiasco, K G Subramanyan, who we fondly refer to as Mani-da, is – on some forums on the internet – being spoken of in very irreverent terms. This is a bad omen. Everyone should have faith in the good intentions and the generosity of Mani-da, who has been kind enough to offer yet another mural to the campus. Mani-da is above petty campus politics. The problem lies elsewhere. The fault lies with all those who – in spite of their resentment towards this project – fall in line and unanimously assent to this project.

    

The dissent from within the institution, so far expressed only unofficially, is feeble and typical of Kala Bhavan attitude. While we the custodians of this heritage axe our own feet, some outsiders make noise in a vain attempt to raise us from our slumber. But none are as blind as those who will not see.

Mastermoshai Nandalal Bose’s studio stood there harmless and quaint, dignified in its old world charm. And while the long-established  Nandan and Amtala hostels – here I speak only of the hostels allotted to the Kala Bhavan male students – rotted away infested with livestock, dogs, rats and swine, we decided to touch up the Department of Art History. After all, when dignitaries and visitors come, it is the buildings at the helm that will define the aura and the manufactured recent history of Kala Bhavan.

Looks can be deceptive. When visitors come during Nandan Mela, they are dazzled by the glamour of light and sound breezing through the grounds of the Bhavan. And then they visit the hostel rooms of their wards, and are appalled by the abject sights they are met with.

There is a vast dissent to the makeover of Nandalal Bose’s studio doing the rounds on blogs and Facebook. That is all in the virtual sphere. But the chisel and the hammer are working away right now. The voices of dissent have been either too feeble in their unofficial lamenting and beseeching, or mere intimidations from outside threatening with dire consequences. Typically, there has not yet been a unanimous and official expression of discontent.

I am surprised that while people speak, overtly or covertly, for the preservation of heritage, no one speaks for the improvement of the living conditions of the students who are the inheritors of this heritage. I think this is so because ‘heritage’ is a larger issue with political implications. That makes the fight over heritage more appealing. There is no charm in discussing the lodging and boarding conditions of hapless students. 

Fine, let us have refurbished structures. Let us value novelty over the old and the dilapidated. After all, heritage is just a value judgment, and humans don’t survive on a staple diet of heritage. But before we think of redecorating and beautifying, let us try and make the living easier and more dignified, as was and is still imagined for Santiniketan. Let us look at the embarrassing hostels. How do they reflect on the heritage of our grand institution? How do they reflect on the responsibility we take of our wards? Let us look at the college buildings and some of the dismal studios that desperately need restoration. First things first.