Hybrid Toilets
Objects as metaphors
This hybrid Indo-Western toilet is born of confusion or rather fusion of identities. This or that? How about both? We also saw it as a metaphor for the deep rooted issues of shame and oppression. It gave us an interesting way of talking about larger issues- evidencing such objects as testimony. Could we possibly adopt a Forensic Architecture sort of approach to examine, say a modern Indian home for colonial remains and relics?
I looked at the English language and how it infiltrated the local languages and perhaps to some extent the other way around as well. As author Nikesh Shukla says “Colonialism flows two ways”. While browsing I came across this fascinating piece of information, something I had normalised as being ‘Indian’ without questioning where and when it came about.
Is the Indian blouse really Indian?
In India during the Victorian era, most women did not wear blouses under sarees. They wore it bare-breasted.Then how did the blouse end up on Indian shores? According to a report by the BBC, Jnanadanandini Debi popularised blouses, jacket, chemises, and the modern style of saree in India.She reportedly did so after being refused entry to clubs under the Raj for wearing the saree over her bare breasts. The blouse one of Britain’s longest export to India, over the centuries gained an indigenous appeal because of which people started considering it a part of Indian tradition, which is wrong. While the blouse did liberate European women (think corsets!!!), it imposed standards of decency and public decorum on Indians, and in a way sexualised breasts.
@theirrelevantproject
The article below also elaborates on such self depredation.
Usually when we speak of such issues we are constantly asked, “But what about the good stuff the British did?” I was curious, were there any? The following articles cleared my doubts.
Amongst other things left behind from the colonial times we’ve got silly irrelevant laws such as the-
India Treasure Trove Act, 1878
The law defines treasure specifically as “anything of any value hidden in the soil” and worth as little as 10 rupees (10 pence). If the finder fails to hand over the booty to the government, the “share of such treasure … shall vest in Her Majesty”. It’s worth remembering that the British left India in 1947.
It makes me wonder just what these remnants are, and how widespread they are, the problem isn’t that they exist, the problem is that we don’t question their relevance and purpose today as they continue to remain.
However our project isn’t about pointing fingers and playing the blame game. It’s about trying to understand why we are the way we are and how we can become ‘decolonised’ so to speak. Is that even a possibility? Is this object really about shame, or is it about inclusion?
Using all this material as a point of lift off we wrote a logline for ourselves- something we hope to stand by as we see this project to completion.
This project aims to identify and amplify the unseen traces of the British in Post-Colonial India, using a bottom-up approach of retracing stories/artefacts from contemporary Indian culture, in an attempt to re-instill a sense of pride in being Indian.
I say it’s about time we flush the toilet.
