Artist
Orijit Sen spoke about one of the most popular shopping areas in Goa
- the decades-old Mapusa Market
Photos: Orijit
Sen (left) with Australian artist Alistair Rowe; bread in Mapusa Market
By
Shevlin Sebastian
A
first glance of graphic artist Orijit Sen can cause a surprise. He
has long hair, parted in the middle, that goes way beyond his
shoulders. While the hair is black, the moustache and goatee are a
mix of grey and black. Sen was in Kochi to give a 'Let's Talk'
outreach programme, titled 'Mapping Mapusa Market', organised by the
Kochi Biennale Foundation, and moderated by Australian artist
Alistair Rowe.
Mapusa
Market is one of Goa's most famous old-style markets, set in the town
of Mapusa in Northern Goa. In the late 1990s, Sen lived in a village
near Mapusa for a few years. He was fascinated by this market and
spent a lot of time there. “The market has multiple layers of
products, activities, and people,” says Sen.
The
mapping of the market was facilitated by Goa University under its
Mario Miranda Chair Visiting Professor Programme.
Incidentally,
the first object that catches the visitor's eye is a statue of
Shakuntala sitting on a crop of rocks, surrounded by a couple of
deer. The statue came up just as the Portuguese were leaving India in
1961.
“Initially,
there was a plan to put up a statue of a Portuguese hero like Vasco
Da Gama,” says Sen. “But that was shelved. The market comprised
mostly of Hindu and Catholic traders. The latter were not keen for a
Hindu god to come up. Somebody suggested Shakuntala. Everybody agreed
that it was a good idea.”
Like
most markets in India, the variety is mind-boggling. “There are
numerous bakeries, which offer different types of traditional bread,
like pao and poee,” says Sen. “You can get all types of fish,
chicken, foodgrains, vegetables, clay pots, plastic buckets, watches,
apart from computer parts and Chinese items.”
There
are also many small outlets where men do elementary repair work of
old stoves, mixers, fans, and umbrellas. And there are restaurants
and bars - 'Market Cafe Bar & Rest' - to name one, to quench the
shoppers' hunger and thirst.
Using
pertinent visuals, Sen presented an absorbing show of life in the
market.
Thereafter,
he spoke about his comic book, 'River of Stories', which is regarded
today as the first graphic novel in India, about the agitation
against the Narmada Dam.
Here
are some thought-provoking lines:
'Here
is the story of a river
But
stories themselves are rivers
Rivers
that well up from the underground
Of
Consciousness.'
Sen
also showed a visual of the 246-feet long mural, 'From Punjab, With
Love', which he had done at the Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum in Anandpur
Sahib, Punjab. It shows an immense variety of life in Punjab -
farmers in the fields, women washing clothes, children flying kites,
and buffaloes wading into a pond. It is a mind-boggling work by a
top quality artist.
(The
New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)
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