Why "India Outside India"?

Since I came to NYC I have been trying to capture for the benefit of my international friends what is ‘India’ or ‘Indianness’. We have discussed various facets of Indian people, culture, ways of meaning making and what it means to live as an Indian. It was also interesting when my international friends shared what they thought being Indian was/must be like for me. I have been capturing visuals that I thought express non-Indians’ perceptions about India and also the expressions/visuals shared by the Indian community in US that must be shaping this perception. After a year of gathering images and talking in my head about it I thought why not put it all down in a blog.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Pennies for Ganesha

Last year, I used to visit Metropolitan Museum frequently, on one such visit I thought I should see what they have from India and what they are saying about Indian art. I was pretty disappointed to see the meager collection. But something really interesting caught my eye. The Ganesha idol had pennies placed in front of it as if it was an idol in a temple. I did not have a camera at that time but I promised myself that I would come back to capture this sight. So here it is:


I still cannot imagine who will keep the pennies there and why. Was it strong belief or just desperate attempt to appease. Or may be it was simply an effort of the museum staff to create ambiance. LOL ;)

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