Art that’s enough to bring your heart to the mouth
The New Year is still in its infancy and with the hopeful promise of the Covid vaccine, there is a cheer in the air. With that buoyant confidence, my husband and I decided to go for short drives around town.
On one such excursion, we planned to see all roundabouts or chowks that dot our city. Situated at busy intersections, these central islands are ideally created to avoid traffic snarls and make the movement of vehicles easy and smooth.
Most of them are artistically landscaped with masses of beautiful seasonal flowers and cool fountains, some are dedicated to war martyrs or have a statuesque historical figure sculpted in stone as a memorial to his or her achievements in service to the country.
Many roundabouts have been adopted and are maintained by local industrialists as much to showcase a largesse of heart as also to proudly advertise their arrival in the top of echelons of society but the one that confounded and stopped us in our tracks and is the subject of my write-up today was unrivalled in its complete lack of grace or beauty.
A cardiac hospital has installed a gigantic model of the human heart in the middle of a roundabout on the entrance to the city. This massive organ stares down at you, an evil and malevolent mass of bluish-purple clay, complete with a bulbous red aorta and pulmonary veins, a gruesome reminder of science classes in school and is a grim, distasteful sight to greet out-oftowners or residents, any time of the day! As you wait for the traffic lights to change, the unavoidable display of this massive piece of questionable art is enough to bring your heart to the mouth.
I’ve probably passed by it countless times but for the first time, I really saw it for what it was, a graceless display and a cringe-worthy spectacle bereft of any finesse or delicacy.
In my mind’s eye, a kaleidoscope of visions whirred by. The stunning Nelson’s Column on Trafalgar Square in London, the Flora Fountain in Mumbai, the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, the breath-taking Arc de Triomphe in Paris and countless others all over the world and in India are awe-inspiring examples of well-crafted and pleasingly designed monuments placed at vantage points in cities to motivate and inspire, stimulate sensibilities and arouse our capabilities of expression and appreciation.
How on earth are we expected to react to a larger-than-life image of a major organ of the human body, cast in stone or clay, hoisted in the middle of an important crossroad of the city, constantly staring us in the face, silent and sinister, reminding us of our vulnerability and mortality?
I was left wondering which other body part could we be forced to set our eyes upon, if it so took the fancy of another doctor or state-of-the-art hospital.
I shudder at the thought of a pair of kidneys or the alimentary canal elaborately draped over a pole, occupying the pride of place on a central roundabout. That would certainly put Jalandhar on the world map in a trice!
I WAS LEFT WONDERING WHICH OTHER BODY PART COULD WE BE FORCED TO SET OUR EYES UPON, IF IT SO TOOK THE FANCY OF ANOTHER DOCTOR OR STATE-OF-THE-ART HOSPITAL