L E T T E R
Your Narrowmindedness
Arpana Cour (New Delhi)

April 18, 2003
Reply to: Editorial: The Pitfalls of Eye Candy

I would very much like to understand your terms 'Sikhi' and 'non-Sikhi' and 'non-Sikh concepts'. Why are we forgetting - to quote you yourself ! - that 'Nanak taught us about the oneness of humankind. Then why the narrowmindedness? If Nanak's verses have dance & song & the joy of nature why can't we paint a dancing Nanak, dancingly crossing the flaming river of life, of hatred and divisive forces ?

If artists are confronted with such response from the already lmited audience would you rather they stop painting Sikh subjects altogether out of fear of controversy? I will give you a small example. I have been to several places where Nanak travelled including Bhagdad and also the 18,000 foot China border and; painted a huge footprint with the travelling Nanak in it. Someone with your kind of outlook thought it may be controversial if shown, but except this one person all others were tremendously moved by this homage to his feet.

I would therefore request you to go beyond mere externals, to the root and depth of emotion and not just outer forms, which prompts us to pay homage, in our own way, to our Gurus. Time will never stand still, the world is now one family and we must expand our minds rather than celebrate the narrowness of the frog in the well who sees the well alone as his whole universe. I plead for an expansion of the mind coupled with love and compassion, which is real 'Sikhi'.

Arpana Cour is an artist from New Delhi. Her work was presented at the Sikh Foundation's Seminar on Sikh Arts on April 5, 2003, San Francisco, CA.

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