Happy Republic Day!
Here’s wishing everyone reading this post a very Happy Republic Day!
Republic Day is celebrated on January 26th every year and it is the day the Constitution came into effect in India in 1950. Every year, the celebrations on India’s Republic Day include grand military and cultural ceremonies.
Today we were reminded that the Indian Constitution was written by hand in italics by Prem Bihari Narayan Rayzada, a famous calligrapher. His grandfather Ram Prasad was a calligrapher. He taught Prem Bihari to write in a beautiful style from when he was a young boy.
Nandalal Bose and his team of artists illustrated the Constitution. Nandalal Bose was one of the pioneers of Indian modern art.
Today due to Covid, we miss the grand display and celebration at the Marina Beach, Chennai in person, but the spirit of Indians ensures we look forward to better years ahead.
Chennaigaga has always been attentive to including some India themes in our collection and we carefully steered away from the common landmarks and pictures depicting India, in order to bring about fresh perspectives, new looks, and to remain unique in our creative approach. Here we have one of our designs on a coaster which simply says, “I Love India” and it shows a face complete with moustache and a cute, dramatic eye movement. We Indians are expressive people and we could not resist adding that little eye-rolling effect that renders the mood pleasant, and which is quite different from a complete eye roll that could carry a hint of negativity in sarcasm or irony.
This one aspect infuses light heartedness into the design and that is the magic of the elements of art. Just one tweak can bring about a complete shift in the mood of the overall design.
It has always been heart-warming for us to notice that many a foreigner, (apart from many an Indian, of course), have picked up these coasters with I Love India as the caption. At the outset, we handed over this concept to a young designer Nithila, because we wanted to bring out a fresh and simple artwork with a modern take while still remaining traditional.
For, is n’t that what many Indians are? Steadfastly holding on to age-old beliefs and following cultural traditions but keen on education, evolving and embracing the modern ways of the world too, whilst riding high on technology?