Just to
be clear, miniature paintings aren’t called miniature because they are small in
size (in fact, they can be quite huge). What delineates a miniature painting is
that it has miniature details. Every soldier in an army of 100 will have a
uniquely drawn face complete with eyebrows and a moustache and each chain in
their armor will be drawn. The day after coming back from our camel safari most
of the group went to an art studio that gave free art lessons in miniature
painting. Each of us got to do our own small painting of an animal (namely
elephants but also a camel and a peacock). I use the term “art lesson” loosely
here since the owner of the place didn’t really give us a lesson so much as
just tell us to copy some art that he was selling. My elephant turned out okay,
but mostly I just possessed neither the patience nor the fine motor skills
required to create such delicate work. Jenny, Chase, and Rachel on the other
hand all had amazing works that looked as good as or better than the ones they
were copying. Stephen, Caleb, and I all made reputable works, but not
masterpieces.
The experience was really fun, but
we could all tell there was something somewhat fishy about the owner and his
art shop. We probably spent close to 6 hours in there crafting our paintings
(or at least the people who did a really good job) and during the course of the
time we heard several different renditions of the description of the art
school/studio that was being “run” there. First, we heard that the studio was
an art school for local Indians to learn about the rich culture of Jodhpur and
get in touch with their heritage. To the next woman who came in, the studio was
an art school that taught rural women about miniature painting to empower them
and teach them a trade to make money. When the third person strolled in and the
story changed yet again, we all had our doubts as to the authenticity of this
“art school” and to all the paintings being sold in the store.
Later on we heard from several
different shop keepers that the studio was a total scam and that the art being
sold there wasn’t even made by the owner nor by any of his fabled students. The
point being that here in India I’ve been lied to, stolen from, and cheated more
than in any other country that I’ve visited (granted I’ve mostly visited places
in the “developed” world). I had to start locking the door to my room in my
house with a padlock when I left during the day because the maid was stealing
and eating the power bars that my mom sent from the US. Alex had his shoes
stolen from him from outside the program house door where we all (used to) put
our shoes (he also had to start locking his room because the maids were taking
and eating the chocolate in it). Students at school blatantly cheat in front of
me and deny it to my face when I call them out. The giant snickers bar that my
mom sent the group for Christmas mysteriously went missing from inside the
program house while we were on our trip to Rajasthan. The list goes on and on.
Recently Nita Ma’am (the director
of Nirman and professor at Claremont Mckenna) gave a lecture to our group about
the Indian education system and the reasons behind why she thinks it is a
failing system. One of the reasons she stated was that schools don’t teach
their students how to be good citizens. In the US, people normally learn good
citizenship (not stealing, cheating, lying, picking up trash, etc.) from a mix
of their families and at school. Since many kids here don’t have the parent
teaching them not to do these things, the responsibility falls to the school
and here very few schools actually do it (South Point school does try to teach
good citizenship for which I am very grateful). My hope is that as India
develops it will also start becoming a place with less dishonesty.
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