The Writing is on the Wall

The Writing is on the Wall, originally uploaded by SkEye Travel.

Gerwa village, Balrampur Block, Purulia, West Bengal
The background to this is that this is one wall of the shed that used to house the generator for the village and therefore... 'dengar'. The shed is now used to store some grains and old equipment. The drawing on the left looked fresher, more recent like some local boys - I suppose - had a bit of fun and shared their wisdom

War

War, originally uploaded by SkEye Travel.

More Chhau

Strike a pose

Strike a pose, originally uploaded by SkEye Travel.

Being treated to one of my favourite dance forms (physical tradition actually), chhau, in Purulia. It was very exciting to see this happen live, right in front of me, and by boys who have taken on the role of being part of the local chhau troupe, a family/village tradition

Exterior Design with Red Ribbons

Exterior Design with Red Ribbons, originally uploaded by SkEye Travel.

I went to this Santhal village in Purulia with the NGO who was working there and it struck me how neatly the HIV prevention posters were stuck on these beautiful huts. I sort of wondered if it was done because they knew we were coming. It bothered me; mostly because I think the houses would have looked a lot nicer without the posters and left naturally. And does it make that much of a difference? Does anyone care? Why do we need to be so laboured and heavy handed in our enthusiasm to rid the masses of HIV? It all feels so completely out of step with how people live their lives there; perhaps they could have used local fonts, motifs, techniques to say the same things?

CTRL + India

CTRL + India, originally uploaded by SkEye Travel.

I was actually trying to see how I could get a shot of the India patch on the trousers without obviously hunkering down and focussing in on this man's crotch. But not-so-subconsciously mostly inspired by the mood of this work on HIV that occupies a lot of my time these days. This is the India we want to control, all these efforts to control 86% (so they say) of all transmission that happens through the sexual route (mostly heterosexual), all these efforts to control/ monitor/guide what men do with whats between their legs. And the irony of course is that the system keeps creating services and resources and programs (and eventually, subtle social control) for women and children. HIV is not something on its own, it thrives on deeply entrenched inequalities. It moves silently and surely through the fracture points in a society. The burden of HIV on women and children in India is because married monogamous Indian women (the 'ideal') acquire the infection through their husbands who are pretty much allowed/expected to do what they want sexually. So HIV in India is largely a malaise of heterosexuality and heteronormativity. Somehow men (unless they're "high risk") are allowed to escape, their behaviour condoned through a larger social conspiracy of silence.