Visualising the new India
We need to create an inspirational culturally conscious aesthetic for the new India. Calling for aesthetic designers.
Ever since I have started reading newspapers and magazines, I have found that the images of Indian cities are not depicted properly. Initially, back in 1980s, photographers highlighted the poverty and squalor. In late 1990s we did see some urban inspiration, but there was also congestion. Since 2000s, we have seen photos of poor civic amenities and cities bursting at their seams. We have seen first-world prices and living costs with third-world infrastructure and people making do with what was available. India was working despite the government.
Some changes since Swach-Bharat
After Modi launched Swach-Bharat and some BJP chief ministers, starting from Modi himself in Gujarat, started focussing on providing better urban services, some cities have emerged. Indore is one of the cleanest city in India. North-Eastern cities are also quite clean. They have paved a way for better more functional Indian urban centres.
Slowly an image of globalised city started to emerge. However, to me it looked like any other global city. There was not much of a character and not much of Indian-ness to it.
And, they are not quite inspiring.
Visiting Bali opened my eyes to how “Indian” city could look quite “Indian” and yet be inspirational. There is a way for Indian cities to be inspirational, modern and yet true to the Indian-ness. Here are some pictures of Bali public spaces.
These concepts are quite inspiring. I am not totally sure if Bali has, in fact, succeeded fully. It is definitely inspirational. But I think we need to create visualization of our visions and experiment and iterate. (All images sourced from the internet)
Some are trying!
There are some handles like GemsofBabus on Twitter/X and Yadu, VIndVR etc.
It is time to take this forward!
I want to create a website and coffee table book with 100 examples like above. Each example will show
A real photo from any city in India
A set of created photo depicting how the same photo would look if the city had world-class infrastructure.
Another set of created photos depicting how the same photo would look if the city had an Indian aesthetic with world class amenities.
The idea is to create a website first, if possible let the people vote on prospective photos in category 2 and 3 above and then create a coffee table book. We can then print it and give copies to the Prime Minister and other dignitaries. We can also put the book up for sale and ensure it gets prominently displayed in all libraries across the country.
If you want to collaborate on this project please email me rahuldeodhar (@) yahoo (dot) com.
How does this sound? Let me know.
Here is monetary incentive from my side:
Every photo of city as it is that we use will receive Rs. 1000/-
Every set of photos we use showing same location with world class infrastructure will get Rs. 1000/-
Every set of photo showing Indian aesthetic and world class infrastructure that we use will get Rs. 2000/-
All other photos can be hosted on the website with links to creators.
There will of course be more detailed terms and conditions which I can share later.