a postcard from jaipur

Jaipur, Nov 2022.

A tale of music, culture, and projection.

Upwas and Rohit Bhat at Amer Fort, Jaipur. Nov 2022.

Upwas Bhat and his son are rarely seen, always heard. They signal their presence before you even enter the open space they are usually seated in, distracting your mind from the brewing dissatisfaction of the monument. To many minds, they provide the perfect background music to the idea, the "film" that some tourists had hoped to witness in Rajasthan. These minds hear what they think sounds like Rajasthani music, even hoping they'd start hearing the latest viral "folk pop" song. Upwas Bhat and his son, however, do provide these foreign minds with this background music - but they are so much more than that.

If you listen closely, you can almost count the years of music in Upwas' voice. Contrasting in harmony is his son Rohit's "jawaan" melodic cries, bursting with energy. You project on his voice a search for approval, a little from the crowd, and some more from his father. If you stand close to them they shift in slight discomfort - this could be a sign of surprise, you think, and a lack of appreciation. If you sit in front of them, asking and waiting for more from the pair, Upwas' eyes keep meeting yours, as if they were familiarising themselves with a kind of curiosity they've never seen before.

You keep thinking about this space you find yourself in - the awkward push and pull of wanting to really know the musical pair and feeling like you can never cross the barrier of being a foreign tourist. "What would it take (or give) to have a conversation? What pedestal do they put me on? Are my interpretations of their music, movement, and voice nothing but projections? Would this "film" I watch through my mind be entirely different had I been a local, or something else?"

In the moment, you feel special. You feel unique. You're the only one sitting in front of them, asking them about their work, their music, their art. But when you leave and think back to the moment a week later, you recount it all as a story - of which you had not only written the plot, but had also cast the characters, their stories, and their internal monologues.

Somewhere, somehow, there does exist a screen - representing your "foreign" culture - and all that you perceive and experience are stories you read off it. Given this, it feels almost impossible to perceive a culture in its form while being a "foreigner". Sunlight is harsher to the eye than when it's filtered and shaped with shadows, turning beautiful, just the way you want it. I wonder what it takes - what steps, mindfulness, questioning, and humility - to know a culture as honestly and truly as one can.

Light and shadows. Amer Fort, Jaipur. Nov 2022.