Of Art, Heritage & Wanderlust In Conversation With Sanjay Das
– Upasana Bhattacharya
A camera, an sUV and some great ideas. sanjay das travels through the country, riding on his Bucephalus, winning one great imagery after another. Images of Indian heritage he wants to preserve for posterity, images that have a life of their own. and that I think is his vision. to capture many lifetimes of legacy in virtual time capsules, so they can be shared with the world even when the legacies cease to exist.
Upasana Bhattacharya: I always ask this to anyone with a sure sense of passion, when did you know? Was it something of a gradual recognition, or one swift epiphany?
Sanjay das:I cannot recall any one particular moment when I knew I wanted to be an artist. It was probably the whole cultural ambience I grew up in. We were a joint family of eight, and I remember our house being this perpetual stir of social activities. the Kojagori lakkhi Pujo used to be one of the bigger annual events of our household, and I loved being part of the entire bustle. after due sacraments, the first patali gud (palm jaggery) of the season would be sanctified, and with that, our mothers would prepare seasonal sweetmeats like naru and moa. durga Pujas used to be the most fun. Back in the seventies, the scale at which the festival was celebrated in our colony was huge. our house used to be very close to the venue. so, you can imagine my thrill when we would get to host personalities like hemanta Kumar, Purnadas Baul, and manna dey before their performances began. on the other side, my maternal uncles were the founder members of sreemoti opera, one of delhi’s first jatra (folk-theatre) groups. I used to spend all my holidays in their motibagh house drinking in the rehearsals, costumes, props, and the adda! my point is, I have been lucky to have had such rich cultural exposure right from childhood. Back then, all of it seemed to be just a big party. however, in the retrospect, I realize how those little things helped shape my senses as an artist.
