When Is a Door Not a Door? When It’s a Work of Art

In the bylanes of Rajasthan’s small towns, people have made art a part of their life in the most unexpected way.

Roti. Kapda. Makaan.

These are the three essential human needs, we have been told. The three fundamental desires that must be met before we can begin to think of others. Consecrated as the theory of need hierarchy by Abraham Maslow, it has gained wide acceptance in both academia and corporate management training. It is also a bald-faced lie.

Humanity’s need for art – whether stories or poetry or painting – is a well-kept secret. It is always relegated to the status of a luxury – as a somewhat superfluous indulgence for those who needn’t worry about the base necessities of survival. While class position and economic considerations no doubt play a crucial part in deciding a person’s priorities, it is arrogant and reductive to think of art as something that happens only in well-appointed living rooms. The human need (yes need, not desire) for beauty is as complex as it is fundamental – satisfying subjective, wordless longings.

Take for instance, the dusty, cramped bylanes of small town Rajasthan – Nathdwara, Railmagra, Rajsamand – where people have made art a part of their life in the most unexpected way.