THEY SPARED ME HERE.
Modern Memory, Identity & Personal Archives
Priya Pall
Using the artists’ personal archives as instruments of political consciousness, the exhibition will examine ways in which the artists negotiate the complexities of memory and identity in an ever more complex and networked world, revising historical narratives and rewriting collective traumas, while making use of registers of their personal histories.
They spared me………
……..here.
They spared me
The spared me here
In
1984
On
1stNovember
They
spared
me.
But
they took him
They
took
Kaka!!
Kaka, Kala, Monty, and Pappu
and Baby
they took
Them
from
the street
outside
from
inside
His home
Her home
Where
We shared
Dreams
Nights
On the manjis
Under
Unscared skies.
Biji,
are we
descendants
of the Guru Amar Das?
Why?
I just found out
he was a
Bhalla!
“No he was from us!”
Now they have put a turban on him!
‘Your father
also
wore a turban
when young.’
as did
the eldest
of each
of our
families
the eldest
was given
to the
Gurus
and
now
they say
the Sikhs says
they are
separate,
different
from
us!!
they took
Kala
whose brother
they spared
Pappu didn’t
have a
brother
and
they
spared Pinki
she had a boycut
and Bittoo
as she was hiding
in the
bathroom
and
they spared
me
During these riots large number of Sikhs were killed. According to the finding of the Ahuja Committee 2733 Sikhs were killed in Delhi between 31-10-84 and 7-11-84.
SLIDES OF PATEL NAGAR.
The third guru of the Sikhs, Guru Amar Das Bhalla, was born in the village of Basarke on May 5, 1479, just a little south of Amritsar.
He is credited with purchasing the land for the Golden temple, getting the water tank dug and made available for the public.
Guru Amar Das further institutionalized the free communal kitchen called langer.
On a day of family get togethers I questioned my father perssitantly on why he did not ever go back to visist his ancestral village in Punjab.
