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Locked down for weeks and months at different parts of the world has got people to re-look at a time past when something like this happened which was more or less confined to history books till now — the Black Death or bubonic plague that arrived in Europe via Sicily in 1347 from the East from the Black Sea port at Kaffa (now Feodosiya in Ukraine). By the time it subsided after two years, around one-third of Europe’s population was wiped out. It actually recurred almost to the 18th century in less devastating waves. Sure, it overwhelmed the European, and English society, but surprisingly, it was a period of creativity too.
Giovanni Boccaccio’s classic The Decameron (1353) with its tale of ten Florentines fleeing to the hills from the plague and telling each other a hundred tales on love and life is said to have inspired Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales later. Some historians even opine that the plague in some way contributed to the onset of the Renaissance in Europe. With many people dead, the rigidity of hierarchical structure became more fluid and a new sensibility came around. The Medici family, one of the most important patrons of Italian Renaissance culture, had shifted from rural Tuscany to Florence driven by plague. Artists like Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, and Michelangelo enjoyed the powerful family’s patronage to produce scintillating works. Titian died during the second wave of the plague but left behind momentous works. Many others tried to fight the pestilence with art. For example, Tintoretto, who lived in the age when the plague was always in the back of consciousness, painted his greatest works in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, a building dedicated to a plague-protective saint.
Creative take
Social behaviourists and psychologists point out that human beings have a great amount of resilience. They have the power to adapt and innovate. Coming to our coronavirus time, initially shocked by something unprecedented, now various arms of the social media are throwing up surprisingly creative takes on the pestilence. New writings, cartoons, animation strips — humorous, sardonic, philosophical, are popping up everywhere.
Those in the creative field are responding to the unusual situation too. Multiple prize-winning director Goutam Ghose (Paar, etc.) is re-looking at his film script tentatively titled Parikrama, an Indo-Italian production. He had finished his shooting in southern Italy in early February and arrived back home with his crew just before the virus started travelling from the northern part to the south. “The perception has changed under this global catastrophe,” he says. “I have always been saying that our so-called fast-paced life and uncaring attitude towards nature does not portend well for humankind. Nature has been whispering to us but we didn’t listen. Now I am revisiting my script, incorporating more of these concerns. I am looking deeper into issues like environmental displacement.”
Time to ideate
He is not sure when he would be able to begin the Indian part of the shoot. The actors are in Italy. Travel restrictions are not going to be lifted soon, or even if done, people would be wary of travelling unless for urgent reasons as aviation experts predict. But Ghose is continuing his work without throwing up his hands in despair. “The other thing I am doing is rummaging through my books and magazines piling up for years and marked for later-reading but didn’t happen due to the busy schedule. Now I have the time.” Perhaps new ideas for some future films could come up from some of these stories, unread till now? “Who knows,” he says.
Sunita Bhuyan, a well-known violinist who lives in Mumbai, has not been sitting idle either. “I have been busy with ‘stay at home’ concerts every week. Of course, it’s different from live performances but by now I think I have cracked the code of layout, lighting, camera angle, sound, etc. It’s a new learning process. Also, my son who is a pianist and has been locked down with me is accompanying me. Now we are able to offer a duet instead of a solo performance which I have been doing all these years.”
Asked if she has composed something new during this time of confinement Sunita said, “Yes, not just in music but also for my training course through music which I do for the corporate world. I am creating online sessions and at present am also involved in a few international collaborations.”
Mallika Kandali, who lives in Guwahati, is an exponent of classical Assamese dance style Sattriya that originated during the Neo-Vaishnavite movement sweeping across the Brahmaputra Valley under Guru Sankardeva in the Middle Ages. She teaches in a college, has her own dance school, Parampara Pravah, and is a researcher on the subject on which she has written a number of books. Like others in the country, she does not step out of her house unless it is extremely necessary. But she has kept her creative work going. “I am taking both practical and theoretical online classes for my students. I want to ensure that they do not suffer from the psychological impact in the locked-down period.”
She has also conceptualised two new compositions with choreography as per the Sattriya tradition. Nayika Sambad is based on various nayikas and Rwitu Sambad depicts various seasons. “Life never stops. We have to be positive,” she adds.
Sunita also says that she feels “extremely energised from the point of view of de-cluttering the mind by cooking, connecting with family across borders. Now there’s no rushing to catch a flight, check-in and check-out from hotels, etc.” However, she admits, “The biggest challenge is how we artistes are going to
survive beyond the lockdown. The established ones will manage for a few months but it will be tougher for the aspiring ones.”
Sunita is also associated with a number of charitable organisations and lends her musical talent to the activities. “Arts and the joy of giving together facilitate three hormones in our body: endorphins, serotonin, and oxytocin which make us healthier and stronger.” And that is the attitude artistes in the time of coronavirus are banking on.