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ROTI-BETI Series

By Atelier-2 Staff




During colonial times, the British rule ushered in an era of industrialization in India. This large scale industrialization spread across India required great resources and the British introduced the Railway line till Nepal to bring in timber from the forests of Nepal into India. Huge swathes of forests were cut leading to deforestation that had long lasting consequences. One of the Railway lines that were introduced was the NJJR( Nepal Jainagar Janakpur Railway) which was a 55 kilometer line that Uma Shankar Shah draws inspiration from. This line which was first introduced to transport timber later turned into a means of transport for the people as well. Uma Shankar Shah’s exhibition focuses on the stories of these trains. His prints are a narrative on the economic and cultural ties that the emergence of these trains brought to the relationship between Nepal and India. Some of the major works exhibitied in this exhibition were: NJJR, Naturalized citizen, Janual Band, Roti-Beti, Railway station of Janakpur, Mithalani.

According to Uma Shankar Shah, the public was greatly very intrigued by the introduction of the trains during the Rana regime in Nepal. People would often travel from Raksaul to Amlekhgunj via train at the time, and cross the hill ‘Bhim Fedi’ to travel to Kathmandu on pilgrimage to the temples of Pashupathinath. This led to the railway system becoming a center of attraction for the MIthila people. Uma Shankar shares that when he was young he would go to the railway station as much as possible to watch the trains. He says his happiness multiplied when he got an opportunity to touch the trains. He experienced the euphoria of large crowds as they came in to Nepal from India to worship at the famous Janaki temple. He says these memories have always been a huge part of his life.

Nepal had a population that is mostly composed of Hindus and a great many of the national entities are named after Hindu gods and goddesses. This tradition extends from figures in flags to the names of mountains such as ‘Kailash’. People too have names such as ‘Umashankar Shah’,’Gaurishanakar’ and banks have names such as ‘Prabhu Bank’, ‘ Laxmi Bank’ This tradition extended to the nomenclature of trains : ‘Gorakhnath’, ‘Krishana’, ‘Sita’, ‘Rama’. These trains that ran along the borders of Nepal and India, helped to establish and strengthen a unique relationship between the two countries on many fronts, such as the ‘Roti-Beti’ connections that exist between the two countries.

Uma Shankar Shah emphasizes the history of the development of purely mechanical modes of transportation. Before the introduction of these vehicles, he says the modes of transportation were largely based on bullock-carts, chariots, elephants, camels and horses. When trains were introduced to Nepal, people used these modes to travel till the railway station to get to India where new opportunities were forming as a result of industrialization. They would take along with them grain, timber to India and bring back Petromax lamps, cycles, radios, steel boxes. Uma Shankar Shah has portrayed these objects and their significance in his installations and paintings.

The artist has presented the southern Mithila part of his country with great excitement and has emphasized the cultural relationship between Nepal and India in his work. He has depicted the Hindu God Ram taking Sita towards India on a train and also has shown the Indian ‘Bani-Thani’ being brought to Nepal. The exhibition has been named ‘Roti-Beti’ as the works focus on the exchanges that take place between the two countries. Uma's works portray the story of daughters being sent and brought to Nepal and India through the trains. His prints interestingly show foreign musical instruments being brought via the trains for local weddings. The artist also shows large advertisement hoardings that he saw on his first visit by train to India.



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