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Journalism of Courage
We found Banwari Maharaj asleep under a tree, indifferent to the fine desert sand that flew around him. He is the custodian of Raja Shardul Singh’s chatri in Parsurampura, which was built in the Raja’s memory by his queen around 1760. Kripal Singh Shekawat, Rajasthan’s foremost traditional painter took me to see this chatri in a village in Shekhawati, where the villages are apathetic towards their painted havelis .
The paintings were as wonderful as Kripal Singh Shekawat had promised, painted in black and warm red colours of the earth — limited, but conveying immense pictorial expression. They were painted before the British brought in bright, artificial colours around 1850, which gave the havelis a beauty different from the sober tones of Shardul Singh’s chatri. Practically everything in the region is doomed to return to the desert dust, but Shardul Singh’s chatri has decided to defy negligence for a while.
Some twenty-six years ago Banwari Maharaj was asked to look after the chatri which was disappearing under the sand and was the playground for local children and abused terribly. A wall around it provided for privacy during their morning business. Banwari installed an aluminum door, which he locked regardless of the resentment — he had got the outer ring of protection in to place. He swept and cleaned and built a little toilet in a corner, begged the local administration for a water connection and planted trees and bushes. Soon, people arrived, curious to see this chatri, who he escorts to prevent further vandalism, explaining the pictures with stories, using a pole as a pointer. Another touch which reveals his heritage lover’s instincts: it is not the pole tapping the paintings but a peacock feather tied to it.
It would be wonderful to know that there are other Banwari Maharajs in India, protecting their little pockets of responsibility with imagination and insight. For a man who has scarcely travelled outside his remote village of Parsurampura he displays all the values of someone trained in heritage protection. His marketing is superb; he knows he has a good product and has done whatever he can to help it along.
Most of us are indifferent to our heritage but can certainly preserve what there is close to where we stay. Small protected pockets can gradually fill the entire country.
