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ALKA PANDE : ART PERSONIFIED by Mihir Srivastava



Dr Alka Pande is seen in a crowd. A flower, mostly rose, neatly embedded in her hair above the left ear.


She's a leading art curator of the country, an author, a thinker, an art historian par excellence. She lives mythologies in real time, guides her actions and shapes her response. A lot is happening in her life even when she says, ‘I have slowed down.’


Her house is a charged space, the choicest art collection is on display, the Navagraha or the nine celestial deities that are believed to influence human life—and the Navadurgas –the nine manifestations Durgaare my favourites. She deals with gods and goddesses and sees them in a new light, more of an interaction. She travels extensively, helps artists achieve their potential, and does most of her work pro-bono. She likes to meet creative minds, is open to ideas and newer interpretations of cultural and religious milestones.


Alka has been around for a long time, and is one of the most influential art figures in the country. Things happen because her heart is in the right place and she’s bubbling with ideas, shaped by understanding of the world we live in, history, art and culture. She celebrates art as a way to say the unsaid, a reflection of life, our times, with the contextualization of scriptures, history, culture and tradition, mythology and faith, in the process, invariably, involves a bit of self-discovery.


‘We are never the same, change is constant,’ she says, and her own life feels like an artwork in progress. Perhaps, art is the static impressions of the dynamic world, and it has a different message for different witnesses.  And, yet, art is the most intense mode of individualism.


She has an interactive relationship with scriptures and mythology, and makes it more amenable to the understanding of people in the contemporary world, who are bamboozled with an overdose of technology.


Alka refers to the past to help shape a better future. And she does it with penchant. Her latest book, Ramayana Though 15 Iconic Characters, is meant for young adults, gives new perspective to age old characters of reverence. For instance, she writes, ‘I often wonder what was the reason that made Rama abandon pregnant Sita?’ She is ‘disappointed’ and finds it ‘incomprehensible’ that Sita had to go through agni pariksha—trial of fire—not once but twice, to prove her chastity. Finally, Sita rejects Rama and immerses herself into the embrace of mother earth. Rama lived a lonely life, and to Alka, he’s a ‘subject of personal suffering and grief.’


Alka is a daughter, sister, wife and mother—a courageous and responsible one. Also, a leading art curator , she is an author, a thinker, an art historian par excellence. She lives mythologies in real time, guides her actions and shapes her response.


She did her Ph.D. on the androgynous manifestation of Shiva—the Ardhanarishvara. Any description is limiting, and my own pursuit of humanity without the qualification of clothing has taught me that we humans are far too complex to be categorized, and that we have no one identity in particular, and our composite being has everything in some measure.


Alka’s book Ardhanarishvara the androgyny—is ‘probing the gender within’. To her Ardhanarishvara is the eternal androgyny, is not just a philosophical construct, is a social and cultural expression.


When existence and consciousness unite, their union is a pleasure and in this pleasure lies the purpose. Their separate existence is but an appearance. Courtesy: Alka Pande

India’s ancient gods were and still remain futuristic, embraced and celebrated diversity. A composite entity, Ardhanarishvara, has no desire, she explains. It was only at the behest of Brahma—the creator—the Shiva and the Shakti divided out of the Ardhanarishvara. A great body of fire was created in the process, duality was born, sparks of erotic desire erupted, and it is this self-classification that gave rise to the intricate idea of sex and sexuality—pegged on gender.  


I like her novel representation of ancient wisdom. She is a Shaivite and Vaishnavite and also believes in Shaktism—the epitome feminine energy. A certain part of her composite being associate​s with all of these manifestations. The fact that she’s flexible and yet rooted in tradition makes her a very interesting person.


Alka is a daughter, sister, wife and mother—a courageous and responsible one. She also happens to be a ritualist, she follows a routine, the first fifteen of the day is devoted to God, manifesting in deities, followed by yoga that sets her day rolling. She attends to her domestic chores, serves the nicest food, and when all is done, by afternoon, she ventures out of the house to deal with the art world, ​​which she shapes in her own quintessential ways. She’s back by 8, evenings are family time.


She’s friends with her husband, Mukul Joshi, a seasoned bureaucrat, now retired, supports her in invisible ways, yet they remain very different people. And they have preserved their individuality is why they are so good together. I saw the two at a few parties together, they enter as a couple, but interact with different sets of people, and then leave together. A deep understanding and acceptance and having no desire to change each other, is what makes them a special couple. ‘He nourished every project of mine with equal partnership,’ she says.  



Her daughter Dr Mandakini Devi is an artist and ‘her effervescent spirit enters every work of mine,’ says Alka. I found Mandakini’s work layered, trippy, bordering on psychedelic, challenging the way we perceive things. Alka gives her the space, not just physical but also intellectual, to create her own quintessential art. I love the way mother-daughter stays under the same roof, though separate floors, and yet are so distinct in the way they express their world by way of art.


Alka is the eldest of the four sisters, losing her mother a few years ago was an inflexion point in her life, she was the glue that kept her family together, now ‘it’s scattered,’ she says. A favourite of her 94 years old father, who calls her as ‘my first born,’ with a twinkle in his eyes.


The intuition is divine providence, is the voice of the subconscious. Intuitive Alka works with people who she feels a connect with at an energy level. And that she gets to know instinctively, instantly. When there’s a connection, there’s no going back for her.  


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