If Morris Came to India...
If Morris Came to India... Some years ago, on a winter afternoon when Delhi's smog softened, I found myself wandering in a narrow gully of Shahjahanabad. I took a turn to Dharampura, a neighbourhood where the air seems to be full of nostalgia. It was here, in the heart of what was once the Mughal capital, I came across a Jain Temple- delicate and utterly ignored. Pigeons are found almost everywhere- particularly in main city of Delhi. I next remember seeing the carvings were exquisite: slender goddesses, abstractionism. It was all done with an attention to detail. Now when I think of it, my mind wandered to someone very far from this scene: Mr. Morris. Morris would have never set foot in Delhi and probably never stood beneath a sky which is now full of dust and 'smog' And yet, there was something profoundly Morrisian in that temple courtyard. His emphasis on handwork, on craft, on the idea that beauty was not a luxury but a necessity of life is appropriate with that setti...
