My Grandfather during the 90 years of his life in India had participated in India’s struggle for Independence, witnessed the Independence itself, the blood shed during the India-Pakistan partition of 1947 and the resulting unsettlement and relocation, the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999, the Sino-Indian war of 1962, the National Emergency declared by the Indian PM in 1975, all the way to experiencing India’s most devastating and most powerful Earthquake of 2001, and the 26/11 Terrorist attack of 2008.
While I was growing up, he only ever tried to instill one outlook in me. That ‘Life Goes On Regardless’. I only had the chance to spend time with him during the last 17 years of his life – and I always found him calm, collected and most importantly Unfazed. Regardless of any external circumstances, conflicts or life problems, he always remained unfazed. His mantra that Life Goes On helped him draw a fine line between what can be controlled and what cannot be controlled. Diminish the most threatening of problems into ‘mere problems’ and not perceive them as larger than life – something that human mind has a tendency to do. He differentiated between problems and life and not see them as one entity. His outlook that life went on independently of the chaos helped him maintain enviable mental peace.
During these turbulent times when there is so much friction going on in the World, I wanted to create a piece of art that brought a great sense of peace, serenity and relief to its viewer. Most importantly, evoke arresting stillness. Beauty of the nature has the power to pause our endless chain of mental chatter, make us thoughtless while we’re in awe. If thoughts are notes, thoughtlessness is the gap between two notes. And the Music is always made by the gap between notes. What could be a better example than Mother Nature that 'Life Goes On Regardless'. Nature is this very mantra personified.
A digital matte painting created with the photography I captured in various scenic locations across Switzerland.
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