An essay on new modernity

An essay on new modernity

When Stravinsky staged the rites of spring 100 years ago a new riot of colors emerged which changed the tone and feel of music as we see it.It has become noisy, subaltern and everything which is not ancient. It was the present and the present would go on perhaps till infinity as it has broken all the laws codes and and bars which were imposed by the ancient customs

In art Picasso were experimenting at the same bringing in new contours in the imagination ,new landscapes of human emotions making it an experiment in form and feel .Of course his was a continuation of the art of Caravaggio or others but romantic notions were broken. Painting has lost its old world idiom and became pure color, eternal representations of new form. The color assumed the shape of god

In poetry T S Eliot has taken on the old forms and created more coherent lines alive to the contemporary life and sounds. It is not the soul searching, soft somnambulant rite which rhymes alone but something pierces your mind and body

In novel James Joyce raised the bar  high creating unheard soliloquies of  love and whispers.

In politics, though communism was not a new idea, in praxis it made  a strange composition. Peoples power replaced the power of the elite or the middle class

One man stood out, M K Gandhi who propounded highly idealistic view of the life and people around and perhaps paved the way for a just society. His sathyagraha also was not new but was as old has hills .He had touched the rawness of people ,brought out the essential sense of human being

He defied customs, perched for common salt ,banked heavily on popular movements.Contrast it with Nazism of the same century which could mobilize people on hatred and carry out crimes unimaginable to any society

But the body politic has far more hideous philosophies as new extremist came into being ,whether in national space or religious ideals. He has defined the dark moment of the day

A new reality of the times

An image straight out of war. Like honey combs,like adored military establishments, missiles looking for enemy war heads , extremism defined the reality. It is submerged with subaltern thoughts , it is laced with heroism, nationalism and has all the show of a reality drama unfolding every day.

The modern man was invading the world ,its inhabitants, himself.

Here there is no looking back, only the contrasted voices would submerge one within another, new cacophony would become the order of the day .But amidst all the chaos there is an order, amidst all the colours of riot a peaceful passage of reason .The new century has to reshape its theories of art and politics and life.