'Uncalled for, hasty and ahistorical'

Some years ago, when a lot of hullabaloo was raised about Mohenjo-Daro's dancing girl's poster on a Delhi government calendar, I had given three solutions in a lighter vein. One of them was that since she had come from Mohenjo-Daro, which is now in Pakistan, she could be sent back. Another was that she should be given some clothes. I don't remember the third one, but it really needs to be emphasized that much lies in the eyes of the beholder.
There was not even a single stitch of cloth on the sculpture of the dancing girl, which must have been sculpted around 2500 BC. There is no need to tell anybody that what began with Mohenjo-daro's dancing girl can be found in the beautiful works of our own Pahari painters. Nudity is there in each epoch of history, whether ancient or medieval. That is true for the modern times too.
There has been arguments about where to draw the line. It is not question of just a city, region or country. Obscenity has been discussed in each culture.
A very famous sculpture is that of Venus of Willemdorf, a female figure estimated to have been made more than 20,000 years back. It was found in the early 20th century in Austria. The prehistoric figure is that of a fat woman and it is related to fertility. You must go to Google images to see what I am talking about.
What was on display at Kalagram was very different. It was not pornographic. It was not even erotic. It did not offend the sensibilities of the common person.
Every culture has a point of view and there is no dearth of point of views here too. But to remove the sculptures was a snap decision lacking reasoning. It was purely a knee-jerk reaction, uncalled for, hasty and ahistorical.
— As told to Sarika Sharma