Google has posted some interesting pictures from LIFE magazine. I particularly like the shots of Nehru dressed in Western suits.

Why do I like these photos?

I guess it is because these photos blur the categorical dichotomy whereby India is constructed as part of the "Orient." I try to teach my students that India's elite have been "modern" (i.e. willing to discretely categorize and compartmentalize the life world) for centuries and share many elements (for good or ill) of a "western" outlook on the world.

I would not argue that Nehru depicted as a Westerner is a more authentic representation, but it does seem that this aspect of Nehru had to exist under erasure as the nationalist movement demanded that he embody the nation. In other words, later images of Nehru adorned in his "native" attire are unconvincing; his "Western" self was never erased, only crossed out (a la Heidegger) or covered over. Perhaps this erasure of the Western self is a metaphor for India's elite writ large. Their "idea of India" eludes the Orientalist cyclops.

Labels: india, south asia, web technology