New gods of our calendar art

Politicians in India are quite divine. We mean that literally, not in a qualitative sense. For, truer than the unverified ‘fact’ that god created humans in his/her own image is the verified fact that humans create their god(s) in their own image(s). And if there be any doubt who is top in the image stakes, with their visages visible from every nook, cranny and granny’s window, it has to be our politicians. Billboards, newspapers, rolling scrolls at the bottom, top, corners of our TV/online feed, adverts, notices, news – a politician or a dozen will be staring at you every day.

There is a hierarchy of plenitude. The Great Leaders© make maximised appearances, mostly by their own, or, on many other occasions, with other deities. This bombardment of countenances of bhagwans and devas/devis (there is a hierarchical difference) makes us, owners of functioning pairs of eyes, much more familiar with these mugs – smiling, stern, smilingly stern or sternly smiling – than those of our partners or family. This is the new secularised calendar art, the new Ravi Varma lithos, the new pantheon of mythology that India has built over time giving politicians, above everyone else, movie stars included, the visibility that was once only given to gods and sub-gods. And you know what they say about familiarity breeding… instant recognition.