Invisibles : Cobbler of Yelahanka

In every city across India, the chances of stumbling upon an image of Gandhi may be quite rare, but you'll find images of Ambedkar at every corner, in various sizes and forms. Such is the power of Ambedkar and the assertive Bahujan identity in Indian society today, claiming its space in the public domain. Interestingly, hardly any of these Ambedkar images are gifts from the government celebrating the father of our constitution. Most of them are the result of individuals occupying public spaces, making their assertive presence felt.

This was my perception of Ambedkar images until I met my cobbler friend on the "Upanagara Bus Stand" road in Yelahanka. Yelahanka's New Town had three cobbler cabins—two of them at Mother Dairy Circle and one near Upanagara Bus Stand. With the arrival of the new Savarkar flyover and subsequent road widening, the cobbler sheds at Mother Dairy Circle were relocated to an interior road. What's interesting about all these cobbler cabins is that they're painted blue and adorned with images of Ambedkar—one on the outside wall and another as a printout inside. Like many iconographic representations, whether painted or sculpted, except for the blue suit, red tie, round face, and Ambedkar's signature glasses, these images often bear little resemblance to his original portraits. Today, regardless of how distorted these images may be, anyone in India can instantly recognize Ambedkar from this iconic representation.

I believe I met our cobbler friend around 2012. I visited him to have the zipper on my laptop bag replaced. As usual, the Ambedkar images, both outside and inside the cabin, looked somewhat unrefined. I asked him why he didn't display a photograph instead. Suddenly, he became very serious and asked me, 'What's wrong with the image?' With a smile on my face, I politely explained that the painting didn't resemble Ambedkar closely. His response was swift and enigmatic, 'The image doesn't change Ambedkar.' What he meant was that the representations don't alter Ambedkar. To me, as an artist, this answer carried profound philosophical weight, something that the history of art has taken a long time to teach us. In twentieth-century art, post-Dada and conceptual artists had to engage in extensive deliberation to arrive at such profound philosophies. Yet, here was our friend, sitting by the roadside, effortlessly conveying such profound concepts without any fanfare. As he continued to mend my bag, I sat in his blue cabin, wondering why it is often such a challenge for the educated to grasp profound philosophies in such simple ways, the way ordinary people understand them.

Even though I never found a definitive answer to that question, after our first interaction, I made it a point to bring all my repair work to him and spend time in conversation. I often treated him to a couple of coffees as a token of my appreciation for his company. After the first lockdown, when I visited him for a shoe repair, he shared the difficulties the pandemic had brought into his life. Our conversations would usually revolve around local politics and various issues in Yelahanka. During this lockdown, while cleaning my house, I unearthed two old backpacks in need of repair. I plan to visit him soon for our customary conversation and a couple of coffees, provided the current COVID-19 protocols allow us such a luxury."