He eventually does so, painting a nude portrait of her in the style of a Rajput miniature. As the quote that I started this post with shows, she wants him to paint her from his own point of view. Nirad constantly feels the need to impress Flora with his knowledge of England and of English culture, while Flora wants him to be himself. However, their relationship also reveals major points of tension and of culture clash. Over the course of the play, Flora and Nirad’s relationship changes from a formal, distant one to a more intimate one. Set in two time periods (1930s India and 1980s England), the play tells the story of Flora Crewe, an English poet visiting India, and Nirad Das, an Indian artist who is painting her portrait. In the tradition of Forster’s A Passage to India and Scott’s The Raj Quartet, Indian Ink examines the colonial experience through focusing on the relationship between one particular couple. Ever since I first read this play some years ago, it has provoked me to think about the colonial experience in India as well as issues of identity and nationalism more generally. One work that was especially powerful in doing so for me is Tom Stoppard’s play Indian Ink. Great works of art often reveal insights about history in ways that are more accessible than academic historical accounts. You’re trying to paint me from my point of view instead of yours-what you think is my point of view. Chelsea, Bloomsbury, Oliver Twist, Goldflake cigarettes, Winsor and Newton… even painting in oils, that’s not Indian. Why do you like everything English?įlora: Yes, you do. This play has been with me throughout much of my life.įlora: You are an Indian artist, aren’t you? Stick up for yourself. In fact, in my Directing class as part of my Dramatic Literature major, I directed a scene from “Indian Ink”. I have always been fascinated by the Raj. It’s interesting to me how long I have been thinking about some of the same issues. I originally wrote this essay in May 2009 and it was published on The South Asian Idea.
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