@ind.igenous: A Museum on Instagram
As soon as I met Aryama Sen on a Zoom call, I was surprised. As a follower of her Instagram account, @ind.igenous, where she deliberately maintains anonymity, I was expecting someone older.
Staying Distinct on Social Media
Before delving into Aryama’s story, it’s worth reflecting on the @ind.igenous account. It’s a terrific model for what social media can be if we move beyond the usual displays of exotic locales, culinary delights, and festive celebrations. Her account feels like a museum, a space where we can taste nostalgia, or experience a bygone era. A terrain that, unfortunately, has been eroded by time, the rapid swells of consumerism, and the walls of intolerant thinking.
A Snapshot of Aryama’s Posts
To those of you who may not have encountered her Instagram handle or blog yet, I would like to offer a sense of what her posts are like. Besides a photograph of the Hindi actor, Amol Palekar, Sen draws attention to his transformation from painter to actor. To his thoughts on subtexts and silence. To his nuanced explorations of character, as an actor, director and filmmaker. To his careful custody of artistic integrity. All this about an artist who was born in 1944 and was known widely for his portrayal of the moustache-donning Accountant in Gol Maal (1979).
By images of the 1959 Kaagaz ke Phool, Aryama dwells on the stunning cinematography of VK Murthy. The photographer’s work was so mesmerizing, it distracted from the narrative, drawing both praise and criticism for this reason. Though Murthy garnered a Filmfare award for this, the director Guru Dutt was despondent about the film’s tanking at the box office. Since Dutt’s personal life was also in turmoil, the blow was harder to withstand.
These are only two condensed versions of the plaintive, contemplative, wistful and celebratory vignettes that Sen posts, drawing from films, literature, music, dance and other cultural artefacts of the nation’s 1950s and a few decades beyond. Each time, I see an @Ind.igenous post, I feel like long-forgotten memories are being triggered, and Sen’s perspective enriches my remembrances. Quite naturally then, I thought the owner of the Instagram handle might be someone in their 50s or older, someone who has weathered the riptides of life, its gifts and its costs.
The Surprising Reveal
So this was the surprising reveal on my Zoom call: Aryama Sen is only 23-years-old. At least, I had guessed correctly that she is Bengali, since many posts pertained to creative geniuses spawned in that State.
Raised With Music
Sen, currently an MBA student at IIM, Calcutta was raised in Kolkata. Since her mother is a national award-winning Kathak dancer, her home always overflowed with music. Growing up amidst a whirl of dancers, the thrum of sitars, the nasal drafts of shehnais and the rap of tablas, Aryama soaked up the magic of classical sounds. And their spillover into other dimensions of culture.
Fostering a Taste for Good Cinema
In the meanwhile, her father, a businessperson by profession, is a keen film buff. He cultivated her interest in the language of films, and helped foster a taste for good cinema. For films that weren’t being watched by her peers, but had withstood the test of time. These weren’t films that necessarily catered to market whims or corralled large audiences. But they were produced often by idealists, by makers who obsessed with imponderables like beauty, or social justice. Or life and its elusive meaning.
Her father would often watch these films with her. He did not believe that certain films were meant for adults and others for children. Instead, he encouraged her wide-ranging exploration and curiosity. Later, Sen started discovering other films. She would go back to her parents, and discuss a film of their generation that she had watched on her own.
Cultivating a Cultural Sensitivity
They also ushered her to music concerts, even at an age when she could not understand the music. Or to music conferences, spending entire nights among singers and obscure technical discussions. Or to the theatre, to watch Bengali and English plays. Aryama recalls that all this was a conscious choice, to inculcate a certain cultural sensibility and aesthetic. Of course, she’s also aware that “taste” is a loaded word and a subjective construct. Nonetheless, she’s still drawn to the country’s past, by lingering images and sounds and words that stir something in her.
Sensing a Gap with Peers
This kind of exposure had also created a fissure. She could hardly discuss these films or books or songs with friends. Most of whom were watching contemporary stuff. “There was always this gap. I would not have a lot of people of my generation who I could talk to about things I grew up to like.”
An Interest in Science and Technology
Though she was deeply interested in the arts, she felt she could always study it on her own. In the meanwhile, she was as intensely drawn to science and technology. For her undergraduate degree, she opted to do Engineering at Jadavpur University. As she persisted with her engineering slog, she wanted to articulate her thoughts about other stuff. About films she still loved. Or books. Or poetry. She also had to contend with a new chasm. It wasn’t just that she relished works that belonged to earlier eras. She was conscious that few Engineering students would be as soaked in the Arts as she was.
The Beginnings of @ind.igenous
In her second year of Engineering, she started posting her views and feelings on Instagram. “Randomly, one day on 1 January 2019, it was a very sudden decision. I just opened my Instagram and I set up a new account. The name Indigenous had been on my mind for a few days and I just went ahead with that name and I started writing about the things that I like. It was mostly about trying to find people of my generation who might be interested in the things that I talk about. Or just to find people I could talk to.”
Garnering An Enthusiastic Audience
She was startled by the responses that poured in. She realized her musings hit a chord with many people. Perhaps, most were from earlier generations. But some belonged to younger cohorts, who were like her, culturally isolated inside their peer groups. Aryama had forged a like-minded community, an interest group, and perhaps just the kind of motivation she needed to keep posting. To research archives, plumb histories, and curate memories – in a nation that was speeding towards its future, but rarely had the wherewithal to look over its shoulder and assess its losses. Or storied riches.
She started gathering a fairly significant followership – the raison d’être for most influencers. Ironically influencing hadn’t been a goal to begin with. The aim had been to encourage conversations around shared interests. While in the beginning, she had been more casual about her posts, as she gained followers, she started taking her work more seriously. Becoming more judicious of what she posted, the frequency of posts and the quality of each one. “Now I am very serious about this space, very conscious about what I write and what I put up.”
A year or two later, she created a blog.
The More Moving Responses
The kind of response that really touches her has to do with rejuvenating moments in people’s lives. For instance, there are folks of her generation or even younger, who have occasionally watched an old film with a grandmother or uncle. They have forgotten most of the film since then, but “bits and pieces have remained in their head.” They message Sen with gratitude, for filling in the context, and fleshing out details. About the plotline or cast. “It makes me really happy because they have gone back to their childhood and to a film that meant something to them.”
Tips for Other Instagrammers
Her own Instagram and blogging journeys have been organic, driven by a deep personal interest. She did not sign up for any digital marketing or social media courses before embarking on this.
Since many social media aspirants have approached her for tips to “make it” on these handles, she offers the following succinct pointers.
- Posting regularly is important. At least three to four times a week.
- Beyond that, one has to choose hashtags thoughtfully. If you pick a hashtag that’s wildly popular, your post is likely to drown in a deluge. On the other hand, if you pick a hashtag that no one cares about, you stay unnoticed. Clearly a Buddhist-type middle ground is required even for this.
Future Plans for @ind.igenous
Sen will be graduating from her MBA in 2024 and she plans to work soon after. In the meanwhile, she plans to keep her page and followership going. She might also extend the venture offline, via events. She also intends to widen the platform to encourage other emerging artists and writers. So far, she has desisted from paid posts, since she’s cognizant about retaining the integrity of her reviews. She might consider commercial collaborations in the future, if visions and values align with hers.
Bridging Divides Between the Arts and Sciences
One of the changes she would like to see in the country is a softening of divisions between the sciences and the arts. “I think spaces where children can think more freely, rather than submit to the divide between the sciences and the arts, are necessary. You don’t have to choose one and let go of the other.” She would also love to see more spaces for the arts that motivate free explorations by adults and children.
References
https://www.instagram.com/ind.igenous/