Kem Cho, Sassenach? Ep. 3
by: Bhim Pandya (August 2021)
Somewhere on the Arabian sea, the canvas is full and fluttering, with the sun on the horizon ready to set as if it were a mango ready to make its fall on Akhareej (an ideal day to begin consuming mangoes).
Inside the captains chambers, on a table sits a man, the Accountant, his spectacles resting on the bridge of his nose, a furrowed brow, eyes focused but begging to be closed for a few moments time. Yet a quick close of the eyes would mean a prolonged nap which would hinder him from inventorying some cargo as few hours before where the crew encountered some Pirates. who were successful in pillaging some dyes. Luckily they were sailing a schooner a small sailboat with very minimal firepower. Yet, the hull had been scathed by a heavy shot. None of the crewmembers were harmed and the schooner was sent to the depths, but all the Pirates could be seen swimming to shore of a nearby grotto.
After completing the inventory he has the boy a young apprentice take the document to the captain.
"Now do not disturb me for a little while as I will nap in a little bit", says the Accountant.
Pushing the chair back, standing up and stretching he pulls out his journal from his bag sitting on a trunk behind him. Then unwinds the strings and opens the journal. He begins to write.
August 19, 2021 -- Meditation, On Course to the Golden Circle
Process is key, for it is the process in which one makes mistakes, learns from them and improves their craft. A completed piece of work is merely a speck, a perfected object that maybe forgotten in the flow of time. Something unimportant and merely merely in place for spectating, tailoring, wearing and again spectating and receiving compliments. Does the completed nature of the fabric as in when it is prepared for the purpose for which it is meant to serve, as a garb make the fabric corrupted to the levels of fabrication? Is it truly being itself when it is perfect? Does the fabric lose its essence when it seems too perfect? Or is fabrication not the word and maybe it is corruption, wherein the fabric becomes corrupted when it conforms to social norms of what is regarded as perfect? This garb, this veil is merely a signifier covering the truth.
Is the fabric then perfect when it does not have a purpose? When it is not dyed or it is imperfectly dyed, with a few loose threads?
Are the meanings and purpose of the fabric driven by the intention of those creating it, stamping it, brokering it, consuming it? If the fabric meets the supply and demand, does it make it wholesome ? Wholesale or complete? Or is a sense of completion, the idea of the 'end product' merely a façade? Is wholeness, completeness a blindly perceived idea where the gaze itself veils spectators from the society from seeing beyond the aesthetic?
What is aesthetic? Do beauty and form have to be in sync with perfection? Is it necessary for what is perfect to be beautiful? Or that what is perceived by society is beautiful and that because it is accepted as beautiful it must be perfect? Is the fabric of society really this corrupted?
Does that make the perception of perfection contextual based on a given time period and making the appearances of a given truth in that time period valid but beyond that time period and in any other time period it is merely a false appearance? Appearances and garbs.
Or is the idea of perfection associated with a strong understanding of ones flaws keeping the end product polished to the degree that it seems perfect. In that, what is perceived as perfect (corrupted) is actually one that has its flaws organized in such a way that to the viewer it seems like a complete work of art, that is perfect.
When a fabric seems imperfect in appearance it is easy to pinpoint and pick out, something that can be worked with. When a fabric seems too perfect is the moment of raising another perfected fabric signified as a flag dyed in red, because it means that it is covering up its flaws with intricate technique.
Is it considered falsification then? Not really...its merely an act of hiding flaws with technique. This makes those dyeing the fabric extremely adept in their skill, making those creating the work perfect. Now we have it, what seems perfect or perceived as perfect is what is shown to you by intricate skill, by those who have learnt from their mistakes over the years, perfected their craft and putting it before you.
Hence at the individual level, the audience or the wearer of garb will technically have no notion of what they have is perfect or not. The do not know what perfect is for they are merely receiving the end product. They are merely receiving an object, signified by the value they paid for it.
The words perfect, beauty, aesthetic are all merely words, woven together by the thread of language. Words are just words, that bear little to no meaning at all. No truth.
The truth resides on the plane of process and only those going through it can truly grasp the truth.
Enough for now. I must be off too bed,
--Accountant Munim (Meditation, On course to Golden Circle)