KOCHI: For Subash Vyam, the Gond tribal artist who worked on the much-celebrated book ‘Bhimayana’ - a graphical narrative which unfolds the life of B R Ambedkar – the experience was interlinked with his life too, as he, too, experienced caste discrimination in his village for being a Dalit.
Narrating his experience at the ‘Let’s Talk’ programme titled ‘Bhimayana: A stupa for Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’, organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation here on Wednesday, Vyam said, “I had harsh experiences in my village. For instance, we all draw water from the same well. Still they say the water is different for different castes.”
“I had my apprehensions about the work. I could not understand the concept initially because it was explained to me in Hindi, which I found difficult to comprehend. We had several false starts and there were financial difficulties too,” said Vyam. But, as the project progressed, I could easily relate with ‘Bhimji’s life, he said.