When I landed at the Delhi airport last January, I was instantly ready to love with India!

My feeling was based simply upon this stunning first impression of contemporary art which represents timeless Indian culture in a simple, modern fashion.

First impressions ARE everything!

Nameste!  See more after the jump.

I knew I had come to the right place! I was jet-lagged into next week, but I noticed this artwork!  When a work of art can speak to me through the fog of severe jet-lag, I know I’ve hit the motherlode.  India did not disappoint!

Arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport’s brand-new Terminal 3, filled me with a sense of awe. The incredible visual experience of this series of giant gesticulating hands, jutting from a wall of what look like copper discs, made me stop in my tracks in wonder.  I like anything that has that power.  It’s why I travel.  It’s why I read.  It’s why I study art and culture.  It’s why I live.

Jaipur-based artist, Ayush Kasliwal, was commissioned to produce these giant, expressive hands.   The builders of the new concourse of the truly modern airport were keen to give the terminal an Indian context, to infuse it with Indian values. The idea of the hands emerged as the winning concept, for all forms of Indian classical dance use hand gestures called mudras. Thus, mudras are a both a distinctly Indian and common vocabulary.  The writer of this blog heartily adds her compliments to the designers.  It really works!

If you’d like to know more about this stunning installation, please go to

Click to access DIALmudras.pdf

and

http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/friendly-gestures/638563/0