One of the largest exhibits at the WSF 2004 in Mumbai is the "Window to Gujrat" multimedia installation. Created by an artists collective from across the country, it showcases two major events in recent Gujarati history.

The first was a devastating earthquake in 2001, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving many more homeless. The second was the state-sponsored genocide targetting Moslems exactly a year later.

The birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and one of the most vibrant and culturally pluralistic regions in the subcontinent, Gujrat has had a long history of assimilation and inclusion. Following the 2001 earthquake, for instance, organisations and individuals across civil society - and irrespective of ideological persuasion - converged to provide aid and assist with reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.

But Gujrat has also had its share of intolerance and segregation along communal, class and caste lines. Only recently, with the rise of the right-wing forces around the country, has this intolerance manifested itself in the most violent of ways.

Essentially, two things distinguish this violence from previous instances of communal violence elsewhere in the country. One is that it took place so close at the heels of the greatest display of compassion and collaboration in the state. And the other is that it was systemic in how it was born, and systematic in how it was nurtured.

The "Window To Gujrat" exhibit deals with this dichotomy and these distinctions in a stark and lucid manner, choosing to call a spade a spade, and not "a long-handled digging implement adapted for being pushed into the ground with the foot."

A series of large photographic canvases lead the viewer from the history of Gujrat, past Mahatma Gandhi's role in the anti-colonial struggle, through the 2001 earthquake and the subsequent disaster-relief efforts, and culminates in the genocide of 2002.

For those of you who could not be here at the WSF 2004 in Mumbai to witness another world becoming possible, some quick shots from the work should appear at the top of this post.