Of People and Places

Sometimes, I have to scout long and hard to find a composition that would be good to sketch. Most of the times, I have to edit the scene - add a bush here, remove a tree there, add a person there, remove a light pole here. But on rare occasions like these, there are some beautiful elements all ready for you, waiting to enter your sketchbook, inviting you to park yourself in a shady nook and put pen to paper. For company, there is a drongo close by who seems to be unafraid of humans, he swoops down to see how I am making my progress and returns to this fork in the tree that he seems to love. There is a kingfisher who flies away as soon as I draw close. There are several sunbirds feasting on the flowers. There are boys playing cricket, intent on their game. But what company does a person need when there is a palash tree close by ?  

A sketch of Mark Cubbon's statue in Cubbon Park, Bangalore On 1 November, we went to Cubbon Park to find it devoid of people! Unimaginable, right? But slowly they started to come, and I felt happier than I have in months.  It was a little weird to be sitting in our favorite place - the stone bench near the government museum canteen, which is generally so full of families out on a picnic, but now I have come to see that it was actually a fantastic chance to be alone there. Not a soul - just the trees, us, the squirrels, birds and the sculptures from some obscure period in history, surrounding us.  I love sketching random people in parks, bus stations and cafes - it is super relaxing and a passive way to get better at making art. So, in the absence of people, what could I sketch? Statues and sculptures.  A sketch of one of the sculptures outside Government museum, Bangalore Actually, they are fantastic subjects. Firstly, they don't have the annoying habit of moving ;D . Sec...

  Sunrise at Kaliyasot Dam, Bhopal. I tried to capture what it looked like from the top. A stream ran down a little to the right - with hazy houses in the distance. The sun was dipping into the small stream escaping from the dam, hidden among the trees. There is a loooong stairwell that leads to the top and if you step away far enough - there is this illusion that the stairs are continuing on the other side of the road, whereas in fact, that is the stream with the sun shining down it. I want to try out that visual too -  But that's reserved for another blogpost :)  What made going to Kaliyasot so much more enjoyable was catching up with friends in Bhopal after a long time! So nice to have a soul tribe, isn't it? 

Pencil Sketch - King Edward VII This statue of Edward VII in Cubbon Park lies forgotten among many other beautiful works of art in Bangalore. I see a homeless man sleeping under its pedestal, in what little shade it offers from the sun. The marble statue bears the summer heat with composure. I love this statue because of the intricate work on the robes - It's hard to believe they're made of marble, because they capture fluid movement in the folds and creases. This work was commissioned to Leonard Jennings, a British Sculptor, who has executed commissioned works in Kolkata, Patna, Delhi and Mumbai. Every Sunday, Edward VII looks on as a bunch of committed artists get here to do some serious studies in figure drawing and anatomy. Some are on time, some are laid back ( It's a Sunday, after all)  some don't turn up but no matter the size of the group, every Sunday, these artists make it a point to show up, do some figure studies and some of them even go home and de...

On a trip to Mysore, we met this little fella in Dubare - A frisky baby elephant happy to be let loose for a little while. His mahout was a little kid of  about 8 or 9 years and I thought to myself, Well! Isn't this a great pair. They both ran into the Kabini river for bath time accompanied by a horde of tourists  wanting to  'bathe' the baby elephant while he just laid there in the cold water , happy as a lark , making gurgling noises and flapping his ears. I was one of the tourists and I was also happy to give the little one a scrub. I like elephants. As do most people. But I suppose humans liking them is not a very good thing for elephants themselves. There is a lot of cruelty involved in making them ' human - friendly'. Have you visited the Mysore Dasara and seen the elephant parade? Or seen an elephant in South Indian temples? And admired them because they look so mammoth, majestic and grand? And felt affection and warmth for them, accompanied by a lit...

Near the tower of victory inside Ashrafi Mahal, you can find ruins with beautiful stone carvings. Ashrafi mahal was originally built as a Madrassa and dates back to the time the Khilji Dynasty took over administration in the fortress city of Mandu. The Ashrafi   Mahal must have had wide spacious balconies, but   now there are no traces of that. The outer walls have crumbled and the structure is sky clad. You can witness a beautiful sunset if you come here just before closing time. The flight of stairs takes you through the complex and it has been built so that one can have a direct view of the Jama Masjid across the road. This monument, along with the Jama Masjid and Roopmati’s pavilion are close to the heart of the town with its market and small restaurants and sweetmeat shops. I can only imagine the splendour of this square in the old days, especially on a full moon day. Mandu has a mysteriousness I am yet to find in any other place.

 This is a little child who comes to play in the park near my house. This is the sight that greets me whenever I see her. One pigtail escaping from the tightly made braid folded into a prim little plait with red ribbons. Pinafore slightly askew. Socks drooping, shoes dusty and her red checkered shirt doing nothing to hold the freedom of her movements as she gleefully shouts and plays on the swing.  Her loose hair with its red ribbon flying in the wind looks like a little act of rebellion, wresting from the day all the free time that she has lost, running from her home to school and back. It is such a luxury for kids to have this kind of time. The Time to do nothing. As Bill Watterson ( creator Of Calvin and Hobbes) puts it, "The biggest gift my parents gave me was a lot of time. There was never a sense that I should be doing something else. That kind of time is just indispensable. It's not a luxury, it's an absolute requirement. You've got to mess around - it...

I had heard so much about baobab trees and I finally had a chance to meet one at Mandu. Mandu or Mandav is an ancient fortress town in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. It is a place after my own heart with ruins scattered all over the place making it a town of breathtaking beauty. Much more about Mandu later (I haven’t even begun!) Let’s go back to our baobab tree. Fields with yellow and green dot the path to the village and in the midst stand these curious trees.   They have massive trunks that store water. To me, they look like a cross between a bottle and an elephant – and I find their shape comforting.   These trees are native to Africa. I am curious to know how they got here! Apparently, they are among the most ancient trees on earth.  Locals sell the baobab tree seeds, they are called   Mandu ki imli. They taste like tamarind but have this incredible zing and saltiness. I liked it but not a good idea to eat too much of it (My cavities are tingling at...

Lettering by Malavika Shenoy The Buddha is my favourite trope in art and philosophy. If nothing else, the image of Gautama Buddha in repose with heavy-lidded eyes gives me a vast measure of peace. I have seen many statues of Buddha -all of them remarkably beautiful, but none have made as much of an impression on me as the Buddha at Sanchi. It was my first visit to Madhya Pradesh and also my first experience of the famous M.P sun and its heat waves in summer.   We reached Sanchi at midday -the exact time everything is scorching hot and airless. But I didn’t mind very much because it felt like I had stumbled on treasure. The Stupas at Sanchi are on higher ground from the village and look absolutely stunning in the afternoon sun. I think harsh sunlight brings out the beauty of stone and rock-cut architecture where strong shadows and contrasts create magic wherever light doesn’t reach. A lot of it is not as well-preserved as one would like - Colonial excavations and loca...