Jewel of the Tropics

India Art Journal Aug 23 by Meera Rao 2.5x4"

I drink the water from tender coconut, the natural energy drink,  almost every day.  I stop by a streetside vendor who now starts hacking at the tender coconut as soon as he sees me walking down the street. I like to drink it right out of the coconut and don't like to use a straw :) While I am relishing my drink the vendor fills a bottle for my Mother-in-Law. 

The water is absolutely refreshing - especially after I have been out marketing and running errands under the tropical sun! The coconuts on the sidewalk are a sight to see -- piled precariously high, with touches of yellow, green, red and oranges. The vendor skillfully removes one just right for the customer as per request - with lots of water or with some water as well as some white jelly like tender coconut flesh.  The list of health benefits of tender coconut is long and ancient but I don't need any convincing! In Sanskrit, coconut tree is named "kalpa Vriksha" -  the tree that gives all that is necessary for life ! Check here if you need proof :)

He who plants a coconut tree plants food and drink, vessels and clothing, a home for himself and a heritage for his children."

- South Seas saying

I have been told by those who have seen my journal that I am not doing justice by just posting the page with four sketches all together! So at the urging of my well wishers, I have decided to post individual sketches as well as a photo of the page after I post them singlely.   I am going back in time too. So here is my very first sketch from the journal all on its own :) You may check here to read more about it.  Please do let me know if you think this works!



India art Journal July 30 Sketch 1 by Meera Rao

Playing, Working, Dreaming, Praying!

India Art Journal Aug 19,20,21,22 by Meera Rao

"My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between I occupy myself as best as I can."

~Cary Grant.

Playing, working, dreaming and praying seems to occupy most of the people as they go about their daily lives here - not in any particular order though.  There is a school near by and  I see children in their crisp white and Khaki uniforms happily playing, talking and gigling as they walk or bike. On most evenings though the alley behind our building becomes the cricket field with a stone or two standing in for wickets. The boys only need a ball and a bat to play and I love watching them from my balcony.

A big gypsy family has taken over the sidewalk in a street close by. They have set up three or four tents where they live, sleep and make plaster casts of various masks and statues.  Every day I see them working, cooking, playing or sleeping as I walk by on my daily errands.  They display and sell their wares right on the sidewalk too so we have to walk down on the road in that section of the street! But the bright blue tents, the ladies in their colorful sarees and the statues in bright paints with gold accents have definetely changed the look of the street!

Around the corner from our building is a big compound with a grand old palatial house in ruins (word is that it belongs to the royal family that once ruled the state) that seems to be undergoing some renovations recently.  There is a colorful 'lorry' in a corner that definetely can't rule the roads anymore.  But that doesn't seem to matter to a young boy whom I often see sitting in the driver's seat and turning the steering wheel vigorously dreaming surely of roaring down a highway :)

Roadside shrines are everywhere.  Soon after nagapanchami festival of the serpents, the neighbourhood beautiful black stones shrine for the serpent god under a huge tree was drenched in red kumkum and yellow turmeric. Every day devotees leave flowers and lit lamps, incence.  Walking past it somehow always reminds me of the ancient wisdom of respecting  all life and infuses me  a with sense of spirituality





Stacks and Rows!

India Art journal aug 15, 16,17,18 by Meera Rao

 

" Arrange whatever pieces comes your way" - Virginia Wolf

I noticed while waiting for today's photograph of my sketches to load that all the four sketches had things in them that were quite neatly arranged :) Aug 15 is India's Independence Day and of course this particular shop selling Indian flags in all sizes was doing brisk business :) Since then I have noticed the displays keeps changing in the shop but the orange, white and green of the Indian flags was the best display yet!

 

Government of India has helped the community of people who have traditionally been the shoe-makers(working with animal skins) set up little shops on sidewalks in various neighbourhoods and make a living selling simple shoes and mostly doing repair work. I stopped by this shop to get the strap of my handbag fixed. Later, I returned and gave her  copies of the photographs of her and her shop. It was heart warming to see her joy when she laid her eyes on them. I was touched when she told me that she had never had her picture taken until then.

 

Remeber the gas stove and cylinder in the kitchen? Well, just about every month or month and a half, the cylinder does get empty and has to be replaced.  The demand for it is high and the system somewhat inefficient that when the time came, I was left without the use of the gas stove to cook with for about two days!!! The very next day  I had guests visiting (fortunately I knew ahead of time) and  had to happily resort to the services of a caterer :)  The leftovers came in handy the day after! These little 'tempo' s can be seen around town with the neatly stacked full and empty gas cylinders making the deliveries.

 

By about mid august, the mango season was at the tail end and I bought the last of the mangoes from a vendor. They sat in my balcony between layers of newspaper slowly ripening. We had varieties of mangoes in various stages of readiness throughout the past few months on that table in the balcony. It was a sad  day indeed when we consumed the last of them. Now to savor the memory till the next season.  

"The Whole life lies in the verb - seeing"

 

India Art Journal Aug 11,12, 13, 14 by Meera Rao.

 

The title of this post is a quote by De Chardin Teilhard.  And during my stay in India the past two months I am seeing the country with new sketching eyes, finding beauty and charm everywhere and in most all things. Some things are just beautiful anyway, like the flower garland door decorations (real or real looking plastic!) that I see on the doorways of most homes- different colors, different designs but they are all meant to welcome the family and visitors alike.

 

 I am growing fond of those fierce looking face masks on buildings and liking the sentiment of keeping evil away --somehow it makes sense as I read about nothing but conflicts all over the world.

 

The resourcefullness that I notice seems to extend to dogs as well - like the one I caught napping by the side of a turned over street-seller's cart.  I don't know if he was guarding the cart for the owner!

 

No bland oatmeal for breakfast either here - its curry and pepper or masala and coriander - that is if you are unlucky to be not feasting on the traditional  Idli or dosa or upma ;)  In a pinch though they do satisfy  the need for something fast and spicy!









Vibrant and Compelling

 

India Art Journal Aug 7,8,9,10 By Meera Rao

I find that brilliant vibrant hues and patterns  come my way in unexpected places and times. I know I am in India and shouldn't be surprised !  I notice a lot of reddish orange these days - from bunches of 'flame of the forest' on trees and now only a few on the ground since they have just started blooming, to the orange on the guy riding with the cargo on the produce 'lorry' as well as the tribal woman weaving at the folk art festival of India that I was able to  attend. 

 

At the festival I was introduced to 'Gond'  paintings of a tribe from central India. The Gond people believe that looking at beautiful images brings good luck and decorate their huts and houses, all walls and floors with beautiful stylized paintings/ motiffs and designs. Now they paint on canvases or paper with acrylic or tempera paints for the collectors and museums. I was also intoduced to many other tribes and their art -Weaving from Manipura tribes (sketch for Aug 9, when I was at the Folk art Festival) Toda embroidery from Tamil nadu,  warli paintings from Maharastra , Saora paintings from Orissa and Andra Pradesh, paddy work form Orissa, Madna paintings from Rajasthan to name a few.

 

I was so inspired by the Gond paintings that I decided to paint the cow I came upon that was being groomed by two crows, in that style. It was difficult to do intricate designs in the small size I was sketching but I loved creating that way. I hope to paint a few more bigger versions with all the details soon :) I am thinking about a children's book in that style :)

 

 

Cow being groomed by two crows in gond style painting by Meera Rao



Bases for a Sketch

India Art Journal Aug 3,4,5,6 by Meera Rao

"Events at home, at work, in the street - these are the bases for a story"  - said  Naguib Mahfouz about his writing. That is not too far from what I do as I look for ideas now to sketch the daily vignette :) 

 

The satellite dishes on the roof of a neighbourhood building tells the story of India leaping into the advanced age of technology even while struggling at street level with the day to day to life which sometimes looks like  has not changed in ages. I find  quite a few cows still share living space with their human family; there is still very personal service in the market by the small Mom and Pop shops as seen with the guy selling fish, and unfortunately quite a few youth are working for a living rather than studying/attending school despite the govenment passing laws for universal literacy for its citizens. The boy ironing clothes was using a old fashioned coal iron and a small cart for his ironing space and moves from neighbourhood to neighbourhood on a rotating basis on different days of the week to bring laundry services to the door.  

 

I wrestle with what to sketch, what do I want to show the world  of the my birth country. But it is always easy to see the beauty in most everything whether its the mess of satellite dishes on top of a building or simple living of the majority of its citizens. And I just sketch.

A Slice of Life

 

India Art Journal July 30,31, Aug 1, 2 by Meera Rao
 

"Then India, everyone has his own idea of India" - J Milton Hayes.

 

Tata Nano car is considered the cheapest car in the world and I see quite a few of them on the road. I have not ridden or checked out one but they definetely have the 'cute factor'!

 

Most of the pots in India don't have handles and these chimtas or tongs are a must in the kitchen to handle the hot pots and covers.

 

The parrots cause a ruckus at dawn and dusk with their chirping and swooping about. They love to perch on the coconut palm fonds. I have not figured out what is it about the coconut tree that these birds love.  I do like waking up to hearing them noisily flying around from tree to tree.

 

Rakhee celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie the 'rakhee' on to brothers's wrists and each assure the other to protect and love forever.  Its an ancient custom performed once a year. Until recently the custom  was prevalent mainly in Northern India but now it is celebrated throughout the country. Born and brought up in the south, growing up, I was not familiar with the custom other than having watched it in a Hindi movie or two. Days and weeks before the special day shops were filled with variety of bracelets for purchase. I was amazed at the beauty and abundance of the bracelets for sale everywhere!  This year Rakhee day was celebrated on Aug 2.





Honest work and Steadfast Faith

India Art Journal July 26, 27, 28, 29 by Meera Rao

Street vendors are an essential and unofficial part of the economy in India. Most of them just stake out a space on the sidewalk or street corners and set up shop. Just a few streets from our house there is a full scale market on the streets occupying several blocks and parellel streets where the street vendors sell (and make as in the case of the bamboo shop) ladders, baskets, garlands, fruits, vegetables, meat(ready to cook or butcher live a  one just for you right there!), furniture, food, wood, cosmetics, statues, pots, clothes, keys - and whatever else you may need :) They hang their wares on the street light poles, and some even live right there with a make shift tent and take over the sidewalk. Some sell their stuff from carts, others display them on cloth or plastic sheets, benches, baskets etc.

By googling I discovered that there is even a National Association of Street Vendors of India! Women vendors are a huge part of this and I read that recently in this city, Mysuru,  there`was a Women Street Vendors training program to help them organize for collective bargaining and negotiation with the government at various levels, to strengthen women's social security and livelihood rights.  

There is always some festival or other and the ladies all dress themselves in beautiful colorful sarees and jewelry. They perform 'puja' in their homes or in temples. On July 27 there was a festival for the Goddess that was celebrated especially in a grand scale by all.

As seen by the notices around town nailed to the tree trunks by the street side, there are more women coming to the city for work, and homes and hostels that cater to them.



Sketching The Spirit of A Place

India Art Journal July 22,23,24,25 by Meera Rao



Nagasampige belongs to the magnolia family. It is an unusal and rare flower and I was thrilled to find a tree on one of my walks around the neighbourhood. The flowers were all high up on a huge tree and I barely managed a close up of one. The seed pod looks like a huge cantaloupe! I was able to collect one inner part of the flower - the part that looks like a hood of a snake(naga) and hence the name. It is a very fragrant and beautiful flower. The biodiversity in India is mind boggling!

On July 22nd Indian parliament selected a new President, Pranab Mukherjee and I had to document the event. The reference photo was in the front page of a leading newspaper The Hindu. Its democracy at work in the  world's most populous country :)

It is quite a common site to see people double and triple riding on bicycles and motorcycles in India :) And the kid in the back was really very skinny!

 I was surprised to find the public phone box in an alley with a bench and pole tied to it securely and a make shift cover to protect it from rain(barely)!! These days just about everyone owns a cell phone but since noticing this particular one, surprisingly, I have spotted a couple more phone boxes in the neighbourhood. 

Its totally by accident that there is so much orange in this page :) I don't plan the pages and decide at the last minute what to sketch each day and it is whatever catches my fancy at that point :)

The Subtle Joys

 

India Art Jornal July 18,18,20,21 by Meera Rao

 Our flat is in the middle of the old  part of the city and the area has a mix of old dilapitated but once grand buildings and very narrow roads as well as  modern apartment and office buidings and "double roads."  I never go out without my tiny little camera and try to capture the neighbourhood as obscurely as possible.  But people notice anyway and sometimes oblige by posing even though I much prefer candid shots!

There are beautifully painted horse drawn carriages for hire in a corner of the neighbourhood. I am yet to hire a carriage for my daily errands but I have fond and vague  memories of my childhood days when my grandmother would hire one isntead of taking the bus on the return trip from market in my own hometown. These days the three wheel 'auto riksha' is the prefered mode of transportation for most people when they have packages to carry.  

My kitchen balcony always had the towels hanging on the grill to airdry. It also has hooks for the brooms and mops :) It gets the Sun all day long and I love the play of lights on the towels, dust pan, brooms etc... Now we have a few lines and the towels hang neat and tidy! 

From the balcony is also where I see the lady sweeping every morning. She not only sweeps her doorway but also the road in front :) Then she pours water on the ground and draws a rangoli in front of her door.