Father's Day

This morning I sat  on the pavement outside the North gate of the Madras High Court and decided to sketch Anderson Church. I've passed by it so many times and never sat down to do a sketch until now. I love the proportion of it's spire.

The really interesting thing is this Church sits bang on Broadway and is crowded in on all sides by hectic business activity jostling for space. Although it was a Sunday morning I wanted to try and bring that in somehow.

Some of the other sketchers in our group were attending a heritage walk inside that I had been to and sketched over a year ago. My father decided to sketch the same church too and we found ourselves side by side on the pavement. Me on the ground and him on a stool.

It was really amazing that for over an hour an endless stream of people, mostly the security guards of the high court, would come up and talk to me and look at the work, ask questions. But no one disturbed my father at all!!

As I finished up my sketch I realised its father's day! I don't as a rule follow valentines and father's and mother's day. Can't wrap my head around assigning days to random things, but found the coincidence surprising. So I wrapped up with a quick sketch of my dad to remember the day better.

His sketch turned out really well too!

A historical link across two weekends

Over two weekends I visited first St Thomas Mount and then the Santhome Basilica. It was mainly because someone in our sketch-group was kind enough to organise sketching permissions at both these places one after the other. But having gone to each place I started reading up about the connections - and was amazed at the variations in the stories that are available.

First off, the basics. St. Thomas Mount is a small hillock near the Chennai Airport. Legend has it that St Thomas, one of the original apostles of Christ came to Kerala in 52 AD and slowly made his way across to Madras where he was killed in 72 AD on the top of that hillock. His body is said to be interred in a tomb in Mylapore over which is built the Santhome Basilica. This is the most popular legend.

There is a Shrine - Our Lady of Expectation - which is a pilgrimage site on the top of the hillock and a winding stairway up to it. Very picturesque and very hot in the mid-day sun. The stairway has resting points and 14 "stations of the cross" along its side which are statues showing Jesus dragging the cross flocked by a small crowd.

As I was there sketching on a sunday, I experienced the full force of the Sunday Mass. As soon as a sermon in English concluded and the people poured out another wave of them would go in and another sermon would begin in Tamil. Once that was over there was one in Hindi and there was one in a European language as well (Portugese? Latin?)

People who came out would walk back down the stairway in groups singing hymns or some would hang around at the top as there was an excellent view of the airport from here. The children especially were endlessly thrilled to watch flights take off and land.

While the legend of St Thomas is questionable, the location is famous for another event which is completely factual and extremely impressive. Colonel William Lambton began the great trigonometrical survey if India from the top of this hillock in 1802. There is a commemorative bust of the great man at the very spot. I felt humbled thinking about the enormity of the task - few dedicated men  holding chain links and spot levels going all across our huge country and coming up with a highly accurate map.

In comparison,  my visit to Santhome was on a saturday and the Basilica was very quiet and peaceful. No matter what the veracity of St. Thomas's presence in India, the building is beautiful and a pleasure to sketch. Oh, and one last thing - did you know that St Thomas is the patron Saint for Architects?!

The Church of Our Lady of Light

Lets skip a bit back to Madras. After so recently sketching the Sao Sebastian Chapel in Panjim, I suddenly thought to myself that the Luz Church is literally one minute away from my office and I have never visited. So there I headed yesterday morning. It's the oldest surviving church structure in Madras and has 1516 proudly embossed over its main doorway.
Sunday mass was under way so I chose to sketch from outside. Once the mass was over I was soon surrounded by a gang of young girls. They were very eager and enthusiastic to watch me sketch and chattered away non-stop to each other. They spoke in Tamil, which of course, is my mother tongue and I could understand everything they said, including the fact that they assumed I didn't know Tamil.
Here's a few interesting snippets of conversation that I enjoyed: (everything was being said in Tamil)

"Hey, look! She's drawing with her left hand!"
"Yes, see. That is why that tree which is on the left of the church is coming on the right side of her drawing."
" Hey, do you think she will show us the rest of the sketches in her book? I really want to see the rest of the sketches. You ask her. My english is not good."
" No! You ask Her. Pleeeaaase"
Giggling... pause...
"Ok. We'll ask her together. We will all say - (in english and in hushed practice whispers) Excuse me, can you show us your sketchbook"
"Ok fine. At the count of 3 - all together! One, two three!"
Dramatic silent pause.
A giggling collapse.
"Fraud! Cheee! Hey look! Look at her grey hair. She is old! We had better say excuse me aunty!"

Call me mean... but I didn't let on that I knew Tamil just so that they would go on being candid and I could keep listening in!