Sketches make a place look better!

Over the years I've noticed that while sketching on location the eye and the hand conspire in their own way, omitting certain details and more often than not... dirt.  Garbage which is often strewn allover the foreground of many of my subjects don't get into my sketches. Like this one for instance is a group of fishing boats - trawlers - at Kasimedu harbour. The water is slick with oil.

And this one...

Done two weeks ago. Looks like the sleepy Gaulish village of Asterix and Obelix (well, except for the minaret). In truth, this sketch was done on the banks of the Cooum. The stench was not too bad that morning but the river was a dark stagnant grey. Basically sludge. The huts are hovels, patched together with whatever people have. The foreground and the edge where the water meets the land is not really earth but built up rubbish debris!  Its quite crazy how my hand refuses to draw the refuse!

First Show in Kandy

We had two shows of Jujubee in Kandy, both organised by the Catholic community there. Father Nandana, the Parish Priest of St. Antony's Cathedral in Kandy had mobilised everyone and they had really taken care of all our needs. The famous annual Buddhist festival of  Esala Perahara was to start in Kandy in two days. All hotels were booked out so Father Nandana had arranged for all of us to stay the first night at the Fatima Retreat in Lewella. That evening, which was our only free evening, we visited the famed Tooth Temple with Sam from NTT giving us a well informed tour.

The next morning we were up at dawn to leave for the venue of the first Show - Good Shepherd Convent, Kandy.

The actors checked out the hall and set up while the morning prayers were said over a microphone. John and I didn't have much to do. There were simple switches for a row of lights and we decided to just switch them on and leave them on.

It was the 125th year of the Convent. There were streamers and decorations all over the hall. One of the most memorable/ hilarious/ sheepish moments of the entire trip for us happened just before the show. We had woken up and eaten breakfast very early and just before the show everyone was really hungry. We were told snacks and tea was organised. We found a room behind the stage laid out with delicious snacks. Samosas in one corner, and then pyramids of egg sandwiches, fish and vegetable rolls, chocolate cake, coffee and juice. Needless to say everyone helped themselves greedily. Just then one of the volunteers looked in to check if we were Ok and was obviously stunned that we had started eating. Apparently only the samosas were meant as a pre-show snack and the whole thing was laid out for after the show. We were supposed to have tea and snacks with the School Principal and the Father!! Terrible sheepishness followed.

The morning show went off pretty well. The convent girls were a little older than the ideal age group,  also a little shy and very disciplined but by the end of it, they were clapping and squealing with enthusiasm. 

My special little sketchbook

I have a pocket sketchbook that is so small that it frequently gets lost. I stumbled upon it this morning searching for something else and found that there was an entire series of sketches that I hadn't blogged. It was from a trip to Mumbai last November. As I leafed through the sketches the memories came back clear and detailed and it struck me all over again, how lovely it is to sketch memories in a sketchbook.
I prefer it to taking photos any day. Of course photos bring back memories if and when you go through all 40 GB of them, but with the sketch, even the making of it is a memory in itself.

Our theatre group was travelling by the Mumbai Mail to stage a play "How to Skin a Giraffe" at NCPA and we were a big group scattered across two coaches. As we got in there were some people who recognised Rajiv and they turned out to be teachers from The School, KFI . It's always nice to meet and get to know people on long train journeys.

In fact, we were on the train longer than we stayed in Mumbai. It was incredibly hot and humid for November but the route was quite beautiful. We also spent a lot of time in the stations because the entire set for the play was booked and taken in the brake van. And it was sad to note that the amount of unofficial looting that goes on at the Chennai Railway station when you try to book your parcels in was far far more than at Mumbai.

I couldn't do any sketches at the fabulous Tata Theatre where we performed. Assembling the set, rigging and focussing light in time for the show was too hectic but I did a couple of sketches at the hotel. We stayed at Sea Green Hotel on Marine Drive and in the morning and late evening we walked from the hotel to the auditorium along the sea shore. It was an old hotel with a lot of charm and great big rooms with mosaic flooring. A little run down but two great views from my balcony. Turn to the left and it was Brabourne cricket stadium. And turn to the right.....

This sketchbook is a great one to have. It's really tiny and compact but opens out flat so I can do doublespreads. You can check out some of my previous posts done in this book. Its my go to book when I'm hurried or travelling light or want to sketch unobtrusively and just capture memories. Its called a Brahmabook and I haven't spotted them around in a while. I hope they still make them.

Kerala Trip - Part 5

A short drive from where we stayed was a place called Chingenachera Kshetram. It was otherwise known as the big Banyan tree temple. You had to drive half an hour away from the main highway and into narrower and narrower lanes passing small hamlets and finally you come to a large pond. On the bank of the pond to one side, rising like a mountain is a gigantic banyan tree. As you approach closer you can make out that it has three trunks or groupings of roots. Its hard to tell whether it is three trees or one large tree taking support three times. But all of them have shrines at their base and upon closer examination you find many many hundred small model houses and huts strung up on the roots like a strange ornamental festoon around the three shrines. I couldn't make out the idol inside the shrine. It was swathed in a white dhoti and garlanded many times over, plus it was inside a deep recess in the tree trunk. But the model houses outside were of all shapes, sizes and colours. Some were roughly made but others even had neat terracotta tiles painted on the sloping roofs.
Apparently, locals from all surrounding areas come to this tree when they plan to build their own home and pray to the tree for good luck and a good house with no hitches. They make a symbolic model of the house they plan to build and during the prayer string up the house. While the prayers are happening the women of that family cook a meal for the gathering and after offering some food to the idol everyone eats together.
The three trees are said to be meat eating, fish eating and vegetarian and so a community worships at the shrine of their dietary preference.

On our ramblings around the country-side we made a brief visit to the forest office at Nemmara to discuss possible camping options and permissions. Nemmara is a much larger town than Kollengode, but still the government office was in a large wooded compound.

The compound is so large that visitors can park inside and this guy was next to our car. See what I mean, when I said the autos here are so roomy? So much bigger and broader too than the autos in Madras.
Close to Nemmara is the Pothundy dam. It is a much larger dam than the Chuliyar and is supposed to be a local tourist attraction. So off we went to see it.

This place was frequented by tourists and had a look-out point (read ugly circular pavilion probably designed by the PWD) . There was a large fallen tree trunk that made for more interesting seating and along came an ice-cream cart. It was the middle of the day and he had something called Mango Duble. A mis-spelt double, it was bright orange mango ice on a stick with a vanilla ice-cream centre. Needless to say, the Mango Duble (doo-blay) became another foodie hit on our trip.

Kerala Trip - Part 4

More sketches of food! Yes. Isn't it obvious. Any good holiday is made of good company, good locations and good food. Murali Hotel was in a little town called Kambrathchala. It was five kilometres from us and we managed to walk there and back one evening. Dinner was light fare like dosa with masala... or dosa without masala depending on whether you got there before 7 pm or not. But lunch was an elaborate affair. After a "meals" at Murali Hotel there was nothing else to do but have a good siesta.

The town of Kambrathchala is actually just a small triangle of 3 streets. Most buildings are houses, a few are shops - hardware, provisions,  vegetables, welding and repairs, bakery, mechanic and there are two or three eating places. In such a peaceful and remote setting we amused ourselves as best as we could. It takes a day or two to slow down from our city life conditioning.

But if you have good company, slowing down and staying away from the city is such a lovely thing. The people are more cheerful and helpful. The air is cleaner, water too. So many birds! You take pleasure in the simple things because you have the time to enjoy them. Like the soda discovery.

The day we arrived, Rajiv declared that we absolutely must try the Narangi Soda. It was a glass with freshly squeezed lime juice and some sugar syrup topped with plain soda. Very refreshing in the heat. After stopping on our way home each day for narangi soda I did this sketch on the third or fourth day. There was a little sign and since I didn't know how to read Malayalam I copied it carefully. Somehow it struck me that neither of those two words could possibly be narangi so I asked the shopkeeper what it was....and that was how we discovered Sambaram soda!

The letters there in the sketch actually say "Milma Sambaram" - milma being the name of the brand and sambaram is the local term for buttermilk. From that day on we forgot all about narangi soda because the sambaram with freshly chopped chillies, ginger and topped with chilled soda became an all time greatest hit!

Kerala Trip - Part 3

Thankfully the entire week did not involve camp-fire cooking and instant noodles. Since we weren't too far from a small village we started walking the short distance mainly for meals. The closest place for tea and breakfast was Pushpa Chechi's hut. We were there before the idlis were ready and mostly amused ourselves each day watching a mother hen and her brood clucking about busily. Some of those chicks were really feather-brained! If they had disappeared a family of goats entertained us with two frisky young ones and a bunch of beligerent billies.

Sleeping in the outdoors we were waking up pretty early and we were starving by seven. Idlis got ready around 8 and we were all there, ready and waiting each day to gobble them up. Workers from the fields and quarries near-by would steadily come in ones and twos and it was a busy place. Idlis were served with a delicious idli-podi and a watery coconut chutney.

A short walk from the tea shop - probably a kilometer from the farm in total - was the chuliyar dam. This became our favourite sunset hang-out spot once we discovered it on the second day. You could see only the edge of the waterbody if you sat on the doorstep of Pushpa Chechi's hut but if you walked to the dam and went down to the water it was quite a large serene expanse of fresh-water with a lot of birds. Some villagers would fish in coracles in the evening and some people would come to bathe and wash their clothes. This sketch done now is the low water line. All this and the rock I sat on would be under water in the monsoon.

Kerala Trip - Part 2

We reached Palakkad Junction before 5 am and it was still dark outside. The auto rikshaws in the town are large and roomy which was a good thing as Tarun was already waiting for us. The 3 of us with all our luggage, squeezed into one. We were off for the municipal bus stand to catch the first bus to Kollengode which left at 6.am, and it hadn't arrived yet when we got there. Ever so gradually the sky filled with light. I managed to dash off this sketch as the bus pulled in. I'm sure the place would have been far more bustling and crowded in another hour but by 6.15 we were off.
Palakkad to Kollengode is only 30 km, but it took an hour. Mainly because the bus stops for every man, woman, child, goat and chicken standing on the side of the road. At Kollengode we bundled ourselves back into an auto and set off towards the Chuliyar dam armed with a long and complicated set of sms directions. Our destination was Suman's farm.

The road to Suman's farm was deserted at 7.30 in the morning. Already it was getting hot and in peak dry season the landscape was golden brown. On the left was the farm - our base for the week and on the right some dense undergrowth full of peacocks that were heard a LOT but rarely seen, and beyond that, a stone quarry. If you continued further down this road you eventually leave the hamlet of Mechira behind and reach the hills. We hoped to camp there but permissions needed to be sorted out and eventually we sadly resigned to staying on the farm instead of camping in the wilderness.
The farm was quite a wilderness too. In our enthusiasm to do everything camping style we prepared our lunch outdoors. Parvez built a nifty little brick stove and everyone set about pealing and chopping vegetables.
There were now nine of us and in the mid-day heat preparing a meal for nine out in the open is a very hot and sweaty affair.

The others who had come by car had carted many large vessels and buckets along. They had bought vegetables and provisions already. In the blazing heat we ate instant maggi noodles with veggies thrown in. Back in Madras I never buy maggi. I scoff at it . It's for people who don't know how to cook. I cook real food... etc. But after the long journey, hungry and tired,  sitting out there with friends on a shared adventure, and thanks to a generous daub of lime pickle it was a delicious meal. 

Kerala Trip - Part 1

Saturday evening. We are packed and all set for a much awaited camping trip. John and I will be joining a bunch of close friends in heartland Kerala - away from the big crowded cities and all the creature comforts that we get unnecessarily used to. The idea is to try and rough it out as much as we can - possibly camp away from human habitation, electricity and a host of other things we take for granted. We charged our phones and cameras, disabled data and packed with great care crossing off everything on our lists.

3 sets of clothing in total - hand washing the ones on your back each time you bathe. Basic medical and toilet kit. All kinds of protection from the sun and bug bites. Some handy survival tools and camping gear. We bought a 3 person tent specially for the trip and  when all the packing was done, we were quite proud to find that everything for 2 people fit into one big rucksack and 2 knapsacks. Everything except the groundsheets, that is.

I love my sleep dearly, and no matter how much I'm prepared to rough it out, I need a good night's rest to be functional the next day. While browsing online for the tent, we found that the sites kept suggesting "ground sheets" to us. Firm foam sheets that you lay on the floor below your sleeping bag to cushion you from the rough terrain. These were quite expensive, but their specs were not so high end. And I decided I had to have it. So the evening we were to leave we went hunting in Royapettah, in the narrow lanes full of car upholstery shops.

We found exactly what we needed at a tenth of the price and ended up buying 2 extra sheets for friends that we had to cart with us.

Rolled up, the ground sheets were quite light but very voluminous. Thankfully we had upper-berths on the train and we bridged them between our berths. Hats and shoes went on top of that and with all the luggage stowed away I began sketching on the journey. I had a brand new sketchbook for this week-long adventure and was determined to sketch right from the start and keep it loose and quick. We would be reaching Palakkad Junction at 4.45 am the next morning so after a quick sketch I called it a night. 

Coming up in the next post - The next day and all its sketches!

Lots of CWA action!

2014 has started out with lots of sketching action and oppurtunity for me. Most of it is thanks to the CWA. A wonderful group that I am a part of that makes sure that no matter what happens there's a reason to sketch outdoors each sunday. Soon after I was back from Goa, our group displayed our sketches during the Mylapore fest and next to our stall was a busy street full of banana vendors. Below you see the general crowd and mayhem of Art Street where we camped with our artwork, making live portraits and sketches.

More recently, we took a day trip to Senji which was hot, tiring but totally worth it. The old fort and the ruins have tons of sketchworthy subjects to offer. My first painting is of Rajagiri or King's Fort. I tried to do a watercolour directly without doing outlines in pen. Something I'm very afraid of and in the end I succumbed and added a bit of ink work for definition . But at least its a start. At least I did the brushwork first.

And this one below is an attempt at a panoramic capture of Senji. I climbed up Rajagiri (my first painting) but only a fifth of the way and already the view was so... Epic... as a friend put it, that I gave up on the climb and decided to record instead.

Those monkeys crept into the frame. Look adorable. Most annoying and when they single you out (one female did) it can be quite terrifying.

Approaching the Koothambalam

I chanced upon the Koothambalam while walking through Kalakshetra campus from the other side. Approaching from the office and going past the newly built lotus pond area I followed a group of dance students as they walked purposefully towards their practice cottages. So as not to disturb them while they rehearse, I turned away and was suddenly stopped in my tracks by this scene. The majestic structure loomed out from amidst the trees. I had approached it from the back.
With my usual fascination for performance spaces I began sketching, standing up. The Koothambalam is undergoing extensive renovation and the main entrance area is quite un-approachable at the moment. They are planning to air-condition the space and the inside of the  auditorium was covered in scaffolding.

As I sketched I thought of groups and repertories with their own performance spaces. How important it is. As vital as the work itself. I thought of the koothambalam as an inspiration for the young students who would work towards performing there and then, as I stood, in the shadow of the old trees, sketching from "behind the scenes" , I thought of a weekend, a few years ago when we had staged two plays inside the same space. I remembered carrying the set through those large doors and the frenetic activity ahead of the shows. Its funny how the sketch turned into such a nostalgic experience.

Panjim

Somewhere between Christmas and the new year I took an early morning walk through the streets of Panjim - the old part of the city - just east of the creek. The previous day we had visited our friend Bhavana who now works at CCF and is currently putting final touches on a map of Panjim. Not any old map, but a beautifully documented detailed map that should soon be available to tourists. With heritage walking routes and lots of info. Bhavana walked us through some of the narrow winding streets herself and I noticed this Chapel on Rue De Natal near her office.
So the next morning I was there early sketching. I had my back to a smallish square which had a large well and a house looking out onto the square. At about 9 in the morning the front window of the house was thrown open and a middle-aged man stood at the window with a violin in his hand. He started playing the violin and never stopped. Not songs, not particularly melodious either... just a bunch of frenzied riffs. At length I finished my sketch, packed up and left. He was still playing away.

We walked a little more exploring the old parts of the city and found a street that was a series of steps. As we climbed higher and higher we could look back and see all the roof-tops of Panjim spread below us.

I tried doing a quick sketch but the street-dog territorial warfare and the sun started to get to me.

Retracing our steps we soon found ourselves back in the little square with the well. The violin music continued. It was almost noon. Old ladies passed by with baskets on their heads laden with fresh vegetables - greens, brinjals, radishes. They knocked on front doors that opened directly onto the narrow streets.

I couldn't help but sigh at the romanticism of old-city-Panjim life. Imagine daily door delivery of vegetables in a quiet heritage neighbourhood, with violin music in the background! Sigh. 

Goa.... finally!

Yes. I finally made it to Goa. Yes. This was my first visit to Goa. Really!
And it was amazing. It was everything I had built it up in my head to be. 8 lovely lazy days in the sun and sand and sea but also in the shade, and on a scooter scooting around, taking in the sights.
Lots of lovely people to meet, a mini-reunion of college friends. A very happy new year!
I managed to sketch quite a bit. Bliss! I inaugurated my first japanese fold Moleskine at Majorda beach. Majorda has a backwater formation and you can swim in the sea or wade in the back-water. The seafood and pancakes from "Blue-Waves", the beach shack we adopted were quite delicious.

And our entire stay was made all the more special thanks to our wonderful hosts - Garima and Roy who live in an old house in Moira. Obviously, having never done the tourist-hotel side of Goa, I'm not qualified to compare but something tells me I'm really lucky to have stayed here. Its a large house with a wide verandah. The two chair like seats that flank the entrance are typical of a lot of old houses in the area. The verandah is locally called a "Balcao" and has longer bench seats at the end too. We pretty much lived out here - breakfast, lazy afternoons and sundowners. The rest of the trip will come in blog installments as there is a LOT happening in my sketching life now :-)

And if anyone knows a better way of showcasing sketches done in the accordian fold format [any tool available on the web where I can scan it so you can flip through it online] please do let me know.

Happy new year everybody!

Sketching at a Kutcheri

The December music season is firmly under way and some of us have been approached to cover the concerts live through our sketches on location. I chose to start off by attending a Ranjani Gayatri concert last saturday at the Bharatiya Vidya bhavan. The place was packed to the gills and overflowing and here's the view from my seat. The sisters were kitted out in perfectly matched two-colour alternating sarees as is their usual style.

I also realised that the concert before it was a Veena recital by Geetha Krishnamoorthy. That was a bonus as two back to back vocal concerts would have been a little repetitive to sketch. The Veena is such a beautiful instrument.

I got in before the Veena recital and got a central spot and started off. It was really enjoyable as sketching and listening to Carnatic music are both pastimes that I enjoy so much! Inquisitive mamis to my right and left kept leaning over exclaiming over my sketches. It was fun! And as the evening wore on my hand freed up and I dashed off a study of H. Sivaramakrishnan, the Ghatam accompanist as well.

The sketch right at the top was actually my last and was thrilled to find it featured in the kutcheribuzz season blog . I hope I can squeeze in a few more such evenings.

The Golden Temple in Coorg

As you drive from Mysore to Madikeri, you pass by a small town called Kushalnagar next to which there is a large Tibetan settlement - Bylakuppe. Tibetans resettled here in 1961 on land given to them by the central government. An archway appearing on the left of the state highway and a small signboard are all you will see and its easiliy missed. But don't miss it if you are planning a trip to Coorg.

Go through the archway and there is an immediate and distinct transformation - the grass is literally greener on the other side. Gently rolling hills and vales, rolling paddy fields dotted with other cash crops, colourful prayer flags festooned over the entire vista and you really feel like like you've been transported through a magical portal into Tibet.

Bylakuppe houses the second largest Tibetan population in India after Dharamsala and if you like their cuisine and their crafts, this is a great place to go. The most popular destination for tourists is the Namdroling Monastery which has their Golden Temple.

The monastery is situated on a large campus and has many temples and shrines. The interiors are covered with huge wall paintings and large golden figures of buddhist saints. In one corner this small cottage-like structure caught my eye and I asked a shy young monk about it. I was told it houses some sacred relics and is kept locked but is one of the holiest spots in the campus.