Badami-Pattadakal-Aihole: A heritage tour

(Hereafter shortened to BPA in the interest of typing effort)

Fields full of smiling sunflowers standing tall. An interesting set of co-travelers. A couple from Bijapur who took offence because I wasn't suitably impressed by Bijapur ("You should have taken a guide beta"). Another who was indignant that the Cholas are never given their rightful place in history books ("Cholas are relegated to a 5 mark question in history exams!"). A fairly explicit sculpture of the Goddess of Fertility. Awfully hot weather in the middle of January. An artist sketching away in a corner of a monument using the stone sculptures for models, making me wish I was half as skilled. Lots of time spent catching up with my mom. Even though BPA isn't as charming as Hampi, nor the sculptures as intricate as Belur-Halebidu, these are some of the memories I will carry from my BPA trip.

Having decided that it had been a long time since I traveled for leisure, me and my mom sat down to pick a destination for a three day weekend. BPA had been on my list for quite sometime and satisfied my criteria of  being connected by train (I suffer from a not-so-mild case of car sickness), while the name was tongue-twisting enough to pique my mom's curiosity. Train and hotel bookings done, we reached there early on a Friday morning to find out that 3 whole days was probably overkill for BPA. So at the last moment, we decided to add Bijapur to our itinerary.  

On Day 1 we covered Aihole and Pattadakal during the morning and the Badami caves in the afternoon. Aihole was a little disappointing, more so as our driver wouldnt stop at any of the smaller monuments we wanted to see ("Ye saara ek hi type ka monument hai madam, aapne ek dekh liya na.") Pattadakal was one sprawling campus full of beautifully sculpted monuments - a visual treat indeed. The Badami caves were a tiring climb, but were totally worth it.  On Day 2 we went on our impromptu trip to Bijapur, where the only noteworthy monument was the Gol Gumbaz (which had an equally tiring climb up, but wasnt nearly as interesting as the Badami caves). On Day 3 we covered the other monuments in Badami during the first half, while the second half was spent recovering from all the exhaustion.

Here are some shots from the trip:

Durga temple, Aihole

The sprawling Pattadakal campus

A recurring motif across BPA

Cave sculpture of Vishnu that is synonymous with Badami

Resting point in between some heavy-duty climbing at the Gol Gumbaz

Dancing Shiva at the entrance of Badami caves

Bhootnath temple complex at Badami

Reclining Vishnu - one of the numerous sculptures all around Badami

Resolutions

Its the first of Jan, so there had to be the mandatory post on resolutions ;) I have never really been into "new years resolutions" - I dont see any particular reason why my resolutions have to be made on a Dec 31st/ Jan 1st and forgotten by Jan 15th. I could choose to make resolutions on a May 20th and forget them by the June 5th! Jokes apart, I did make some course-correction resolutions over a year ago. I thought I might as well take stock of those resolutions, given that I am not making any new ones right now. Also given that this blog is the direct outcome of those resolutions.

About a year ago, I realized my life was completely centered around work with "no time to stand and stare", or really do anything else. During my college days, I used to be this "enthu-cutlet" girl who was always ready to sign up for every extra-curric activity, in college and outside. Not that I didnt want to be that girl anymore, I still wanted to do loads of things - I just got a little lost in my work-study-work cycle. So I decided I was going to take out time for all the things I ever wanted to do - mostly involving books, art, travel and writing. I think I have stuck to it quite fine for now. For instance, in the last one year I have:

• read more books than I did in the previous 4 years put together. 
• checked off one item which had been on my to-do list for a long time - learnt how to and made a Tanjore painting.
• signed up for oil painting classes and already made one "frame worthy" painting. 
• managed to squeeze in time for a few mini artsy-craftsy projects - a glass painting project here and a pencil sketch there.
• started exercising more frequently and believe am in better shape today than I was a year ago. 
• put a few (very few, not enough!) non-work trips. Of all the things on my list, I guess this has been the least attended to. Hopefully, will be remedying that soon.
• started blogging here. I figured its a good way for me to keep track of all the yummy stuff I have started doing. Also, it might just inspire me to start that short story series I have been planning in my head for so long.

On the whole, I think I have done well with my resolutions and do deserve a pat on the back! As a bonus, I have won back my hard earned reputation as the "enthu-cutlet" girl who is always ready to sign up for any extra-curric activities :)

The making of a Tanjore painting

I love any artwork that is detailed, textured and has intricate patterns - be it stone carving or wood work. Some of the Tanjore paintings I have come across have such intricate handiwork, that I was inevitably attracted. While there is no way I can attempt stone carving or wood work, I realized that I could try my hand at Tanjore paintings. After much research around schools, timelines, costs, etc. I decided to join classes held by Chitra Ramesh.

Chitra is an awesome teacher - totally professional and meticulous in her approach to teaching. (You can check out her other paintings here - Chitram School of Tanjore Painting.) She provided all materials needed for the classes, including step-by-step instruction notes which ensured that I was familiar with the overall process even before I began.

I believe the art form is wrongly referred to as a "painting" - most of the art depends on the "mukk-work". The funny sounding "mukk" is actually a mixture of chalk powder and arabic gum. This mukk forms the base for the embossed regions and is also used for the intricate designs which make the Tanjore painting so beautiful. Once the stone-work and mukk-work is done, it is time for pasting the gold foil around the embossed regions and then painting the non-embossed regions. And voila, your Tanjore painting is ready!

Here are a series of WIP pictures, that describe the making of my Tanjore painting...

After the "mukk-work"

A close-up of the intricate mukk designs

Gold foil adding to the granduer

The painting bit

 And finally, after 4 months of weekend privileges sacrificed, this is the beautiful outcome:

Finally, I made a Tanjore painting!

My experiments with pencil shading

So, the other day I was thinking of how this blog is titled "Doodler-Dabbler" and how there haven't been any doodles so far. Too lazy to come up with something new, I decided to put some old wine (old sketches) in a new bottle (the blog) and get away with it..

All of these were done during my college days when I had joined sketching classes. I totally loved the time I spent on these - the only time I have come close to a meditation like peaceful trance is when I am absorbed in art. I am not very creative or skilled, but I do love all art forms so much that I keep trying to learn (much to the exasperation of all my art teachers.) All of these are based on pictures from other sketchbooks and not from life - any resemblance to people/animals living or dead is purely coincidental :P

So here goes..

The dew drop

What does a dew drop remind you of?

“Pearls!”, cried the happy and gay girl
Without a care or worry in this world
“Nice and round and shiny and bright
They are so pretty - so nice and so white!”

“Perspiration, on my brother’s brow
After a day of toiling, grueling and more”
And so said the young one who had seen more care
More than his and his brother’s fair share.

Said the soldier, “A drop of muted tear
On my mother’s face, all lined with wear
As she waits to see if I come back home
Her only son, from across the foam.”

Each according to his station spoke
So many emotions does the dew drop evoke
As life parades the purity of the dew
With all our feeling, we taint the view.

“Dripping like a mermaid” is not a funny expression!

Life does have its own ways of playing little jokes on us. So today, as I headed off to office, the day started off pleasantly enough - a few clouds dotting the sky, but otherwise nice and delightful. The clouds didn't bother me too much. Having been in Bangalore for the last 4 years, I like to think of Bangalore weather as an old acquaintance whom I understand well - mornings are pleasant, sometimes even sunny; late afternoons and evenings is when the downpour starts. Bangalore weather being such, I have never had problems riding my bike (read: Honda Activa) to office even during monsoons.

And so today, as usual, I put on my helmet, pulled out my bike, nodded my customary hello to the watchman at the apartment, and rode away. Like any other Bangalore morning, it was as pleasant as pleasant could be - the kind of weather that makes you want to go picnicing, the kind of weather that people would change jobs for, the kind of weather that.. oh ok, you get the drift.

About midway to the office as I stopped at one of the numerous traffic signals, I felt a little drop or two of water fall on my sleeve. I brushed them away, thinking it was dew drops from the trees. Little did I know of the downpour that was about to begin. And the downpour did begin soon enough - quickly followed by little puddles of muddy water on the road, large splashes of muddy water from vehicles all around, and mayhem in general.

As I reached office and parked my bike, I took stock of myself. Dripping and soaking wet, with a generous splash of mud on the right trouser leg and plenty of muddy spots on my otherwise spotless shirt - didn't exactly tally with the typical image of the young (ok, I exaggerate) consultant off to work, about to change the destiny of the corporate world (ok, I exaggerate again). With a theatrical sigh, I decided I was not presentable, messaged my boss updating her of the “unavoidable circumstances causing regretful delay”, and turned around.

Now another thing about Bangalore I fancy I understand well is the traffic; and traffic behaviour in Bangalore is well correlated with the occurrence of rains. So then, as predictably as the ending of a Bollywood movie, I got stuck in the traffic. Traffic plus rain - thats the best combo to drive someone really mad. Repeating to myself for the umpteenth time that patience is a virtue (I find it quite difficult to accept that at face value, you know), I trudged along with the traffic moving at nano-speeds.

Finally, after about 50 mins and 5 kms of the snail’s race, I reached home. As I hurried to find something dry to change into, I looked out of the window and it stuck me - it had stopped raining! And just like that, Bangalore returned to its oh-so-pleasant weather.

Life does have its own ways of playing little jokes on us. I am sure that whoever was up there controlling the rain-valves today had a good laugh at poor me. Well, as some bright soul said, if God is watching us the least we can do is keep him entertained!

Riot - Shashi Tharoor

A book review I did for the office magazine...

Riot is set in 1989 in Zalilgarh, a small town in U.P where an American student visiting India - Priscilla Hart - becomes a victim of a Hindu- Muslim riot. A few weeks later, Priscilla's parents travel to India to find out what happened. The rest of the story unfolds the circumstances around her death, which becomes the pretext for a thoughtful novel about the religious tensions plaguing India. As Shashi Tharoor mentions, the plot took form when a college friend, an IAS officer, sent him an account of a riot he had dealt with as a district magistrate and thus Riot became a medium to bring out the various view-points regarding the Hindu-Muslim tensions in India. 

The novel covers the perspectives of a well chosen set of characters – a progressive thinking district magistrate, a Sikh superintendent of police, an American reporter, a Muslim academic and the head of the local Hindu fraction, among others. The novel covers a vast spectrum of historical events which are seamlessly integrated with the main plot – right from Coca Cola’s first entry and subsequent exit from India to Operation BlueStar – all narrated through the eyes of different characters. 

The other theme which provides an undercurrent to Riot is the dichotomy of Indian thinking which so puzzles the rest of the world. As one of the characters says “I’m Indian. I enjoy Beatles and Bharat Natyam. I act in Oscar Wilde plays and I eat with my fingers. I read Marx, and I let my parents arrange my marriage.” The novel explores the psyche of the typical Indian caught balancing between deep-rooted Indian sentiments and their own progressive thinking.

While the plot itself makes for a compelling read, the narrative just makes it unputdownable. Tharoor has a masterful narrative style with the book taking the shape of a compilation of journals, transcripts, letters, newspaper extracts, scrapbooks and even poems written by some of the characters. The form of writing gives Tharoor the space to experiment with the narrative and write from the perspective of various characters. As the author says through one of his characters, “I’d like to write a novel that doesn’t read like a novel (…) something in which you can turn to any page and read. You pick up chapter 23, and you get one thread of the plot. Then you go forwards to chapter 37, or backwards to 16, and you get another thread. (…) you see the interconnections differently depending on the order in which you read them.” Through Riot, Tharoor has definitely achieved this.