Contemplations and Ruminations

(November 30th, 2020) Last week I saw some rather captivating images on Instagram under the hashtag of folktale week and I was rather impressed by the mystical and creative work that artists were posting under a folktale prompt, and I decided to give it a shot and see what I could create with the prompts mentioned below. Folktales, or folklores are stories, typically legends or myths, passed on orally and culturally and they usually depict something deeper about the race, people or geographical location from which these fantastical stories originate (I made up my own stories here though). The prompt for day one was Birth, so this is what I drew… a picture of how fairies come into being. All the whimsical longings and yearnings of human beings are collected to create a sweet little fairy that dreams of spreading sunshine and magic when we’re struggling to find our own. Day 2 of the folktale prompt was Ritual, and here’s a mother teaching her child the phases of that celestial ...

(October 14th 2020) Charcoal sketching is becoming pretty addictive... A charcoal sketch of Tara J, a writer on instagram… I like her stance, that look of being comfortable in her skin and her hair falling all over her face, which made it easier to draw.

(October 12th, 2020) Trying out a new medium, charcoal sketching… it is rather captivating, tends to be more fluid than graphite sketching. Eyes that speak... If you’ve seen Stories by Rabindranath Tagore (on Netflix), you’ll know how powerfully captivating his female characters are.Chitrangada Satarupa portrays one such memorable character in one of my favourite stories in the show and when I saw this beautiful picture of hers, I knew I had to capture this pensive moment. What do you think… Just a girl happy to play in a pond… this picture reminds me of my hometown, I miss all the lakes, rivers and our pristine hangout locations.

(October 9th, 2020) Drew this way back in college... still amazed everytime I see it. A very old drawing, drew it in one of my old practical records from school, notice the punch mark on Jesus’s neck. From that eighteen year old who drew him to this forty year old contemplating him today, I can tell you one thing for certain, He sure came to give life in abundance… and as I sit here typing this out John Denver’s song is playing, You fill up my senses and it seems pretty apt for how beautiful life is because of him. The below picture is a recent sketch, how cool is the action pose... Mandala doodling Another mandala... Drew this long back, when I was in school or college. A recent life drawing sketch Another recent sketch An old drawing, couldn’t draw the rest of her features so just drew a mask like thing… which seems pretty reflective of the times we live in today. This is both a new and an old drawing, I started it long back in college… but couldn’t complete it. I...

(August 19th, 2020) What started out as a school assignment to involve family members in a group activity has now become a favourite lockdown activity. I have two left feet when it comes to dancing, but Caleb Marshall, our (lockdown) fitness dance guru makes it look quite easy and dancing to his fitness videos has become a fun ritual every evening. He has brought a lot of joy during this quarantine phase; his energy and enthusiasm is infectious and we’re grateful to Fitness Marshall and his team for all the fun memories we’ve made dancing through a pandemic year.

(Aug 7th, 2020) I used to sketch quite a lot back in school/college, I was always doodling away on my arms, on my desk or in my note books… and somehow along the way, life picked up pace and it all stopped. Now due to the quarantine, I picked up a pencil recently and it feels good to draw after ages. Here are few recent figure sketches/ life drawings… And here's my pretty sketch book.

So this is the November issue of the magazine with a few articles by me. Thomas Rhett's 'Beer with Jesus ' has been included here and I wrote something about the entertainment industry which might be a bit preachy...   Entertainment is not what it used to be When you switch on the TV or listen to songs by the biggest names in the music industry, you cannot help but cringe and wonder at the abasement of it all. How did this degradation seep in? When did it become cool to objectify women and let derogatory comments pass off as comedy? Most of the famous shows today have this cool character whose life revolves around drinking and sleeping with different women, perfect examples would be Charlie Harper and the legendary Barney Stinson. These characters are the epitome of being cool and having it all, and they have the best lines on the show. This is the idea that is being propagated to young people who watch these shows, that your life is enjoyable only when you drink...

So Autumn was just starting when I was in Geneva last year and all the colours of fall were pretty fascinating. I would pick up lovely autumn coloured leaves and preserve them in a book while I explored so many beautiful places with my sister. She would scan the ground too, to find leaves that declared the poetry of the season. And if my brother was with us, he'd stand at a distance away, pretending that he was in no way related to us sisters who were running around collecting leaves.  This is what I made for my brother, framed autumn leaves. It's pretty easy too, collect pretty autumn leaves and preserve them in a book. Make sure you preserve them properly with no folded edges, just place the leaf gently between the pages of a book and let it remain there for a few days. Gently stick the leaves to a chart paper; I used a black chart paper here. Then use a transparent nailpolish to gently brush all over the leaf to give it a glossy look. Write a few lines (or not), and ge...

So I saw this picture on Pinterest a few months back and I thought of replicating the same at home this Christmas. Tell me what you think of my wall Christmas tree... I know the original picture used logs of wood, but I didn't want to poke holes in the wall... they had to have drilled holes or something, how else are those logs held up? Anyway, I used a sheet of cardboard, cut it into strips and arranged them in a tree like fashion. There was some old wire lying about, and I used that to link the strips of cardboard... this way, only one nail would do. Then bought some (rather masculine looking) gift wrapping paper and wrapped each individual cardboard strip in this paper. I wanted to give it a rugged look, that's why didn't pick up any glittery or flowery wrapping paper. Next made the star that comes on top of the tree with yellow chart paper. Made a few Christmas ornaments to go on the tree... used ordinary cardboard and glitter powder.  Some m...

So after our first few hours in the resort , we set off to explore Wayanad and sights like these  were quite common on our drives through this little green paradise.  Our first stop was a local outdoors restaurant where the guys gorged on beef masala and Kerala parotta , needless to say they were in gastronomic heaven. That being taken care off, we started on our way to Banasura dam , which is apparently the second largest earth dam in Asia. Yeah, I know... it's not much to look at, but the cool breeze which comes in from the lake on the other side is refreshing and worth the drive to this place.  We then visited the Meenmutty falls , which is a ten minute trek from the main road. A group of college kids were frolicking around when we got there.  The place is beautiful, water gushing over huge boulders and flowing  gently down stream. We dangled our feet in the cold clean water and whiled away the time till dusk slowly crep...