My life has been slightly in dervish mode these last few weeks, but full of excitement and new happenings. Last weekend the Collective Studio hosted a wonderful illustrated talk The Light Within : Paintings by Rabindranath by Indrapramit Ray on Saturday the 19th, which we organised at Surendran's studio. This was followed the next day by a Carnatic classical music recital by flutist Shri G. Rajnarayan, in our drawing room at home on Sunday. The day after I was away in Bombay meeting up informally with some old batch mates and friends from London days, and then flew back the next morning in time for the arrival of my cousin who lives in Canada, who was visiting with us for a day. That evening saw us all roaring with laughter over silly stories that camouflaged deep sentiments that hold us all together as a family. My cat of course behaves as though she is abandoned if I go just from one room to the next without her, so my departures away from the home are treated with extreme symptoms of tragic rejection on her part! As we do our teaching sessions after dinner on some nights, she lies in contorted positions of blissful sleep in the Clive chair, as the merits and demerits of painting float into her fur-dream-subconscious- comatose state of repose.
In Bombay there was a reversal of roles at home! Poor Mithun and Samera were up looking bleary eyed with sleep as I sauntered home from partying in the wee hours of the morning! Even Noni the gold fish looked disapprovingly at the old lady decked up in a sari, as she swam feverishly in circles in her fish bowl to register her dissatisfaction with me. Thankfully unlike Begum, she did not resort to ankle nips as punishment tactics!
Each day in the ritual of reading the newspaper, I know I will confront more news that emotionally chokes me up. The situation in Japan has become so critical that friends are informing me that many lives are being exposed to fatal consequences in order to address the nuclear crisis. Why do nations have so little anticipation of reality, given the information available that pre-suggests the lethal dangers of relying so heavily on nuclear energy? Japanese people engaged in the exercise of cooling down the nuclear reactors are now resigned to the fact that their bodies will be contaminated by radiation. If these are not suicide missions then I wonder what else we can call them.
On the other hand the bombing of Libya by the US brings with it emotions of deep conflict. I despair that Gaddafi is massacring his own people, yet I wonder whether waging a war with Libya becomes the solution that can address this civil unrest and bring the change of leadership that the Libyan people seek. Back home, our own central government has become so embroiled in numerous messy political scandals that comprehending which scam is being focused upon often becomes quite a mental exercise in itself.
I am doing a painting that originates as a memory of my adopted grand-daughter Aditi, wearing her traditional Korean outfit. However it isn't a portrait of her at all but is a painting that is about the retrieval of innocence. There are many times that I need such touchstones to preserve my optimism and keep intact the faith of goodness.
What a marvelous style of writing Rekhajee, the world in a nutshell! We all know of the terrible happenings around us, so I prefer to comment on meeting old friends, wonderful moments when we go back in time, 'Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end...'
ReplyDeleteI bumped into a friend after more than 30 years in one of these 'Big Bazar' shopping centers, that too on the 26th of Jan, the day of the big sale, when people rush like swamps of bees; frankly it was a chance in a million that we should not walk past, but recognize each other even though time had taken its toll!
That makes me wonder, should I knock on your door someday, would you greet me as a friend?