Prettiest House

While returning from the Santhal village, we stumbled at this house at stopped and stared. A young woman who lived here came cycling inside the garden and allowed us to look around a bit. She said the house belonged to her parents. Her father was a sculptor and she was a student at Shantiniketan.

Favorite Pictures

From a walk to a Santhal village.

A Walk Through a Santhal Village

So rather than making up bulls*** posts, I have decided to finally make my long overdue posts from my memorable visit to the East of India. One of the memories that will always remain with me is a walk I took through a Santhal village with a friend. Indian villages can sometimes get overworked with embellishment but the structures in this village were simple shapes that looked like a child's drawings - uneven lines, large blocks of earthy color in limited palette and simple patterns. Arbitrarily placed objects created strange compositions. Everything seemed bleached out by the heat of the afternoon sun. We walked through courtyards and peered into windows, completely overcome by curiosity. We were not shooed away because the village seemed deserted and the few people who were present simply ignored us. 

Ten Days

So of all the many experiences this year, this one was probably the most bizarre. Some 17 of us writers and illustrators and 4 mentors, were sent to Shantiniketan by Goethe Institute and made to stay in a beautiful home, where for 10 days we were stuffed and stuffed and stuffed with 7 course meals until we could barely walk and where we staggered around for the first three days asking questions like, What’s the jam today? Is there any more dessert left? Didn’t you looove the tea time snack and Gosh wasn't the fish delicious? Then somewhere on the third day, we were sternly reprimanded, told to get off our asses and get back to working on the theme of ‘Children Understand More than we Believe’. Somehow in the middle of the meals, we managed to do just that and lots of good things happened. Here are some pictures -

Just part of a seven course breakfast

and below, Urvashi Butalia from Zubaan

Just one of the sixteen erm, 

very lively young people (below). 

My delicate nerves usually sheltered by solitude, 

have yet to regain their equilibrium.

Every meal

This particular dessert below was Nolen Gur Rossogulla.

And somewhere along the way, the work -

And the presentation.

Fan mail

And one last picture which still 

gives me nightmares.