Fierce Creature

She paralyses her prey with a mere glance.

And then she unleashes her knives...

One Evening

A couple of evenings ago, I sat in the company of a couple of kick-ass women and three brawny beef eating thug cats. We women in that room were in our forties and each one of us led unusual lives in an Indian context. The nibbles offered up with the absinthe were a study in geometric shapes and the evening was memorable because of the subjects we discussed, predominantly: The large amount of intuition, intelligence and mental fortitude constantly required on our parts to break through the walls of cultural conditioning.

If I chose to write about some of the things we discussed that evening, then there are women who articulate the complexities of what I want to say so much better than I ever would. Therefore I’d like to take this as a reason to link to an excellent interview given by Sharanya Manivannan on what it means to think and live as an independent woman in today’s society.

I’ve deliberately chosen to place this particular interview for a reason. Over the years I’ve had one too many of my married friends, seemingly modern but conservative enough to constantly do what is expected of them, tell me how independent they are: They drive alone to pick up their kid from school, they return from French class by bus all alone, they visit a mall alone...Their definition of their independence surprises me. Independence isn’t about doing something alone. It is a mindset you cultivate over time from questioning the status quo over and over again and deciding not to confirm because you have your own agenda for yourself and you know what you want, irrespective of whether you are within a partnership or not.

Single women too come into my life and almost invariably set up a competitive dynamic within the conversation. Their justification isn’t about their independence however, theirs is a desperation to cover up the inadequacy they feel about their solitary status by telling me how active, busy and social their lives are compared to mine, in other words, how much they are a part of society and how much they in turn are accepted by it. I wonder how much their need to justify is due to an ingrained almost unconscious belief that if you live alone, then something must be ‘wrong’ with you because presumably you don’t want to ‘grow up’ and accept the responsibility of marriage and motherhood.

Here is the link to Sharanya Manivannan’s interview >>>

And some extracts below:

Why should only one kind of relationship be the most vital? There are so many kinds of relationships you can have, as you pursue what society thinks of as solitude. But before that, you need to sit with yourself and hone that relationship first.

Personally, I’ve always had some kind of allergy towards marriage. Even when I was a kid, something about it, the way I saw it transform women, particularly in Tamil cinema, intuitively made me understand that it was not good for women.

You make active decisions to be better and kinder to yourself and more respectful. And what that means in real terms, you accept. For instance, you may go long periods without a partner, and that’s okay. Because why should the natural state of an adult be partnership? The feeling of being inadequate is something one needs to leave behind early on in this journey. You have the realisation that you’re not inadequate because you’re not partnered: in many ways you’re much more capable. So you build things for yourself in a way that you may not be able to if you have a partner.

Confession

It is well known that the creative mind makes connections from all kinds of arbitrary happenings, so here is a list of things that inspired this confession in the form of these drawings.

Firstly my beloved late cat Cindy and her hearty appetite.She was so chubby and cute, I'd wanted to gobble her up for a long time.

Then a handsome cat who who for a while made my garden his own.I tried feeding him in the hopes that he would stay, but I think there were other people who were feeding him more.

The third last picture of absolute bliss is inspired by this picture.

The second last picture of course from the unforgettable turkey at my first ever thanksgiving dinner.

And finally the entire confession is inspired from a story I once read in the newspaper many years ago about a cannibal who advertised for a victim. Bizarrely someone actually offered himself up to be eaten. Fried in butter. Just like the hunted mushrooms placed before me in a house by the edge of a forest not too long ago.

All those varied incidents, resulted in this -

Eve

An intelligent hell would be better than a stupid paradise.

~ Victor Hugo

Read this heartening story about The Water Tank and the Banksy Prank here >>>

Sketchbook Stuff

Drawings on Wedding Feast Paper

One Sunday Anil, one of the regulars at Pencil Jam, gushed and gushed about his latest discovery - he used wedding feast paper to draw on. For the phirangs (foreigners) reading this blog, most South Indian Hindu wedding feasts have long tables where a roll of white paper is rolled out on it, then banana leaves are placed on it to serve a fabulous lip smacking vegetarian meal as you can see in this picture here >. The paper with the remains is simply rolled up and binned after that. So easy. No washing up.

I had to grudgingly admit that it was a super idea to use this paper for drawing. No more scrounging around for rough paper or tearing up bulky cartridge paper to draw on. Just roll out and draw!

I must give thanks to the ever resourceful Akhila who procured the Wedding Feast paper for me.

Here are some of the results :-)

 

Monster plant!

Somebody got miffed that she was removed from her usual perch on the table and placed on a chair.So I drew a giant sardine for her...

Woah!

Throughout these midnight endeavours of mine, I was fuelled by Salted Chocolate chip cookies from David Lebovitz's famous recipe. It is the best ever and so easy. I love the bursts of salt sparkling on my tongue amidst the sweetness of chocolate and sugar. Naturally I have to show pictures ;-P

A satisfied smile!

:-)

Violets

Since several bloggers have asked me about this pretty plant on my desk, I thought I'd indulge you all with a few pictures. It is a Violet plant that I bought at the flower show in Lalbagh. It needs careful handling and care, therefore it is on my desk rather than out in my garden. My studio window does not face the garden so it is nice to look up and have this pot of violets keeping me company with their quiet beauty.

The other beauty has defiantly found herself a different place where she can sleep undisturbed since there was always a tussle for space between both of us at my desk. There is no sight more beautiful than the serenity of a cat asleep :)

My old sketchbook has come to an end. Here are the last few pages -

And here is a new sketchbook, freshly bound with customized cover from a school chart bought on the streets of Avenue Road.

And this is what my desk looks like right now :)

I learned… that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic, striving, but it comes to us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.

                                           ~ Brenda Ueland (via ArtPropelled)

Those Two boys

Those Lilies

And that Cat