Train sketches I

This past winter during my travel in India I made several sketches in trains and buses. In a series of posts I hope to share my experience and sketches.

Tourists near Central Park, New York

IF: Snap

This sketch was made in a snap - less than half a minute. I was on the "2" train as it left Manhattan to enter Brooklyn. I was already doing a couple of sketches inside the train when bright sunlight flooded the train as it emerged from the tunnel. I looked out of the window and was struck by the sight of skyscrapers and bridges against the jetblue sky and water. I sat gazing at the beautiful landscape when I realized that I had just a few seconds (before the train got into the tunnel in the next borough) to put down the details on paper and made this hurried drawing.

I will be posting the other sketches made in NY over the next few weeks.

Shore Temple, Mamallapuram, near Chennai(Madras)

8 X 10
Acrylic on Canvas

Please check out my earlier treatment of the same subject and let me know which one you prefer and why. Thank you.

Near Papanasam Dam

2006

Belur-Halebedu Pictures

I will be moving some popular posts from my other blogs here.

Garland/Flower seller - Bangalore

Fullersburg Park, Oak Brook

Madurai Sketches

I will first post some of the sketches I did over the past few months. Later I shall attempt an accompanying narrative. Thank you for your patience.
P.S: I HAVE UPDATED "MY WRITING".

Illustration Friday: Dance

This charcoal sketch is based on my photograph of a stone carving in one of the Hoysala temples at Belur/Halebeedu (unfortunately I am not able to recall the exact location) in Karnataka, India.

To see some of my photographs from these temples click here.

Illustration Friday: Jungle

This painting is a work in progress. I started this last year. Do not know when I shall finish it.

30 X 48 inches
Acrylic on Canvas

Laburnum in full bloom

7 X 9.7 inches
Mixed media
2002

First fall painting

This is the first painting I painted in the first year of my being in the United States (4 years ago). Also, this is my first "big" painting. I had never before attempted anything on 24X36 inches canvas. I found the process very daunting and the end result not very satisfying. I look forward to hearing suggestions for improvement from you. Thank you.

Mahabalipuram

This is a small (11X14) acrylic on paper done in 2001. If I painted this today it would look very different - not only because the tsunami has forced some changes to the landscaping in the area adjacent to the temple, but because I think there are some shortcomings (for instance, in use of colour) in the painting that I would probably try to overcome. It would be great if you could comment on what could be done differently to improve the painting. Awaiting your feedback.

(I am sorry that this is the best photograph I can come up with for now. Light reflected from the glass behind which the painting is is a distraction.)

Travel to India – Madurai to Chennai

(This is part of a series on travel to India. Please read parts I, II, III and IV before reading this for continuity.)




Aboard the good old Thiruvalluvar in SETC avadharam, I was headed for Chennai (formerly Madras). The green metropolitan buses in Chennai were a sight to behold after all these years. My stay in Chennai was pretty much the same as in Madurai – in the sense that there was not a single day that I stayed indoors. I was visiting friends and relatives, went to Mahabalipuram, consulted with the skin specialist, and saw Ilaiyaraaja in person (more about the latter in the next post). Even though I stayed for about a fortnight, and traveled around a lot, I could not find time to see some of my very close friends from MCC (Madras Christian College) days. I found some time to go to the college though (sketch 1). I sat at the “botany tank” and did a quick sketch of the café road intersecting the road that leads to Bishop Heber hall. The "botany tank" is a water tank adjacent to the botany department. The tank had a couple of concrete benches underneath - during my B.Sc days at MCC we would monopolize this place and try to convert it into "physics tank". A nerdy friend of mine even wrote several physics equations with chalk on those benches prompting a harsh response from the botany students. As I was sketching I noticed a couple of girls sitting there discussing how so-and-so was the butt of jokes at a party, “Semma ottu ottunaanga theriyuma di?” I shamelessly eavesdropped on them and sighed as they brought back memories of such useless banter (vettippechi) that I had engaged in a decade ago.

My mother wanting me to see the skin specialist was in the back of my mind all the time. Also, the welts pretty much appeared with clockwork regularity every day to remind me of the seriousness of the situation. This specialist is in great demand all over the country. He practices out of his house in Chennai and people queue up – believe it or not – at three in the morning to see him. The doctor does not believe in giving appointments or using the token system. You could be a business magnate or an unemployed person, he makes no distinction, you are to come there and wait in the queue if you seek his treatment.
I went to his house at about 11:00 in the morning and was not surprised to see a serpentine line. There were at least a hundred patients waiting in the line that stretched from the clinic’s door, ran along the corridor, and then spilled out into the garden. The doctor lives in one of those big houses with ancient colonial architecture. The house has a huge Nagalinga maram (the cannonball tree - Couroupita Guianeusis). The tree is an imposing sight with its big leaves, beautiful flowers, and gigantic fruits. Now and then the fruits would fall off – true to the tree's name – like cannons, creating a furor among the patients resting in its shade.

I had prepared myself for a long wait. I brought some snacks, my sketch book, and a novel. I took my place in line and sat on a tree stump. I alternated between sketching and reading while munching on the snacks. I could not help sketching the majestic tree (sketch 2). A mother was deeply absorbed in a book while her child sat by her side playing with a leaf (sketch 3). I could see that the child had the same striking features as the beautiful and dusky mother. The features are lost in the sketch as I could only manage to draw them with their backs to me.

Seeing me engrossed in my sketchbook, the person next to me requested that I draw his portrait (sketch 4). This man has a certificate in sidha medicine and runs a small practice in his town. He joked that as a sidha doctor he could only cure others and was never successful when he tried his own medication. He said that there was no other doctor like this specialist here and praised him to the skies. Following the encomium, he prescribed some medication for my allergies. He said that he would go with the meat reaction theory and doubted the credibility of the heat school of thought.
After a few more sketches (sketches 5 & 6), I took a break and started reading the novel. A lady in line who had obviously seen me sketching asked to see the sketchbook. She went through the book and pointed out the people I had sketched and even passed it around to some of my subjects - the mother and daughter pair.

I was happy when the sidha doctor had liked his portrayal and said he wanted a photocopy of the portrait. But I felt immensely satisfied and flattered when the small child kept looking at the mother-daughter sketch for a long time and said, “adhu naan (That’s me).”

Travel to India – Bangalore to Madurai

(This is part of a series on travel to India. Please read parts I, II and III before reading this for continuity)

I spent the majority of my life in India in Bangalore. A beautiful city no doubt -the weather is pleasant…..it’s a great cosmopolitan city….one cannot complain about life on Brigade and MG (on a side note, there is a lot to complain about if your conscience nags you when you look at the poor children begging when you come out of a restaurant after blowing Rs.300 or more on a meal). However, my association with Bangalore has been schooling, higher education, and work - things that I cannot just wait to get away from. My break from these activities involves my going to either Madurai (during school days) or Chennai (during higher education and work). When I travel by bus from Bangalore, the transformation of shop signs from Kannada to Tamil brings me great joy. I smile in anticipation of loving relatives waiting at the other end.
This time I traveled by KSRTC from Bangalore to Madurai. I had time to finish one sketch at the bus stand (sketch 1) as I was waiting to board. A mother and her daughter were waiting on the platform. The mother looked like she was scanning the crowd to see if she could locate someone – did her husband go to fetch some water? Was she worried that they might miss the bus? The daughter was sitting on a suitcase calmly reading in the faint street light. A four year old was sleeping peacefully on her father’s shoulder. How calm and peaceful a child looks when she is fast asleep thus! The trust that she has in the adult to take care of her is very touching.
Once in Madurai, I did not get a chance to sketch much. All I could manage was one quick sketch at the Meenatchi Amman Kovil (Sketch 2). Devotees/visitors were waiting for the temple gates to open after the afternoon break. Some of them were enjoying a siesta in the temple courtyard. I worked on this sketch on and off as my amma and I sat on a culvert and chatted with a relative who had accompanied us.
Winter in Madurai means the mercury has dipped as low as 90 degree F – in the night. So you can imagine how it must have been when I visited in May. Not withstanding the temperature, I went on trips to several places like Thiruppurangundram, Thiruchandur and Kodaikanal (it was pretty warm here too), I went on a whirlwind of visits to several relatives’ houses, I listened to family lineage stories from my ammayee (maternal grandmother) and several mamas (maternal uncles), chatted about college life and its associated fun with my cousins, and, wherever I went, I ate heartily. People prepared such delicious dishes every time I visited them. I am pretty much a glutton and never shy of expressing my interest in food.
After about two weeks of my stay in Madurai I started developing welts on my arms and legs. There would be a burning sensation in places and the welts would appear mysteriously. They would stay for a few hours and then gradually fade only to reappear the next day. “It is the heat”, declared my cousin. “Drink some buttermilk and stop loitering in the sun”.
“It is all the meat you consume”, my mother said. “You just cannot stop eating meat. Can you?” She continued, “The way you are all eager to sit down in front of a plate of mutton biryani, I am sure they think I am starving you”.
“How can I say ‘no’ without offending them”, I protest lamely.
“Oh yes you can, if you really wanted!”
Well, she had a point.
Meat or heat, something was causing these allergic reactions. I was due to leave for Chennai in a few days. My mother implored that I pay a visit to a famous skin specialist in Chennai. “Sure ma, I will”, I said as I dipped a piece of dosai in mouthwatering chicken gravy.

Travel to India – Sketches made on the first day

(This is part of a series on travel to India. Please read part I before this for continuity)

My joy knew no bounds when I saw my parents and sister waiting to receive me at the Bangalore airport. I had visited my sister in California just six months ago, but I had not seen my parents in three years.
I was struck by the beauty of Bangalore – it looked so lush green. My father shook his head when I said that Bangalore did live up to its name. “What Garden City, they are chopping down trees pretty much everywhere in the name of development”. He was right, I noticed that a huge section of the eucalyptus grove had been cleared to build a flyover at the junction of the airport road and the 80 ft road.
It took a while for me to get used to the taxi drivers negotiating traffic at breakneck speed. Within hours of reaching home I wanted to go on a walk. I was desperate to make sure that I was using every second of my time in India. I love the spontaneity and chaos of everyday activity. It stimulates me so much. I feel so alive when I walk around here. Carrying nothing but a sketchbook and a couple of India ink pens, I started on a walk from Domlur to Ulsoor and back. I walked along the familiar Cambridge road – took in Lourde Boy’s, and St. Meera’s - schools I had studied in during my primary education, I cut across Udani Layout and found myself in G street. The old Peepul tree was still standing tall. I sat on a culvert and sketched the shop selling agarbathi and coconut (sketch one).

I took in the hustle and bustle of the street, the two wheeler traffic, pedestrians, vehicles parked haphazardly....I was just exhiliriated. Friendly stray dogs walked by. I have no doubt that I had fed biscuits to their ancestors who lived in this very neighborhood about 20 years ago.
I then walked along Old Madras Road and sat at a bus stop. I found out that the bus stop shelters were maintained by private companies. I did the second sketch (not completed) posted here sitting at this bus stop. In the course of my sketching I struck up a conversation with a man sitting next to me. He had undergone art instruction and had even had a brief stint working as an art director for a theatre group. We chatted for more than an hour about the commercial viability of art. He told me about the need for thinking out of the box, demonstrated some of his techniques using my sketchbook, and then moved on to the topic of art in cinema. Overhearing us, another man derailed the topic by abruptly commenting that the lyrics in present day cinema were no good contrasted with those of the yesteryears. To prove this, he cleared his throat and gave a beautiful rendition of a song composed about 45 years ago in Tamil Cinema. By now about four to five of us were interacting and I forgot all about completing the sketch. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I had been at the bus stop for over two hours. I hurriedly took leave of my companions and started on the long walk back. I had indeed had a productive first day.

Travelling to India - sketches at the airport

This summer after being away for over three years I visited India, my home country. On the day I left for India I started a sketch book in order to have a pictorial record of my travel to, and in India. In this series of postings I shall share some of those sketches and also attempt a word portrait of my experience. I have always enjoyed sketching with pen and ink. I find the permanence of this medium a challenge, but then I enjoy the spontaneity that the medium affords. Needless to say, in my sketches, you will find that not all strokes of the pen are “correct” or “in place”. My goal is to just capture the fleeting moment as best as I can.
People in public places make excellent subjects for quick sketches. At an airport you find an assortment of people from different walks of life. I saw a woman with a head full of curls (naturally curly or did she use curler irons?) sitting next to a man with a full beard. They were both leaning back to chat with another couple seated behind them. I wondered if the man and woman were partnered. Their interaction had an air of familiarity that suggested that they were together. There was a serious looking guy peering into his laptop– a sight that we have become all too familiar in this digital age. Could be a student working on his thesis, or could be a businessman working on his accounts. There was an elderly man with a bunch of papers in his lap – clearly a professor trying to catch up on grading papers. A small kid was running around between bouts of cartwheeling – she just livened up the atmosphere, people who were until then cursing flight delays and serpentine airport security lines were breaking into smiles…..The list of potential subjects for a sketch as you wait to board a plane is endless.
The sketch of the man with the laptop was rendered using charcoal pencil while the other two were done in ink and then shaded using charcoal and graphite pencils.