Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Is your Heart in it?

A young friend of mine, Ashwini from Canada, suggested I try painting the same thing repeatedly. I have not done that before. But I try that this time. I have painted 3 trays of Thambulam. What I did was to paint the betel leaves in all pages and then the fruits in all the pages and so on. The basket and the silver thali came last of all.
And yes Ashwini, I think your technique helped me learn.



As a lady from south India, for me this tambula tray evokes happy feelings. A feeling of bounty and wellbeing. The chatter of women, the perfume of fresh flowers, and the rustle of silk .... yes, I feel them all.

Every region has its own time of custom gifting. As we become more global we begin to see the material waste generated. No one else in the world does this so why do we? This question rises again and again.

And suddenly this custom generated gift industry catering to local customs is perceived as very out of place. When the custom gifting no longer serves the purpose of spreading joy, it comes to a natural halt. And other customs take its place.


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The bottom line is, Is your heart in it?

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6 comments:

  1. Oh you actually tried it, nice :) It looks like you evolved at the one you singed your name on, is that right?
    It helps me come up with the composition itself and the only difference between what you have done and what I do is that I don't paint details in each one of them... but just rough ideas to see what composition/color combination I like the best. And these will be small sized (post card size) and the final one will go on the canvas.

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  2. very nice amma! the final one is really a lot better than the first two! (though for me , even the first one would have been great!!) :)

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  3. @akhila, haha yes, i like the last one too. thinking of getting it framed for gifting.

    @Ashwini, yes, and i really like the villedele in this one. I will try some larger frames.

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  4. Nice paintings.

    Aah, the rustle of silk and maduve oota. That's when I wouldn't mind a rolling mosambi or a blouse piece either! Happy to give all other events a pass.

    Why does your post remind me of X'mas and the gifts that go around this time of the year? Stuff that people collect, don't have the heart to give away and a home reduces to walls around, dare I say, junk?

    Pratibha

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  5. Wow, you paint too. I like all three versions.

    As for gifts we seem to get a lot of thinks we do not need these days. For example when I was young people gave us kumkum, turmeric, bangles and sometimes combs, and blouse pieces - all of which we used. These days they give us white metal artefacts, steel pathre and some thing in plastic - most of which we don't know what to do with. and so they go into recycling. I thought I was very smart and gave thamboola in a nice jute bags for my son's wedding only to find that most people had given them away to their maids.
    Even though my heart was fully in it, the receivers' did not appreciate it. This is why I tend to rethink this whole idea of gifting.

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  6. @pratibha...and actually we go thru a lot of stress buying those gifts too!
    @usha...haha perhaps cash would be best! what say u? or a 100 watt smile?

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