Somanathapura

 A Painting and a Story # 11

Meenu (short for Meenakshi) settles into the single seat in the minivan. Meenu is employed with a publishing company. She is unhappy. She is a creative person and she assumed this company would give her an opportunity to write and publish what she wanted. But no! She is even told what type of articles are 'Must and Should' in every magazine. Really! What kind of creativity is that? Her colleagues! They discuss nail-colour more than literature. duh! 

The minivan veers to the side and parks. They have reached! Annual office outing! Somnathapura, a temple town close to Mysore is their destination. Meenu enters through the small gate. She sees herself as a 10 year old walking on the mud path with her grandpa. Was that 15 years ago? It seems like yesterday! She rushes past the chattering bunch to the star shaped Hoysala Temple. It's an architectural beauty in black stone and she is carried away by the sheer magnitude of the human effort that's gone into the creation of this temple. The outer walls are adorned with awe inspiring stone carvings. Hundreds of them!

A guide is hired. He explains the intricate carvings... 'The bottom line is elephants row. Over that you see horses, then we have flowers lotus, leaf, and then the 7 inch panels of the avatars of Vishnu and stills from familiar tales in the Ramayana ... they carve'. The guide helpfully points each out with a wooden stick. 'How did they carve these stones so fine?' her colleagues wonder aloud. 'Madam this stone is soft when coming out from the earth. Then they carve. Air --wind---rain---It become hard' the guide waves his hand to explain.

Meenu is lost in another conversation.... 15 years ago! ............

'Thatha one man made all this?' Meenu asks in wonder. 'No! The main architect was Ruvari Malithamma. He had many juniors working under him. He decided that the temple would be star shaped. It will have rows of elephants and horses...!' Meenu recalls saying quickly'That's not fair. If an artist wants to make something else...?' To this her grandpa had said 'A set of rules is needed everywhere. Creativity thrives within rules. If you wish to play the game, you need to follow the rules'. 

The adult Meenu kneels down and gently touches the stone panel of elephants. There is not one elephant like the other. Some are playful, some are in war, some are breaking down trees, some are playing in water. Creativity within a set of rules! Meenu slowly joins the group. 'Want me to take a pic?' her friend offers.

If you wish to PLAY THE GAME you need to FOLLOW THE RULES. We enter into relationships, careers, social commitments... even WhatsApp groups... with great enthusiasm ! What we get out of this 'GAME' that we have entered will surely depend on how sincerely we follow the rules of the game and be true to our participation in it? If we stay on the side we will never be 'caught' but we are also missing the thrill. So are we diving in or are we avoiding it?

My painting for this week is a Madhubani peacock a technique that I explored during the lockdown.