Ladies after bath

                                                            Ladies after bath

“You should pay extra charges for this” ..Our maid servant Ammalu demanded. She was oiling my sisters long black hair. It was when sister just delivered a baby girl, mini, and I was sitting there to see when she will open her little eyes and look at me…Ammalu continued...”And I will do this free for Pappa (me) when this time come for her, she won’t be having this much of hair any way..”

I cried a lot then. My sister tried her best to pacify me...”See, your features are like Dhevi vellimma.(Father’s elder sister.)you also will have long hair when you are grown up..But I started crying louder, though  vellimma had long curly hair,she was a well built, dark lady who was never a favorite with me..I stopped crying after a secret promise of Feradol(a sweet medicine popular that time,meant for ladies after delivery which young girls were not supposed to take)) But there started my lifelong longing for long hair like my sisters. My sisters were having wheatish colour, and long straight hair. I was on the darker side having curly hair…I always felt that I was the black sheep in the family..I started applying all types of hair oils, shampoos etc, hoping that my hair will grow fast..Nothing happened. Mother used to prepare a medicated oil for all, with many herbs,and nobody leaves home without a bottle of that oil. She used to put burned coconut shell powder also in the oil which gave a darker color to hair..But I didn’t trusted in it, applied bottles and bottles of arnica hair oil,neeli bhringhadi,kunthalakanthiayurvedic oil,and almost all the oils which appeared in Vanitha(a ladies magazine)and my effort  still continues..

When i started my profession as a painter,i painted  all ladies with long hair.This painting is one among them...

Two ladies sitting in the varanda, adjacent to the central courtyard ,wearing traditional Kerala dress-mundu and veshti.

In olden times,It was a practice to smoke the long hair of Kerala women after the bath. Red hot-coal will be  taken in a small brass vessel with a long handle and medicinal herbs will be added to it. Resulting smoke imparts a nice smell to the hair and freed it from infections.

                                                               Oil on canvas

                                             Jahangir art gallery show  Mumbai

AMINA (oil painting on canvas  ) When I thought of drawing Muslim lady , the first thing came into my mind was Amina ,our milkman’s daughter . She was 3 to 4 years older than me and had broad eyes and curly hair. Muslim woman of North Malabar used to wear “ Chittu” in the ear ( small golden rings with Alukku all over) .Now one can see this practice only amongst old ladies of North Malabar)this lady is wearing Elassu a small box type golden locket , which can either be on a thread or a golden chain. They also used to wear thick gold bangles which is hollow inside, filled by small balls, which imparts a sound when the hands are moved, and hence called Tharivala.Their dress is katchi, a long full-sleeved blouse with lace piping,Mundu(Dhothi) and Thattam to cover the hair.

Thrissur Pooram

                                                       Pooram- Acrylic painting
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Pooram  is.a annual temple festival held in Kerala after the summer harvest. Most pooram festivals have ornately decorated elephants being paraded in the procession taken out of the temple premises.

The main features of the pooram (festival) are these decorated elephants with their nettipattam . (decorative golden headdress), beautifuliy crafted kolam, decorative bells ,ornaments etc. Add to this is the panchavadyam, the rhythmic beating of the drum, and what would be a cacophony otherwise is turned into an organized but spontaneous symphony.

Today is Thrissur pooram.. The pooram of all Poorams’. It is one of the Biggest temple festivals  in Kerala. It has been celebrated every year in the month of April (Malayalam month medam) at Vadakkumnathan temple in the centre of Trichur city. It is believed that every year gods and goddesses of neighboring temples will meet here for the celebration. The two dewaswams – Thiruvampadi and Paramekkavu are the  major temples to make the festival a remarkable oneMore than 50 elephants decorated with nettipattam (decorative golden headdress), Kolam, decorative bells, ornaments and the umbrellas, venchamaram, and alavattam will enter the temple through the western gate and come out through the southern gate and array themselves, face to face. The two groups in the presence of melam, exchange colourful and crafted umbrellas competitively at the top of the elephants – called Kudamattom

School days

School girls

The government high school was stones throw away from my house. The big banyan tree and Raman’s tea shop next to the school are the landmarks of Kalliassery even this day –Two girls walking past the shop to the school

 

Another memory of school days is connected with the old vendor, Kannan moossor who sold goose berries, cumin toffee, and roasted Channa.He was a constant presence by the school gate, clad in a patch worked very old coat, and dhothi…me and my brother made a song about him to sing in place of ringa ringa rosses while playing..It was like,

Kandam bechoru coattanee,(stitched with patches all over)

Kannan moossore coattane,(it is Kannan moossore’s coat)

Pattaru thunnia coattanee,(stitched by a pattar)

Pande kittiya coattanee,(He got it long ago)

Nattilu muzhuvan pattanee(All people knew about it)

 

Making Avial

KITCHEN SCENE (OIL ON CANVAS 60 X 90).This is a picture of traditional Kerala  kitchen.As a newly wed ,I spent some time in my in law's ancestral home . My husband’s aunt was in charge of the kitchen there. She used to prepare food in traditional choola though there was a gas stove.She used to keep salt in a  horlics bottle and dried chillies in a Amul tin on the platform. As the bulb above the choola was always blackened due to the constant smoke ,she used to light a small lantern. A painting on this nostalgic scene.
In this picture Mother is cutting yellow cucumber for making ‘Avial ‘a traditional curry.Water with some turmeric powder and coconut oil is kept boiling in a stone vessel called Kallumeri in which she will put the chopped vegetables to make Avial.Rice is being cooked in the second choola.Milk is boiled to prepare curd in an earthen-pot.The manual stone grinder,in which coconut and masala are ground to paste is also can be seen.You can also see Narayani the washer woman is washing clothes out side kitchen.There were no washing machines-clothes were dipped in soap water,pummelled on the stone slab and rinsed .

The amaranthus seller

 VEGETABLE VENDOR (Oil on canvas ).

Our mornings were associated with long calls of a vegetable vendor, selling amaranthus leaves locally known as “cheera”. She like many other vendors was a Tamil lady . She used to come early in the morning, bare footed, neatly dressed in a silk sari, with jasmine flowers tucked into her long pleated hair. Rather than the twinkle of her nose ring, the sadness in her eyes still haunts me.

oil paintings

Down memory lane

These paintings are rooted on my nostalgic childhood days. My native place Kalliassery was a calm, picturesque village with vast green fields. As a small child, I used to accompany my Grandfather during his routine morning walk through our paddy fields. It was such a divine scene to see the fields transform to a sea with green waves when the wind blows. Here and there were small thatched huts of caretakers, which only enhanced the beauty of the fields.

Now modernization has crept in and the fields have given way to housing plots. W e also sold a large portion of our ancestral land, due to non availability of skilled laborers also because farming was no more profitable. Especially after the construction boom of early eighties and nineties, the paddy fields have been transformed into housing plots in the state.

Kittan , the plowman , is plowing the field , as women are planting paddy plants in the wet soil. His melodies tunes IMMU MMU THU THU, a sound to direct the bullocks still echoes in my ears. The ladies used to sing songs depicting the stories of local heroes.

                                                       My home...Water colour

landscapes posters cherry blossom art

mammals posters