My first Guru

It was rainy season again.After the first rains the replanting of rice plants starts. The small canals in between the fields will be filled with water. There will be so many small fishes inside it .I liked to catch fish with thorthu (a small bath towel) and then let them go to water again...Workers will be busy planting saplings, and they will sing also, to speed up their work.

Achchu was going to field to give tea to workers.I accompanied him silently as I am sure that if mother noticed she won’t allow me to go.The big canal will be filled with water  in rainy season and there will be heavy flow in it. So crossing it through the coconut wood bridge during rains was a big no. When we reached, the ladies were singing a song about “makkam”, a beautiful lady, who was the only sister of 7 brothers, and who was murdered along with her son Chathan and daughter Cheeru on the instructions of her sister in laws…I felt bored as I heard the story so many times. So i started catching fish.  Suddenly somebody noticed that my grandfather was coming towards the fields. He was on a short visit to see my mother. Whenever he was around, he used to visit fields to oversee works. I become very upset. as for sure, he won’t allow me playing in water, and he will take me back home…

“So, You don’t want him here ..?Asked vayalile Mathi(madhavi, as she was coming from a faraway place called  kolathu vayal, she was called like that.) I said” no… He won’t allow me to catch fish.”

“See how he will vanish from here.”Thekkumbadan meenakshi told with a big laugh…I was not sure about what magic they are planning so that grandfather will vanish.

But all they do that was singing again, now in a louder tone…

Eevaka pennungal bhoomeelundo (is such beautiful ladies are there in earth)

Manathunenganum potti veeno,( is she came from the sky-heaven)

Bhoomiyil ninnenganum mulachu vanno,(or is she came from beneath earth)

Khithappoo  polathe niramamanappa,(her colour is like that of kithapoo-kewra flower)

Panangula polathe mudiyentappa..(Her hair flows like palm leaf)

Erambala kunki, kunchi kunki, (she is Ms kunki of Erambala)

kuliyum kazhinchu varavayi kunki…(She is on her way from pond after taking a bath)

The last two lines were entirely new ones, so I listened. The song went on like a mother persuading her daughter, Kunki to marry Erambala Koman(my grandfather!)The Mother was praising him like

Kathil kadukkan,pulinaghavum,(he is wearing  kadukkan-a stud with precious  stones ,And a special gold chain)

arraru kandalum thirunchu nokkum,(no body walk past him without having a second look)

Varam varavangu  kunnu pole, (about his monthly earnings-his earnings from field rental is like a mountain))

pattam varavangu kadalu pole,(“ his earnings from lending out land is like an ocean)

Komanu ninneyangu pothichalu,(if Koman agree to marry you)

Neeyalle nattile thampuratti..(You can live like a princess)

By then grandfather was in varambu(the walking path in between fields).As  he heard his name in the song, he also began listening the song.

Now came Kunki”s reply

Velichinga polathe kannentamme,(his eyes are like small tender coconuts)

Kumbalanga polathe vayarentamme,(His tummy is like a large pumpkin)

Padavalam polathe kientamme, (His hands are like snake gourds)

Chattukam polathe kalentamme.(His legs are like a spattle-a little spade used to take dosa from thava)

There were few more lines which I couldn’t remember now...Any way at last she turned down the proposal saying that he is not a match for her.

Grandfather became so angry and shouted “will you stop this nonsense?”. Then he  dragged me to home.

Reaching home, he scolded my mother. “Why do you allow Pappa to go to the fields? There are other children here .nobody does that. Those ugly fellows will make her bad…, uncultured liars.”He shelled out so many bad words. Mom was clue less about what made him so angry, she told me to wash my feet with permanganate solution, thinking that grandfather didn’t liked me playing in muddy waters..For sure I know that the workers were not ignorant people..On the other hand they were a treasure house of folk wisdom. They taught me so many things, like how to predict rains seeing clouds,how to recognize medicinal plants,  how to plant saplings etc etc..They told me so many stories, about so many customs, so many legends, all of which my siblings were unaware of.

Later on mother asked me about what happened in the fields, I told her about the song. Grandmother and mother had a hearty laugh. I was 8 or 9 years at that time, so marriage and lost love were beyond my imagination .Mother told though grandfather had a cousin Kunki, she was much older than him, and marriage between them was impossible. The entire story were only their imagination…And ugly description about his figure might have the reason why he become angry..But next time when I went to fields, I pleaded them to sang the full song...They didn’t. Never did they repeat it. They confessed that it was an instant parody.

The anti climax was that during his next visit, grand father taught me how to draw human figures…He might have thought that otherwise I will portray him with velichinga in place of eyes, padavalanga in place of hands. He also showed me how I can draw in the back side of calendars so that my father won’t notice. (My father was dead against me drawing in my school books… (Art was not a good thing for elite girls at that time!)Thus he became my first Guru.

                                                  

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Withum withayum-Rice seeds and Planting

        

Come vishu, the first day of Malayalam month of Medam (April to May) Preparations for the new #rice cultivation starts.. On the Vishu day, the spade and plow will be decorated using rice powder and flower garlands, and prayers done. The senior-most member of the family and others enter the rice field with the decorated plow and spade. Small channels (called chal in malayalam) are then made in the field. This is followed by covering the field with cow dung and green manure. This filed is later used to grow rice. This cultivation during the South West Monsoon is known as virippu krishi.

Rice seeds are then measured in to jute sacs and the sacs will be tied with plantain threads. They are then soaked in water over night. Next day, the soaked seeds will be spread over wet jute sacks .they will be covered by wet sacs also. Some weight (big stones) will be put above them. Within two days, they sprout. Seeds are sown by hand to plowed fields. After 30-50 days of growth, the seedlings are transplanted in bunches to flooded fields when monsoon sets in .By then they will reach a certain size say about 1 ½ feet. #Harvesting begins when the grain becomes yellow and the plants start to droop in during September- October months.

  

                                                     Witha- an oil painting on canvas
                           Grand father supervising workers as they are  measuring rice seeds  for sawing in fields.
                           website for image- www.sheelapadmanabhan.com
                           
                            

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