Divine Strokes

What amazes me about the art of Lakshmi Krishnamurthy (Lakki) is her versatility, the range not only in subjects, but also in technique, medium and style. The array includes Lepakshi, illustrated manuscript, miniatures, glass painting, Tanjore, Mysore, Bengal, murals (both fresco and tempera), Warli, Pata Chitra, and Pithora.

The creations of this Chennai based artist conform to the traditional iconographic codes with their mythological and historic implications. At the same time, she introduces new expressions and interpretations with great finesse. She uses natural colors from rocks, earth and vegetable sources, and brushes from kora grass to squirrel hair. She learned the skills of making brushes and gold and natural colors from the legendary master, Sri Deoki Nandan Sharma.

Lakshmi Krishnamurthy’s training in art started with a course at the College of Fine Arts at the Kalashektra, Chennai. She was fortunate to work under Sri Sreenivasalu in the restoration of old Tanjore paintings during her student days. Even today she finds the time to do restoration work. That is a great service because, without such dedicated effort, many of the beautiful old paintings would be lost.

After Kalashektra, it was a sojourn to Kerala to study the Cochin Murals, ad then to Rajasthan, Banasthali Vidyapeeth, for Jaipur frescoes and temperas. Her unabated yearning for knowledge continues. In that sense she is still a student. She is also a research scholar, a guru who teaches art to many talented disciples, a visiting professor at Kalashektra, an expert in restoration of paintings, and a very good artist. Perhaps the best of her is yet to come.

Lakshmi Krishnamurthy has conducted several workshops and seminars. She has been associated with some major art related projects. She has held a number of exhibitions of her paintings in India and abroad.

Some of her paintings are reproduced below with her permission.

'The God of Love' (Glass)

'Intelligence' (watercolor on silk) 'Abundance' (oil on silk)

'Cognizance' (Tanjore)

'Vakrathunta' (glass)

'Aditya Hridayam' (Tanjore, glass, sheet metal embossing)

'The Kandamdana Parvatham' (Tanjore narrative)

'Tranquil' (Tempera)

Click on the images for enlarged view.

All the paintings are works of Lakshmi Krishnamurthy. Copyright reserved.

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Also see:

Raja Ravi Varma: A movie on the Royal Painter

An orchid from Olavipe

I am particularly proud of this photo which I took at Olavipe last month. The credit for it, however, goes to the idiot proof camera that I used to shoot it.

Two orchids like the one in the picture were found on the rotten branch of an ancient mango tree near our western gate. No idea how old the tree is. Several of its branches had been cut down for cremating some of our Hindu neighbours when they died. But this one broke and fell down.

How and from where did the orchids come on the tree? None of us has seen an orchid of this type anywhere in the area. Anyway, since the plants were found on a tree, they are epiphytes. An epiphyte anchors on to trees or shrubs, and according to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, “derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain”. This means that they are not parasites.They grow mostly in tropical forests.

Out of the many species of orchids (estimated number 25000 to 50000) , a major portion are epiphytes. The other type is terrestrial which root in soil. There are two more categories, lithophytes which grow on rocky terrain and saprophytes (mycoheterotrophs) which thrive on decaying plant matter. A photo of a terrestrial orchid, also taken by me at Olavipe, is given below:

The size of orchid plants, depending on the species, can be anywhere from tiny to several feet in height. The general impression is that they grow only in the tropics. This is not correct. Orchids can be found in most parts of the world. Some of them however are endemic; they are seen only in a particular region. Many new species are being created on a continuing basis by cross pollination. Quite a few of such orchids are very popular.

Orchids are commercially important, essentially for the flowers. That is big business. The vanilla genus is a perennial favorite as food flavouring. A powder, made by grinding the tubers of certain terrestrial orchids is also used in cooking. Perfumers keep checking the scent of the orchids for possible use in cosmetics.

Coming back to the Olavipe orchid, we have made the aerial genus into a terrestrial one by potting it. Orchids are said to have enough adaptability for such conversion. I hope this is true.

Orchids are the prettiest among all flowers. The very word orchid is synonymous with exotic beauty. They may be rather fussy to cultivate, but the effort is truly worthwhile.

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Also see: Photos: Electric blue flowers

Photos: Flowers from Switzerland

Photos copyright KO Isaac. Click on photos for enlarged view.
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Also see:
Karthiki captures some Olavipe flowers

B and a Malayalam song

Yesterday (November 9) afternoon I came across a DD Malayalam presentation of original sound track of Vayalar cinema songs. When I switched on the TV it was, to my disappointment, the last part of ‘Sanyasini’. Fortunately, another immortal song followed – ‘Chakravartini’ from the movie ‘Chemparathi’. It brought back some memories.

One was of my late friend whom I shall call B for the sake of anonymity. This big made man was a hero of Cochin sixty years back. Those days he used to be known as ‘Kaloor’ B. He was captain of the Maharaja’s College football team and a student leader. Later he became a successful businessman.

I came to know B only in 1979 and soon we became friends. Within the tough exterior he had a heart of gold. Those days some of us used to have occasional musical evenings. They were informal gatherings where anyone could sing. The problem however was that some who could sing didn’t know the lyrics and others who could not sing but knew all the words. So, once in a way, we invited as guest an outsider who could sing. On one such evening B was also present.

The guest artiste was good and rendered several popular numbers. After a while B said, “Those are okay, but sing a really good song.”

“Suggest one please”, the singer said.

B thought for a moment and responded, “That song where the girl leaves her shoes outside and goes in”.

Most of us did not catch on immediately. But the singer did and came out with ‘Chakravarthini’. He sang it very well. B was happy and so were all of us.

I have heard a story about the origin of the song but can’t vouch that it is true. The movie ‘Chemparathi’ was produced by SK Nair. He was an exporter, industrialist, and publisher. He also had a hotel named Neela at Quilon.

Vayalar Rama Varma and some of the key people who were connected with the movie were at Neela. SK was worried that Vayalar had not written the lyrics yet. He went across to the bar where the poet was and requested him to speed up. Perhaps Vayalar was a bit irritated at being chased. He asked for a piece of paper and sitting on the bar stool, wrote ‘Chakravarthini’.

Whether this story is real or not, the lyrics created by Vayalar are great.

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Also see:

Malayalam songs: Lyrics

Malayalam cinema: Random thoughts

Book review: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner was an international bestseller that was published in thirty-four countries. Now he has come out with a new novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. It is the story of Mariam and Laila, of war ravaged Afghanistan, of characters that come to life in the minds of the readers.

Hosseini starts with Mariam, an almost ostracized girl from the outskirts of Herat. At the age of fifteen she is married off to a shoemaker almost thirty years older to her. She follows him to far away Kabul. On the night of the consummation of the wedding the husband tells her, “It’s what all married people do.”

If Mariam were to ask, ‘For what?’ the answer might have been, ‘To beget male children’. But questions by women are taboo. The man goes to his room, leaving the girl “to wait out the pain below, to look at the frozen stars in the sky and a cloud that draped the face of the moon like a wedding veil.”

After about a hundred pages the author puts Mariam in suspended animation and moves across the street to Laila, a nine-year-old schoolgirl. The link between the first two parts of the book is a blue Benz car that is once seen before Mariam’s house for a few hours. The thread wears thin as the pages are turned but still holds. Here Hosseini takes the risk of the readers loosing interest, but survives. Then fate brings Laila to Mariam’s abode and the story moves on.

At a few places one finds passive voice and shift from past tense to present tense. But the writer obviously knows the rules and is confident enough to break them with good effect.

Surprisingly there are a couple of discrepancies in the write up on the back cover of the book. Mariam is not “sent to Kabul to marry”. Laila does not “leave her home”. These mistakes could be misleading to potential readers, and should have been avoided.

A Thousand Splendid Suns gives glimpses of the history, culture, and the unbending traditions and practices of the land where the story takes place. It portrays the devastation caused by a prolonged war, sufferings and sacrifices, compassion. And acceptance of fate, like the point where Mariam tells Laila, “For me, it ends here.” Through all these, life, maimed or otherwise, goes on, and love endures.

Good reading.

There is a reading group guide to the book, which you can download at

www.bloomsbury.com/khaledhosseini

The author was born at Kabul but shifted to the United States in 1980. He is a goodwill envoy of the U.S. to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

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Also see: Book Review: The Other Side of Laurie Baker

Health: Slipped Disc (Prolapsed Disc) - a personal experience

This is a follow up on my post Health: Slipped Disc (Prolapsed Disc). I thought it could be useful to others if my experience with Slipped Disc (Prolapsed Disc) is recorded. But please understand that these are only a layman’s observations and should not be taken as an authoritative statement.

After seven days of medication, which relieved the pain completely, I was put on physiotherapy. I could either go to the hospital for the first fifteen sessions or have the therapist come home. On the doctor’s advice I chose the latter. The therapist’s qualifications run into twenty-two letters!

Each session had two parts. The first fifteen minutes involved site-specific use of equipment named TENS, which is an acronym for Transcuetaneous (hope I got the spelling right) Electrical Nerve Stimulator. Four electrodes are placed around the slipped disc. Once the equipment is switched on, initially you feel a series of pinpricks. The technician starts it gently and then increases the speed. I didn’t feel any discomfort except for a minute or so on the first day.

After the TENS session comes the major part of the exercises. These are meant to strengthen the muscles of the back, stomach and neck. I am told this would help to prevent new/ further episodes of slipped disc. The exercises are simple.

One set is to be done standing, mainly involving the shoulders. This I was to do on my own in the mornings after an initial demonstration by the physio. The other group is floor exercises lying on the back, under the supervision of the technician for the first fifteen days. After that I am to continue all the exercises for at least one month on my own. The recommendation is that ideally it should be made a regular habit.

The other suggestions given to me to prevent recurrence of slipped disc are:

always maintain correct posture

avoid bending from the hip; bend the knees instead

always use straight back chairs

try to rest the back as much as possible; this means lying down whenever one can

avoid soft beds and soft cushions

avoid lifting weights; if you have to, bend at the knees

avoid anything that strains the back

avoid sitting and walking for long stretches of time

to lie down, first sit on the bed, lean to the side using the elbow and the other hand for support and lower yourself on the side and lift the legs onto the bed at the same time.

lie flat on the back for at least some time.

I have found these very effective. But before getting on to such procedures, please consult a doctor. In some cases wearing a back supporting belt is prescribed.

In case you are interested to know, the physiotherapist charged me 150 Indian Rupees per home visit.

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Also see:

Health: Slipped Disc (Prolapsed Disc)

Cricket: Rahul Dravid’s ‘colonel’ bogey

A captain has to salute a colonel. Every time. Rahul Dravid might have thought that the rule applies only in the army. When he decided to put in his papers, whatever the reason was, he should have gone to the ‘Colonel’ and not to the Chief. That is apparently the desired drill.

There are some weird things about dropping Rahul Dravid from the Indian ODI team against Pakistan. We saw a player management company defending the team selection. What is their business in this matter? Well, they handle ‘Colonel’ Dilip Vengsarkar’s column. That’s fine. But the problem here is that they also manage a few players who are up or selection. It could amount to conflict of interest.

This does not mean that Vengsarkar would play favorites. But it would have been better if the player management company had kept quiet instead of justifying the selection and the propriety of the Chairman of the Selection Committee and some of the contenders for selection being under the same flag. I can’t understand why the 'Colonel’ keeps this writing assignment when he the chief of selectors. Reportedly he gets a pittance for the column.

Another strange aspect is the reasons given for dropping Rahul Dravid. At first it was said that Dravid was being rested. Then it was something like old order yielding place to new. (Rahul Dravid is 34. I think Don Bradman retired at the age of 40.) Next, only two seniors out of the three would be in the team at a time. Then again, the team was selected on merit. Seems like setting the policy after the event!

Politics and zonal considerations, among other things, are making a mess of Indian cricket, notwithstanding the Twenty-20 win. We seem to be perpetually ‘developing a team for the future’. What about here and now? The policy should be to select the best team available, a squad that can beat Pakistan in the coming series. With such an approach, deserving new players would automatically get inducted.

Coming back to Rahul Dravid. He left or had to leave captaincy after winning the last test series, against England, and a fighting loss in the shorter version. Vengsarkar, a good batsman, lost the captaincy after a two year stint, when his team could not win a single match on the West Indies tour of 1989(?). When posterity looks at the history of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid’s name would be right there at the top whether he is picked again for the Indian team or not.

In my post of September 16, ‘Cricket: Board games and bucks – Rahul Dravid out!’, I wrote, ‘Dravid would continue to be available to play for India if the powers be deign to select him.’ The position remains the same.

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