Till Now!

I had been to Mangalore on April 30th. I voted and later that day visited my painting guru. Even a casual talk with him can be a great learning experience for me. As usual we had several topics to chat; starting from of course paintings to Books to philosophy to mythology to family and relatives (He is family too) and what not. I had created 4 paintings and I took them specially to get his opinion on my work. He liked some and thought I could have done better on others. I got some scoldings for not filling the pages on my sketch book. Thanks to the cell phone camera, I carried back with me some of his sketches for exercise.

During my previous visit I had requested him to paint for me, a special painting – Summary of Mahabharata. This time, we discussed the major events from the epic that would contribute the expression of this resulting painting. I am glad he as agreed for this. We also discussed about Jiddu krishnamurti (JK), of whose writing and thoughts he seems to be a big fan of.

Ambassador of simplicity

While interacting with young students who learn there, I recollected my days as student. This time round, I got to be part of his book release function also. Some of his well wishers have collected few of his sketches and published it as a book. The book release function was very nice; especially because this was the first time I was listening to my Guru’s public speech. Well known Mr. Dr.Mohan Alva was the chief guest.

Rest of the weekend, we visited temples, friends & relatives. We went to Saligrama & Subramanaya temple. We visited P’s family’s ancestral house. My FIL’s cousin is a good artist too and he has a workshop where they make dolls for Gombe Mella (Doll carnivals). We had a look at different molds and masks created by him. Rest of the holiday went in capturing the beautiful flowers and birds visiting my house (which I have posted earlier).

After returning to Bangalore…P got busy with her new / first job as a lecturer in a very prestigious college and me with mine. But we took some time off on weekend to watch a play – “Bhikre Bimb”, the Kannada version of which I had loved and watched twice. Arundati nag has done a great job…however I think that her command over Kannada language is more impactful than Hindi. I have to watch the English version of the same play by Girish Karnad. My friends M & S loved the play too. So those who like or even don’t like plays! You must watch “Odakalu Bimbha” or in Hindi “Bikhre Bimb” at Rangashankara, JP nagar. Here. is my review on the Kannada version.

I watched one good movie called – Vick Christina Barcelona. I liked it for the crazy adventures in life and the struggle that extremely creative people go through to find peace and harmony in life. Penelope Cruz very well deserves the Oscar she won this year for the best supporting actress. I also liked the way the movie was narrated….like to say to a kid…”Vick and Christina went to Barcelona one summer….sightseeing is what they did and then later that evening, they had dinner….” Most part of the movie has a voice over which explains the acts, expressions and hidden thoughts which I think display an otherwise complicated and highly emotional situation in rather much simple and quicker way. It’s an interesting approach new to me so far; amazing location too.

As I write this…I am already getting ready for another trip to Mangalore, this evening; on vacation till Thursday. :-)