Wednesday 15th October
2014 from 16:00 (Mauritian time) to 18:30 at the New-Grove “baitka”.
On Wednesday (a very sunny day),
there was to be a representation of a classical session on the “Bharat Natyam” dance
on the devotional theme ‘the dancing of Lord Shiva’. The well-known dancer
residing at New-Grove, Dr Gitanjali Pentiah (also coincidently a college friend
of mine) was to give a demonstration to the class, followed by individual
monitoring. They had already been informed of my presence on that day by the
President and after the formalities upon my arrival, I located a small space at
the back which had a good source of light where I could position myself in such
a way to be able to observe discreetly and paint without disturbing or being
disturbed.
The class consisted of eight
girls’ students aged from seven to ten. Another section of the “baitka” (in
another room) was occupied by elderly people (together with the President) who
regularly gather around every two-three days. They are really a welcoming,
cheerful and bubbling bunch of people embedded in the richness of their past
with always a good story to tell and make you feel at ease, all in the versed
Mauritian “bhojpuri” dialect. (My “Bhojpuri” is limited as I have unfortunately
not been raised in an extended family: “Bhojpuri”, a dialect which originated from Calcutta and Bihar regions of India where Indian Immigrants came from and used to converse with when they came to Mauritius.
Only few people, mostly elderlies, use this language nowadays.)
As any dance form, “Bharat Natyam” is
about practice, rigour and discipline and my friend Gitanjali was simply superb,
dressed in a splendid costume; teaching, demonstrating and flowing around. I
wanted to be immersed in the atmosphere. The mood was relaxing, lively, colourful
and cheerful. As I set my canvas for work, I immediately knew what I wanted to
paint. I think that I had always known when I had visited the place for the
first time: I wanted to bring out the true “essence” that I felt from this
place. Now feeling something so strongly was exciting, however putting it out rightly
on canvas was really a “testing my boundary” task.
I knew what I wanted, now I had
to figure out HOW to do it. I wanted to go in the flow and not to think too
much. Seeing the eye catching, exquisitely dressed dancer in front of me, I
reflected that starting with her could be a good idea as I pointed to myself
that my primary source would lead me to the next step. I drew on a central
character; added on the arched beams and columns present to the background and a
suggested idea about a “mandala” on the lower part of the work. I was very
eager to start painting. Here are some pictures of what I did:
WORK IN PROGRESS:
After this session, I returned home with different emotions at the same time. Foremost, I was not satisfied with what I had done. For me the central character looked sad and had a lost and tired look. The paint was not pulsing with happiness as I had anticipated. I was feeling drained too.. I then decided that I needed a change ...
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