i still remember the shivers that went through me, when the class which i was in, was told to make a sketch titled 'my garden' in the social studies text book. i was 7 years old and studying at 2nd standard at ideal indian school, doha. for a boy of 7, that sketch seemed to be the question of life and death for me.. because i knew i had to depend on someone else to do it. amma understood my dilemma and drew a sunflower in my test which i colored beautifully in shades of yellow and brown.
the next week the topic was 'my family'. amma told me it would be tough for her. i went to papa. brushing up his skills that he had used during his college days for filling up zoological records, he took out a family photo and made the sketch which to me, was the most beautiful i had ever seen. it was the first time that i had seen an artist at work. i hang over his shoulder, watching him create the basic shapes and then go into the details...i happily colored papa, amma, me and my months-old young bro in amma's hands. it was papa's rendering of the family with the image of amma's drawing of the sunflowers that got me interested into drawing...the world of lines and colors
i took out all the amar chitra kathas and illustrated bibles. i vividly remember the first sketches i made. all black and out of shape....slowly by slowly, i came into terms with the 'one' in me...i was able to draw.. amma was really happy about it. i drew some beautiful sunflowers for her.
papa encouraged me a lot. he bought me colors, gave advices about the sketches... he sent me for vacation classes to mr. a.h. mirza, the art teacher at my school. papa dropped me at his accomodation and picked me up later. mirza sir took my hand and led me into colors... a world which till then was evidently open in front of me but i was never able to appreciate it, let alone, be a part of it. he taught me water color painting. friends and relatives came to consider me talented. i made posters for exhibitions and even made some money painting movie posters for the video cassette shop nearby.
when kr narayanan became the first malayalee president of india, i took up the picture that was full-page on malayala manorama and made a portrait. papa gave me the idea to send it over for the prez's autograph. i even had done a portrait of i.k. gujral the prime minister at that time. papa made some color photocopies of the two pictures. i send the originals over to the rashtrapati bhavan and the pm's office. in three months time, i got a reply from the secretary to the pm's office, a congratulatory note and the autographed portrait. when i didnt get any response from the prez, i send over a color copy. after an year, i got the autographed portrait with an appreciation letter from the home of the indian president.
i even got a report on malayala manorama sunday supplement gulf edition and a full-page report in the thursday weekly supplement of gulf times.
after i left doha for my animation studies, i seldom took up the paints. i just did some occasional pencil portraits. that was it.....after around 6 years, i was back in doha. it then took another 2 years to get that bug to sting me again. i opened my raja ravi varma folder and took out sita-apaharanam. i finished the sketch, bought some winston oil and water paints from jarir bookstore. i think i am on the roll again.....
