Krishna for a day - Part 1

 Prologue

Keshav is a Chennai based Illustrator who was also a columnist for 'The Hindu' for nearly a decade. His name strikes a bell if you think about the cartoons featured in the newspaper. His series called 'Krishna for today' has hit a wave amongst youngsters and the older generation alike. His style of interpreting the vedic texts and fusion of concepts from world art are his USP.

 

We were counting down the numbers and we located the house. A rustic wall painting of Ganesha in yellow and red captured my eye right at the start. We knew we were there 

 

I had a lengthy love-hate relationship with watercolours that lasted for decades. As a kid, I could never get a grip of watercolour techiques and sadly I just left it there. If not for Sushma and Keshav sir, I would not have gone back to it. The first one for pushing me to do my best and the second one for inspiring the contents of my artwork.

 

Meeting him had been my dream and that day I knew I was living it. A warm welcome from Maami preceded our self-introduction and took us into the house. Our eyes were rolling all around trying to skim the paintings on the walls. We could recognize a few from his Instagram page. While we were trying to get a second detailed look, Keshav sir walks in subtly greeting us with a Namaste.

 

I usually find interactions with celebrities brain-freezing. I can hardly think and I usually end up talking something other than what I planned. But here, luckily I was still in my senses and the conversation picked up well.

 

“I see that your paintings have a profound connection with the religious texts. Do  you spend time reading them to incorporate them in your works ?”

 

“Not in fact. Once you get into that zone and you keep progressing, things come to you. You get fed with the right things” he said. And I could totally relate to this. He added on “In fact, my political sketches for the Hindu was almost an accident, but I went on for about 15 years”

 

“Sir, can we start off seeing your paintings?” I could hardly hold my enthusiasm. He said that he had to complete a painting (His Thiruppavai series) and he might not have much time. My excitement dropped a bit but not more than a second as we started off walking into his art room. An elaborate art work of Maha Periyava was the first, and he calls him the inspiration for his artworks. He had a wooden desk where an unfinished painting was lying down. I was looking at it closely and the pencil outline was just impeccable.

The wall facing the desk had a detailed work of Krishna in bright cobalt blue.  I could not take my eyes off and was starting to wonder – Is Keshav getting inspired seeing this Krishna everyday or Is Krishna amusing himself seeing Keshav s work getting done one by one? He then took us around and showed another piece in progress. A large canvas about 10 feet in breadth with an outline of Lord Ranganatha in the centre. It wont be long before this transforms into a masterpiece

 

Taking a glimpse at his workstation again, we walked out and he led us to the gallery room

 

(To be continued..)