Like I posted earlier, I read White last year and loved it. Here’s a drawing I made during that time.
[WHITE
Every morning I sit and drink my coffee and read a few pages of White in silence and calm, and it’s a beautiful meditative experience reading this book. I feel thankful for life and everything that is still left in this world for me to wonder at.]
Read it for the experience as well as for the content.
From the sketchbook called Captivity (Feb 2017).
In May 2018 this blog inktales completed 12 years. That’s a really long relationship in my life, second only to the brown boy! At 10 years I found that I had nearly 120 sketchbooks – those have contributed to nearly 600 posts, despite the ebb and flow of sharing. And after a gap of nearly 3 years, I’ve started posting again a few weeks ago.
For new friends and new visitors, here’s a list of my favorite posts over the years:
Zones of privacy and The slow art of bookmaking
Living in Mumbai 1: First attempts & Living in Mumbai 2: The designer’s solution to all problems
False Representation & Epilogue
A divine collision | What happened in Dharmsala
A book’s tours | In which a book I bought in Seattle sends us to Paris
Parenting and your sense of self
Metaphysical | Deconstructing feelings and change
Paris, not me | Thoughts on romantic love
Getting where we’re going | Living everyday
Holiday Journal 2 | How drawing saves me
Two people, who have since become dear friends, began their entry into my life with the following introductions:
What pressure, now I see, for me to be the messenger of “new things” in their lives. Novelty, thy middle name should be “Soo”.
Have you ever given a thought to why you become friends with someone?
From the sketchbook called Captivity, Feb 2017.
[Soo: Do you think I’ll ever achieve anything in my life?
Anteater: Hmm. Why don’t you? Why doesn’t everybody?]
[Anteater: She doesn’t remember me when she’s happy – but it doesn’t matter. I’m happy loving her with no expectations.
Soo: Aww…I’ve just been working hard, that’s all.]
Most of you know that the anteater suddenly landed up in my sketchbook way back in 2009. I like to think that he is the representation of all my absent friends, and for me, drawing a conversation with him is like getting a hug!
Here’s one from a Monday:
[Anteater: What are you up to?
Soo: I’m being exasperated.
Anteater: Aha. I’m being zen.]
His smugness kills me. And here’s another one (drawn for you, pacificleo!)
[Soo: I’m waiting for you to talk to me…
Anteater: Hmmm…?]
A year or so ago, I used to have a morning ritual of waking up and reading some poetry with coffee. Once in a while I would read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and during that time, I also read White by Kenya Hara. (It’s such a meditative, beautiful book, and it was rather a spiritual and other worldly experience for me.)
One of those mornings, I read this poem by Denise Levertov. Though it’s about immersing our human consciousness in the natural world, to me the last few lines evoked how we continue to voluntarily lose ourselves in the virtual world.
“No one discovers
just where we’ve been, when we’re caught up again
–but we have changed, a little.”
From the sketchbook called Finding Soo • August 2016.
Back in 2015, I faced a serious identity crisis. Most women sail through these transitional times like swans, I however was more sinking than swimming. Eventually I found a sense of self but it took almost a year.
In those days, I felt cramped by my earlier visual language, and struggled to evolve my usual ink lines into something else.
Friends recommended all sorts of media, but I just couldn’t break out of line.
I explored drawing with brushes, ink and pastels but the cloud wouldn’t budge.
The only benefit after all that, was the brown boy was happy.
I came across this drawing from a late-2015 sketchbook called Cabbage Lady. (Yes, I name each sketchbook.)
I don’t recall the context, but in those days I was taking a lot of Uber rides to work.
Some people are happy with their small wins.
The sooner you realize the extent of your life the happier you’ll be.
One day when I was still pregnant, Indira and I were talking about the baby.
“I guess I’ll get bored with it in three months,” I said. “It’ll probably be like an app or a gadget.”
But around six months we were still enamored! And to my consternation, I learnt that babies keep changing all the time, so there is really no scope to get bored!
