These are the clothes that will make me happy when I wear them
And also be cool while talking about books in a pink sweater which is a real challenge
But, have you ever wanted to buy vegetables in Amalfi in a red dress? I have…
And if you ever came to visit when I was wearing this pink flamingo shirt, I would totally let you in…
THURSDAY • 15th Aug holiday: Apart from mourning for democracy, spent grieving for my lost sense of humour and my declining sense of poetry. Which reminded me of what Lekha said once: “One day you’ll wake up and you won’t be able to recognize yourself…”. And how much of what is really worth it. “What is the price of your sense of self,” I ask the universe. “It’s a cup of coffee and a cookie,” says the brown boy.
This one is for Punam and Deepa.
Some of you may know that I’ve had this blog for nearly 15 years. The earliest post was May 2006. Here’s a post from those hot summer days when Delhi was baking and I was sitting in our top floor walk-up in East of Kailash, using our old Windows desktop to write those posts. This is the first one with the anteater –
who was going to be one of the characters in an alphabet book I was illustrating at the time. At the time I really didn’t want to be a designer and only wanted to illustrate children’s books, and didn’t even know how important this anteater is going to become in my life!
Here’s another book I illustrated at the time, which someone has even made into a read aloud story on Youtube!
Anyway I was trying to remember what I was doing ten years ago in September 2010 – it’s only been a decade but feels like a generation in the age of the world. I had just returned from Sweden and had probably started working in TIL by then. By September I had found my groove with drawing again, and was as usual worrying about inspiration, drawing and happiness in Creative block and Being happy.
Finally when I read Plato and Platypus walk into a bar in 2016 it all made sense for me…
Just like I have countless drawings from 2003-2005 of the brown boy sleeping, now I have those of Orin’s endless meals as he grows…
Sometimes we fight over the music playlist and fall into each other’s joke traps.
At other times we have some deep conversations.
“No one has fun without anyone, Amma”
“You need to draw the details, Amma”, he says. So I do –
“Why do you always draw when I draw, Orin?” “Because it’s like you and me cuddling, Amma!”
My friend k_space gifted Just Kids to me a decade ago and since then Patti Smith, with her music and her writing, have been my spiritual savior. I squeezed M Train out for months, not wanting to let go of her company.
“Never let go of that fiery sadness called desire.”
Patti Smith
There’s a game we play at work, called Facts and lies, which goes like this: you have to share three things about yourself that others may not know, and the others have to guess which one is a lie.
I played this with our teams in India and in the States –
So, what did you think? Leave a comment below / send an email.
Once in a while you’ll meet people with whom there will be such a connection…
Everything is better with friends.
Said Maira Kalman in her wonderful book Cake, and I take those words very seriously. If you’ve been reading my blog for some time you will know that’s all I ever think about and sometimes do things…
Here’s a drawing of morotskaka that the brown boy has loved ever since Malmö and we are made to eat it often.
This wishful drawing is from my birthday two years ago – when I was more concerned about growing older than I am now.
“The wonderful thing about cake is it really is connected to so many moments, not just celebratory moments, but moments of heartache.”
Maira Kalman
and last year I discovered this wonderful concoction.
So what’s your favorite? Or can you even have favorites?
inktales 