Life with Picasso, Art
I recently finished reading this book Life with Picasso, and there was much in that book that I wanted to remember for ever. So I made some visual notes for myself. This is the first in that series.
Quoted from the book, page numbers to be updated.
The children of the village
So, another day we went to Dhordo village in Kutch to meet some of the craftsmen.
While everyone was admiring the crafts, I went to draw the kids sitting outside and making bead necklaces. Each of them make and sell their own handicrafts to earn pocket money. While I was drawing, all of them gathered around and then took turns for me to draw them one by one!
Digging in Kutch
A couple of weeks ago the brown boy and I went to visit an excavation site in Kutch.
We flew to Ahmedabad and then went on by road to Nakhatrana, a village in the Bhuj district.
The trip was organized by Anita and Udaya who run India Adventure Curry.
The site was estimated to be from the Mature Harappan age, between 2700-2200 B.C. We learnt that it was probably a pit stop for travellers, who would come and stay for a few days, mostly with cattle, and would use a barter system to pay for goods and services.
The team was quite small, a few Phd students and a few Archeology students. Here they are hard at work. This is Solmaz with the spade, who’s come from Iran
And this is another student, Sutapa
Archeology is an admirable profession, when viewed from up close.
BB: So what will you do with all the antiquities that you’ve found?
P: Whatever we don’t need for our documentation we’ll bury it. So that in the distant future if anyone excavates it, they’ll learn about us…
EPILOGUE
I was reading Why be happy when you can be normal on this trip. And on P/114 J.W. writes (in a different context, but nevertheless) “Yes, the past is another country, but one that we can visit, and once there, bring back the things we need.”
Travellers
I was traveling more than usual in February, and spending a lot of time in those placeless places called airports. Needless to say I kept myself entertained drawing – and judging – other travelers. (Click on the images to larger views)
Chinese new year
This year I spent Chinese new year with yet another aunt and uncle – Bengalis have many, many uncles and aunts each – and their Chinese friend Wayang. We went to a restaurant called Mayflower. It was rather exotic.
And in between all the eating and drinking and talking, which I totally enjoyed, I managed to quickly make this drawing.
inktales 