Wednesday, February 25, 2009

More Kerala Sketches

Dancer
Dancer
Musician
Dancers
Here are a few more sketches made on my Kerala cruise (and after the cruise, in Cochin).

I'm about to leave on a two-week trip so I can't be more specific right this minute-- but if you read OUTLOOK TRAVELLER's March issue, you'll get a little more background detail!

10 comments:

arvindh said...

Thank you for uploading these! I love the drummer's expression.

Anonymous said...

The guy who plays the "mridangam" looks like an individual with no stage presence. His sheepish grin, to me, seems to convey, "Heck! I'm caught amidst this hip hop,nouveau rich crowd, though I have no business to be here in this yacht. I know they will not understand my music either. I hope my intrusion will be forgiven!".

And "theyyam" is spelt just that and not "theyyan". Arundhathi Roy called her elephant in "Small Things" "Kochu Thomban". I wonder whether she knows even now, it should have been "Kochu Komban".

EYE said...

I love the undercover bit. it is an exciting to steal one self away from the world and do what one likes without getting judged.
And lovely sketches!

Unknown said...

Hi and thx all. Paul M., your interpretation of the mridangam player's expression is quite eloquent! I don't know whether I actually captured his expression or whether my sketch rendered an expression that wasn't on the player's face ...

And yes, I know it's "theyyam" not "theyan" -- thanks for pointing that out. I think the final "n" got either cut off in scannning the sketch or else I misspelt the word in my haste at the time of making the sketch.

EYE, I'm not so sure that I succeed in my undercover activities! Just that I never cease to try!

Anonymous said...

hi! the sketches are rather lovely and something abt them, maybe their not being complete, gives them the desired kinetic quality;it also reminds me of Rodin's sketches of Combodian dancers.

I happen to be in Kerala at the moment. Have you had the chance to vsist this 3000 years old Hanuman temple in Tiru? It has some lovely wall paintings...

Unknown said...

Hello and thank you Abhimanyu k Singh. No, I've not been to that site. Not very surprising all considered, as I'm not an avid sight-seer at the best of times and I've only rarely ever been to my home state (maybe five times in my whole life and only brief visits).

So the Cochin trip was quite a surprise for me! And I did have a good time, which, I suppose is the point of all paid junkets.

Anonymous said...

'tourism' is not something i am fond of too;i was forced to go!

btw, i strutted my stuff by the name of fiercepothead before(expressed my admiration for 'Morning Glory...Kailash' once, if you remember. i invite you to visit my new blog.

i am already following yours. hope you don't mind.

Unknown said...

Yup, I remember "fiercepothead". Not quite sure WHAT I remember but that's not the kind of name anyone is likely to forget!!

As for minding if you follow this blog, ummm ... I dunno about you, but I have yet to meet ANY blogger who has the slightest teeniest weeniest SQUEENIEST bit of resistance to the presence of regular visitors!

Anonymous said...

thank you for remembering!
as to 'what' exactly,i hadn't said anything abt "Morning Glory...Kailash" then, so you are right abt not knowing the specifics. so i will say now. i found your potrayal of the gay couple extra-ordinarily life-like - i happen to know one exactly,i repeat exactly, like that(give and take a bit) and esp. when you say that they were more concious of you being a woman than you,yourself were,it cuts just too close to the bone. that piece is better than so many novels i have read.actually, i should thank you for that piece(tbc)...

Anonymous said...

and i mentioned those wall paintings for a specific reason. in one of the paintings, there was ganesha being worshipped by what looked like moorish kings. i asked the priests but they wouldn't know. thought possibly you could enlighten me, but you have washed your hands off already!