Tag: art

Oh, those walls

Buildings are beautiful. Despite the negativity around schools, places of worship, or even court houses, the structure of some of those buildings is fascinating. And the reason is because what’s on the outside is far more interesting than what’s inside. One such building I came across during my visit to Kerala is this information centre in a national park. The inside of it was hollow, without much of the information it promised to contain. Nevertheless, the outside had a variety of textures to enjoy.

information centre

A good deed

“According to the survey, most of our nation’s population lives in substandard conditions. The home minister suggests outsourcing development efforts.” The reporter drew a breath, and Meera exhaled.

“Oh, these poor people,” she sighed, turning to her husband. Flipping through documents, he nodded without looking up. “Yeah…” he drifted off—construction business was taxing.

“Let’s do something about this.” Meera faced him, hands on her hips.
Prem looked at her, bemused. “Huh?”

“Try to get that government contract. This is our chance to do good to the country.”

Or, he calculated, to experiment the cheap material his friend had suggested.

Handmade in Pondicherry

I appreciate a well crafted handcraft, but I never choose fanciness over comfort. To me, a plain pair of flip-flops is always better than the leather-bound slippers with meticulous design. I wouldn’t even spare a second glance at the glittery, stone-studded stuff.

Having said that, when I saw these in Pondicherry, I couldn’t help but lose my composure. Not only did they catch my eye, but I almost considered buying a pair of these slippers. Now that’s unusual. Pondicherry is full of little shops like these where specialised cobblers custom-make footwear for customers. They measure the foot size and get it done within an hour. I was impressed by how soon they could deliver, and the fine finish in these footwear. They weren’t too cheap, but not over the top pricey either.

handmade footwear in Pondicherry

Wandering soul

wandering

Great start to the week, James mused looking at the bleary-eyed fifth years rummaging their backpacks for paint and brushes. Art was the first class on Mondays.

He walked amongst students, now hunched over with brush strokes waltzing on canvases. Later at his desk, James was skirting through the paintings when he stopped at Jason’s. Jason’s family had fallen apart a few months ago, James knew, when his widower father had left, leaving Jason in his grandmother’s care.

James stared at Jason’s painting—a boat adrift the sun-kissing ocean— and realised Jason had drawn not a boat but his heart.