Ink Pot – Page 11 – Blue Pen Strokes

Brilliant Strokes

Ansh has showcased his work in 43 exhibitions. His paintings have found global affection with more than 400 of his acrylic paintings adorning the homes of patrons in India, Canada, German, Dubai and Hong Kong. He has been featured in newspapers and regularly participates in art competititions.

When you seek beauty and bliss, it seeks you out in return, in its myriad forms. After writing about Shreyan’s creativity, I came across another brilliant, young artist. Ansh Batra, a 14-year old boy, delves mostly in abstract paintings on acrylic. Ansh started painting in his early years and has found refuge and expression in shapes and colors.

A kaleidoscope of colors, the paintings bring cheer and joy. Sometimes, they also reflect inner chaos and jumbled visions, as the artist seeks answers. Whatever be the medium, a work of art can be interpreted in several ways and Ansh’s work resonated with some verses in my archives.

Just waves in the sea
Dewdrops on a petal
Clouds pregnant with rain
Life in motion, fluid, pristine
Souls waiting to be free
Musings by ANEESHA SHEWANI

There is no apology
For being simply you
A yellow leaf
Is pretty still
In verdant foliage
A sign of autumn
In a life well-lived
MUSINGS BY ANEESHA SHEWANI

The kiss of a setting sun
On the lips of a dying day
A final blush, an orange glow
Before a black shroud
Covers the last ray
MUSINGS by ANEESHA SHEWANI

Dreams explode
Under the pressure
Of restless nights
They now float free
From my eyelid to yours
In triumphant audacity
Musings by ANEESHA SHEWANI

Ansh is a special child with autism. His art has received the unconditional love and blessings of his parents. Anshul, his mother, with utmost humility says that Ansh is learning to work with colors and canvas and will continue to learn all his life. A preview of Ansh’s work is available on his Facebook page managed by Anshul.

With unpretentious and dedicated pursuit of his passion for different strokes, Ansh has showcased his work in 43 exhibitions. His paintings have found global affection with more than 400 paintings adorning the homes of patrons in India, Canada, German, Dubai, and Hong Kong. He has been featured in newspapers and regularly participates in art competitions. His work reflects the depth of the caption in a Facebook video that features his artistic method – “We’re all little broken; last time I checked broken crayons still color.”

The Creative Mind

It all starts with a vision – be it a venture, a painted artwork, a sheaf of writing – and many a times across time and space they converge. A delayed monsoon made me crave the soul nourishment of the rains and I rummaged through some of my micro-verses looking for succour. I came across two previously written poems to feature on my blog.

Yesterday, like everyday, I was browsing through The Special Mom – Samavesh, a wonderful group created by dear friend, Kreeti. A post by Joyashree, caught my eye. It was a painting by her 12-year old son, Shreyan, His art was complementing the verses I had dug out from my archives.

I reached out to Joyashree and shared how beautiful the artwork was and the words I had written. As we chatted, I got to see another brilliant piece on the theme of boats and stormy skies by Shreyan. It was touching.

In absolute awe and delight at the acrylic painting on paper, I am sharing two of Shreyan’s pieces here with his mother’s permission. Joyashree says, a fun-loving adolescent, Shreyan loves to paint water bodies and shapes.

The little boy
Floats a paper boat
In a puddle on the road
To him it is the ocean
He on a voyage aboard
Musings by ANEESHA SHEWANI

Rain-filled clouds
Like cotton glaze
On a summer sky
The sun playing
Hide and seek
A silver lining here
A rainbow bridge there
MuSINGS BY ANEESHA SHEWANI

Acrylic on Paper by Shreyan Chakraborty (12 years old)

What is most inspiring about this artwork is that Shreyan is a special child, having been diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 years. Painting is his refuge and voice. He is expressing his vision of beauty and adoration for nature. We catch a glimpse of his beautiful mind and soul through his artwork.

Shreyan is one of the many whose creativity has found a platform on Samavesh (Inclusion). Kreeti has put her full force and compassion behind this amazing group of pure souls, who bring so much joy through their pursuit of creativity. I have seen intricately designed jewelry, clay work, and renditions of music and dance on this platform.

The profile of Samavesh says, “Let’s change the narrative, celebrate and showcase their talents and brilliance, and not their challenges.” Challenges, however, are a part of life and here is a shout out to all the lovely parents who are helping their children overcome everyday hurdles – one hug, one encouraging word at a time. Thank you, Joyashree, for bringing brushes and paints to Shreyan to brighten our world.

To learn more about collaborating with Samavesh and endorsing the work of these children, you can write to: contact@thespecialmom.org

Books, Paper, and Pens

Books were bought with care and cherished; not hoarded into digital spaces because someone recommended the next best-seller. Reading was not competition; it was relaxation.

I have a Rumi Pocketbook in my desk, since more than two decades, and once upon a time it gave me much succour. That was before the age of the madness of devices. It moved around with me one house to another, packed in boxes. Then, it lay quietly in a drawer, waiting, holding words of wisdom in it’s bosom, until my 11-year old son retrieved it and asked if it was age-appropriate for him to read! My heart overflowed with joy!

It is important to have books in the house – hardcovers, paperbacks; diaries, 📒 notebooks and stationery – little treasures, waiting to be discovered. Let your children unearth the bounty, find solace and refuge in the power of the written word. My son writes in his little Harry Potter themed journal or blogs only after jotting down ideas in a notebook. He loves glitter pens and gel pens, and no batch of bookmarks🔖 or post-it notes are ever enough. We share our love for stationery and to his credit I have introduced him to the indulgence. I blogged about this earlier also.

Vacation Interrupted – Sikkim, 2017 – Part 3

June 8, 2017 – Winding up our site-seeing, we reached our cosy hotel-with-a-view in Gangtok from Lachung in Sikkim. Our intent was to shop, laze around, relax in the night, devour a leisurely breakfast buffet the next morning, drive down back to Bagdogra, and fly back home in the evening. In Gangtok, we heard murmurs of violence in Darjeeling, West Bengal. An agitation was brewing against the alleged imposition of Bengali language on the locals.

We were advised to leave early the next day to catch our flight from Bagdogra. Later that evening, at MG Road, jam packed with tourists, the atmosphere was tense. People enquired about the proclaimed bandh on June 9, and asked if they should drive back to Bagdogra in the night, instead of the morning. Tourists queued up at ATMs. It was difficult to get into the narrow offices of any of the cab-services providers.

Perilous Mountains of Sikkim, 2017 – Part 2

Far from civilization, in extreme weather conditions, no connectivity, living each day in disciplined rhythm, probably the soldiers also wait for the colourful, boisterous tourists to arrive at their sentinel!

Literally, the last frontier for civilian vehicles, the Zero Point, Yumthang in North Sikkim, just 15 km from the China border, is your chance to see and touch remnants of the winter snow, in the month of June. The area is barren but the treacherous journey is picturesque, the eternal romance of the mountains and clouds changing colors and tactics on alpine slopes. Sometimes you can see the blush of pink mountain flowers, many times the rugged energy of a river breaking down the mountain, rock by rock, stone by stone!

Tourists follow the serpentine rugged roads to reach the cold altitude of 15000 feet. They stand in awe at what is the edge of a certain part of the country and they cross a rickety plank bridge to touch the crumbling snow. In winter months, travelers engage in snow ball fights in rented gear!

Photo highlight – Freezing temperature and the husband carrying snow across the plank bridge, in his hands so that the children could hold it!

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