tales of Suchita

As a child I was always decent at drawing and painting. I used to take classes and when you’re anywhere below 10 years old, arts and crafts as a hobby and subject are mightily supported by teachers, schools and the curriculum.

I stopped a long time back. But not until a conversation with an editor who was asking what I enjoyed did I realize I had nothing substantial to add apart from books and writing. It was a rude shock that I had zero hobbies since my hobby of reading and writing had turned into a job.

I thought of reigniting that enjoyment of drawing and painting and thanks to Modern Gypsy, I made a proper foray into the mysterious world of water colours. The treasure hunt type adventure feel as I collected all the supplies, waited for them to arrive, and when they finally did, that shiny shiny new drawing book, made me feel invincible.

I picked up a brush and paints after 15 years. The last time I had done anything was in seventh standard when the book I was copying a painting of a bird from caused a mild scandal at school. It had these tiny nude paintings and when I refused to do anything about it, a well-meaning classmate picked up a sketch pen to block out the offending paintings. I was of course horrified that someone had defaced my mother’s book. But the innocence had to be preserved and the bird turned out so astonishingly well that I didn’t mind the scandal at all.

The feeling of putting brush to paint to paper was akin to remembering how to ride a bike. I hadn’t really forgotten the lessons and my little finger still stuck out as I held the brush to make a thin line – a technique I was taught to keep the hand steady.

My sister who was sitting there observing me exclaimed I looked like a school child and it hit me I was indeed feeling that old euphoria at having created something.

It was a first attempt after a long time but I was quite pleased with it nonetheless.

I had quite forgotten, after becoming a writer with self-doubt as a constant companion, what it means to create for the joy of creating. And this little half painting reminded me of that.