A canvas that stretched from childhood

WEEKENDS were reserved for family in my household, where three generations of women sat down with brushes, semi-precious stones and canvas to make tanjore paintings. As a frisky child I used to find great pleasure in dipping my fingers in ``mug'' (a paste used to superimpose the designs on the canvas) and letting it drip all over the floor in patterns. I learnt this wonderful art at a very young age and indulged in capturing whatever designs that caught my fancy, right from the traditional hindu gods to more post-modern motifs.

My husband for the life of him could not understand why I spent hours wrestling with the canvas and the happiness I found at the end of it when I was decorated with blotches of ``mug'' and paint. There is a certain sense of contentment, which fills your soul when you capture that twinkle in the eyes of Krishna while stealing butter. He would suitably be impressed with the final product and make sure that it graced the walls of our house. Once his German colleague and his wife had come home for a semi- formal dinner.

The wife, whose name is a tongue twister, was very impressed with my work and wanted to know whether I would sell them to her. I agreed and made two paintings for her that she loved and her friends started contacting me for pieces. Suddenly I was flooded with international calls and my afternoon siesta became a thing of the distant past and late nights and dark circles had become a constant companion.

At one time I even managed to cajole my husband to carefully scrape out the gold foil covering the stones, a task which now my youngest son takes on gleefully. When the orders became too much to handle I sweet- talked my best friend into becoming my partner as she too enjoys waxing eloquently on the nuances of shape and texture of a sheet of gold foil.

With the new additions to the family we had to take the business out into the garage away from the curious hands and feet. From paintings we moved towards making panels, and screens that became a huge hit.

The money that came in helped us to buy quality materials and experiment with newer designs and mediums and of course, added to our kitty for that proverbial rainy day.

Malini Suryanarayanan