“The arts are not a way of making a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
Small old temple near "Sakal", the Marathi language newspaper, offices and old press in Pune. The backward lean in the drawing is all mine. Its a quirk I am aware of, but it creeps into drawings once in a while. I'm lopsided on the inside it would seem.
View looking down the hill from a restaurant close to Ruskin Bond's house. (Indian born Englishman who has written many novels set in India.). I had a hearty Tibetan noodle soup. Quite cold outside. Late December 2011. This is halfway down to the main Mussoorie market and is free from the crowds and the dirt and chaos that seem to follow.
British church for the convalescent home and hospital at Landour, north of Mussoorie. Built in times past. Now part of a DRDO Institute. I was sitting across the street that goes down to Mussoorie,on cold concrete steps. This also houses an Urdu language school for what appeared to be mostly western students. Beautiful stone church. It had a gallery upstairs. They still have a service on weekends.
Backstreet street close to Appa Balwant Chowk. Narrow winding streets with these old houses that will be torn down to make way for the multistory concrete structures, like the one looming behind. It was a really hot afternoon in the last days of Pune summer. The auto rickshaws were parked in the shade before they went out to ply in the busy old town later that evening.
On the verandah at Marzorin. Really hot outside in the afternoon. I was glad to sit inside and draw. The good part about Punes summer heat is that the wind still blows and its quite cool and soothing when you are out of the direct sun. Like in this verandah on the first floor. Those arches look out into the street and let in the air.
Drinking a cold Lichi shake. Old Parsi restaurant. Cool and dark inside. The doors lead to the verandah I drew a little later. This is a landmark in the Pune cantonment area. Milk shakes, pastries, ice cream, vegetarian and non vegetarian curry puffs. More cakes and pastries at Pasteurs downstairs. Quite a popular hangout for youngsters.
This is at the bus stop near the main National Chemical Laboratory gate. I was walking from home to the NCL shopping center to get a haircut on Sunday afternoon. Very hot. Gulmohur trees in the background. This road goes up the neighbourhood where I spent my teenage years. Now this road is incredibly busy in the evenings and mornings during office hours. Back then it used to be pretty much like this all day long. And you would see trucks from the National Defense Academy carrying horses with their heads sticking out one side.
