R e c o l l e c t i o n s

 Text : Divya Agrawal

Back after a long due visit to my maternal and paternal ancestral homes, I feel like I have touched my past – I feel like a Banyan tree. This journey was like a root that grew downwards and reconnected me with my being. It nourished and revitalized the tree that had been growing outwards but had lost connect with parts that make it flourish. This post is a recollection, a delving into memories and sharing with you a few of the many odds and ends I hold special!

Russian folktales colored my little world.  
Excerpts from some books that I read as a child: 1. Jaadui Ghoda; 2. The little log house

  
I have an inherent love for mythology, temple towns and Krishna. As a child I would enjoy watching my grandmother perform various rituals around a bronze idol of Bala Gopala (the child form of Krishna). Post the puja, we would wait eagerly for the delicious ladoo Prasad sometimes made with sesame seeds and jaggery or at times with wheat/ chickpea flour. 

The towering paintings of ShreeNathji (A form of Krishna) at my paternal home would hold me enthralled. With thin crescents of white for eyes, layers of clothing and jewelled headgear - all depicted beautifully,  I would marvel at the many forms Krishna could take. 

Folklore, Krishna, lotuses, peacocks, trees, birds all that was a part of my childhood have found space in this banyan tree in various forms :) 

Images: 3,5 Artwork dated 1968 by my mother, Manorama; 
4: Colourful wood paper clips from Austria; 
6: Embroidered brooch, my creation inspired by peacocks ;
7: Part of a Collage, a collaborative with my daughter Radhika

Over the years, as a young adult, my travels included places rooted in history. I have sketched to my hearts content, temple spires, iconography and urbanscapes that are a melange of the old and the new.

Image: Mumbai Cityscape, Divya Agrawal

Past has held me rooted and shaped me. 

It often gives wings to my imagination.
It colors my present with memories and inspirations.

With a toast to the path called life and the journey we embark upon, here's to lots more!
 

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