a compliment

one day SAHUL rushed to my house with the news that APPA was no more. oh god! that was really a bad news. we both didn’t speak much that day to each other, which was very unusual. we both were a little upset and worried. quickly we both contacted DINESH and we three decided to visit AMMA.

AMMA and APPA, it means mother and father in TAMIL, we three were introduced to these words since we were five. she was our tuition teacher since then, her children’s called her AMMA and even we did the same. and her husband was our APPA. more than anything else, i think it was because of the good relationship she had with my family, i was sent to her for tuitions. i remember i was the first to join out of the three. i grew up as a part of her family. whatever values and knowledge i have today is her teachings. she is my first “guru”, or my second “mother” might be more appropriate. i have also heard from my mom, about her interest to adopt me as a son, for the reason that she had been blessed with four daughters and no son.

my tuitions came to an end after i passed out of ninth standard. but i still use to visit her once a month. during those days even though in college, i still use to get time to do few paintings. one such painting i made was “A RAJASTHANI ROYAL COUPLE”; i had worked day and night on this particular one. it was made using water colour’s. though i never had a formal training on art and i never knew any medium other than that, it had come out really well. this was one of my best works till date. the moment i completed it, i wrote it's destiny. i framed that painting and gifted it to amma. her daughter’s were extremely thrilled to see such a beautiful painting. to be true, i was the one who was more happier than them. in my next visit i saw that painting hung on the wall of the first room of her house, i was proud.

we meet the next day and with a heavy heart walked the path to amma’s house, the path which we walked for almost ten years, but never so sadly. appa’s funeral had been performed the day before, but still when we neared the house we could see a whole lot of people still around the house. we entered the house, the moment we saw amma, we couldn’t stop our tears. she was sitting down on the floor, besides the door of the second room, weak and collapsed. this room and the other room were full of people, all of them in grief. we made way and came to her, she was unconscious about our presence, we sat besides her, dinesh on one side holding her one hand and me on the other side holding her other hand, and sahul next to me. she didn’t speak a word, i could see her lips dried up, her eyes turned red and her face full of grief. we were silently watching her, my tears were just flowing, feeling her pain. in the middle of all these i heard some one whispering in the other room “you were asking about that painting” she said “that is the boy who made it, the boy sitting on the right of my amma”.

i have received hundreds and thousands of compliments for my paintings, but this one is etched on my heart.