today i was reading 'namarupa'(www.namarupa.org) a mag which is capable of taking one to india and back....and of course the name of the magazine means name and form, one of the types of illusions that keep us involved in the leelaa....dr. svoboda(www.drsvoboda.com) being on the team its hardly a surprise. there was an article that i opened out of nowhere-thats one of the good things about a good book or magazine, its something like tarot, if u open a page at random it will reflect your mind for that day-this article was an interview with one of the pioneer photographers of india named T.S. Sathyan. the first question was about what he felt about India after going around the country for 50-55 years and what he said brought tears to my eyes.

he said that whereever he went all over India, esp. in the villages he would always be welcomed and revered as a guest. however poor a family may be, but they would offer all their food to the guest before thinking about their own hunger. they might go hungry for the whole day but they would take care of the guest first. and just this morning for some reason i was thinking of taking up a bike and going all over india for may be a year or so, just to see the whole country with my own eyes. i will wait for my turn to do that.

there have been other things too. something rained on me yesterday!! i was stuck up with this painting that was about the nearby river. i had sketched that scene before and i had wanted to paint it just to free my hands but i never like copying from nature.....i wish to have something which comes forth from my own self. so i was in this stuck up place where i didnt want to leave something undone which i had started and didnt wish to paint something unoriginal as well. result.....my easel had this sketch on it for weeks now waiting for the paintbrush to touch it.

it had been solved today.....and in a big way i would say. i got this idea to paint something real different than what i have done ever before. and its going to be on maa-who else but here to take me to higher realms of the imagery world from now onwards. yes, nothing unoriginal from now onwards. i set myself free but u need some kind of rain to make u wet....and it had rained yesterday.

i was also looking at my sketch book where i put in all my paintings as sketches before they become alive with colors. and there was a place where i had a sketch of an 'AUM' below which i had written instructions as to how i should go about it. well the question now was that if i had the image so well in mind why should i write instructions for myself to paint it. but i guess its just how it is with other things that one experiences. its difficult to bound experiences in words or language(unless the language is concerned with vibrations and not with semantics like sanskrit- the vibes of whose chants are capable of taking you to the same realms as those in which the chants were concieved) and the realms of image world are one such experience to relive which you need indicators that take lead you towards the experience of the same image that you had when you had first concieved it. so the instructions!!