Lessons from an Artist

It’s Saturday, 9:30 p.m. I am taking the first sip of Slice, which I have just purchased from the nearby shop. I scan my eyes through Safdar Hashmi Marg near Shriram Centre after watching a wonderful play. The place is bustling with theatre enthusiasts – Singers, Writers and Actors. A group of youngsters entourage an old man in his early 60s as he tells them anecdotes of his life through an artist’s eye. Few metres away, is a group of men in their 50s sitting over a bench discussing literature over cups of tea. Sometimes I wonder why Mandi House is not renamed as an Artist’s Paradise?

I spot a scrawny guy in his 20s. Once he glares at me and the very next moment tilts down his head on the A3 sized white sheets clipped to his wooden board. He looks frail in a blue t-shirt and khaki trousers. The shoe lace of the right leg is untied. His hair is ruffled and his valise is kept in a precarious way over a stone tab. His right hand moves advertently over a board. He is sketching something. I appear benighted and don’t allow him to get an idea that I am his model of the human caricature which he is scribbling on his sheet of white paper.

Finishing my Slice, I get up, take the other way and reach to the place where the guy was sitting. I reach from behind to observe him. Getting a hint of my presence and in a state of embarrassment, he turns the page. I say, “It’s ok dude. Chill. Carry on.” I sit beside him and ask, “Seems you are an art student. Which college do you belong to?” “Jamia Islamia,” comes the reply. I curiously ask, “It’s already 9:40 p.m. won’t you return home?” After a brief pause of few seconds, he replies, “Assignment.” I wonder what assignment? He again replies, “I need to submit 250 sketches in a week as a part of our 1^st semester”

                                                      Image source: williamchyr.com

“This means 30 sketches per day!,” I wonder. Before I could say anything, he further replies, “I am late today. Usually I arrive here at 5:30 in the evening. Today, I came at 8:00, so I have to do a late night sitting.”

I am completely taken aback by the kid’s dedication towards his craft. No, it is not only a craft to him but a passion that drives him as an artist, because when I ask him about his future plans he says, “Artist banna hai (I want to be an artist).”

As a teenager, I too had dreams to be an artist but it was my family that didn’t support the idea to earn a living by being an artist. They were quite true to an extent because earning a living as a painter is really difficult in the Indian market.

So, what did I learn from that young artist?

You should pursue dreams no matter what the result is. The young guy is quite aware about the bleak future of artists, but still carries on his struggle with his painting.