Dada's Sketchbook
(but online)
June 17, 2021
Every time I would step on to the Force Traveller back in college, I’d heave a sigh of relief. The satisfaction was instantly doubled when I’d manage to set my bum on a vacant seat.
The trip from NID to IJM was as short as the acronyms but somehow, felt shorter on the days I’d be exhausted from drawing straight lines all day or having toiled at the workshop sanding a piece of teak. These trips, the return journeys, would always be more memorable than the morning ones. Maybe dozing off to the shifting amber lights of the Guntur-Vijayawada expressway felt better than struggling to find a footing, clutching onto your belongings while you’re still munching on the last bit of chutney laden idly.
Towards the end of my four years at college, I had completely switched over to my trusty single-speed, a gift from Mustafa who, after finishing his Bachelor’s degree, left for Delhi and then Iraq. However, the occasional Traveller trips still gifted me a basket of memories, some warm, some steamy, some I barely remember. Now, the Bus Service group on WhatsApp stays relatively quiet, beeping once in a while, serving as a reminder that fewer days remain till it buzzes again — “Buss to IJM!”.
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February 17, 2021
Morning Dosa
As a schoolkid, I remember eating the same khichdi everyday before going to school. Summers, monsoons or winters; exam or not, the same watery porridge. Functional, easy to gulp down with just a few roasted cumin seeds that kept it from qualifying for hospital food. My equally simple worldview perhaps kept me from complaining much.
In college though, breakfast was a crazy affair.
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January 24, 2021
Caucasian Pumpkins
The title of the post refers to Gummadikaya we had found on a trip to the Guntur vegetable market; heaps of them. The pumpkins I was familiar with till this time were generally dark green or orange-ish if super ripe.
The rest of the spreads from this ‘18 sketchbook display the sheer joy of experiencing a proper brush pen which I had gifted myself, some more late night or mid-class meditative sketching sessions, thumbnailing for an Inktober narrative ( I’ll upload soon as a complete pdf/epub ) and whatever else is there.
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Nighthawks
January 15, 2021
The pandemic has been a constant longing and desire for company and warmth. Much of that has also got to do with the sudden absence of like-aged, like-passionate people around but that’s a whole another topic.
These pages (from one of my ‘18 sketchbooks), sketched during late night conversations over tea at NID AP, at the faculty guest-house drawing room.
An essential punctuation to a hectic work day, where we’d all indulge in our personal projects or even just talk over a few cups of the forever in-stock Tetley green or Taj. We’d talk, laugh and I’d keep scribbling into my sketchbook, sometimes note down funny quips.
Also be my guest if you try to read into what’s written but much of it is nonsense… or is it?
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