I saw this woman in my dreams yesterday. I tried to represent her as best as I can. She was leaner. Jowar roti and uLLAgaDDi and menShinkayi forming a major part of her diet. She looked harder, in a work-hardened way. You could easily assume that she is from the cotton growing areas of North Karnataka. The seragu of her saree draped over her head in the typical north Karnataka way. Like in most dreams, the light was diffused and not random.
What was that smile? Wry? Sadness? Contempt? Self-pity? A combination of one or more of those? Definitely not self-pity there!? Even in that half-awake state of my lucid dream trying to pin her smile down.
Was she laughing at the self-congratulatory claims of respect for women, the rapes that woke up the nation once forgotten?
Was it at the stupid reactions to farmer suicides? Or, no reactions at all?
Was it at the development that leaves millions behind? Homeless, perhaps?
Was it at the blindness and the glibness of the people who wield power?
It feels like I had a thousand alternatives but only the ones above com up.
Her face and smile nagged me so much that I tried to sketch her soon after I woke up. A thumbnail and then a fist sized one and then this. On an impulse, I put some colours on it. It does look haunting. Or, it does, to me, because the thoughts that ran through my mind? As it often happens, I was using some papers from a diary/planner. I have lots of those.
In any case, here she is. Opinions if any are welcome.
Also, I wondered if this should go on my Art blog or the general one. For whatever it is worth here it goes on the Art blog.
