Mithu Basu: Sharing the gay abandon of an art field trip.

What an exhilarating experience

Imagine a day where you are in the outdoors, with likeminded people, doing what you love most, under no compulsion, simply liberating to say the least. Yesterday was one such day, thanks to Rekha Rana, artist and initiator of the ‘art – food for thought’ WhatsApp group. The venue for the
field trip was an adivasi village within the interiors of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, Mumbai. We met at noon, artists Ratan Saha, Rekha Rana, Amit Kumar, Sujiet Podar, Arabinda Samanta and myself and drove deep into the unkempt woods when Ratan spotted the spot. ‘Let’s park here’

We packed our haversacks with art material, some snacks and water and began to explor. Dry shades of earthy brown was the overwhelming hue. Mud houses layered with the paste of dung and dry hay, sparse and clean environs housed the adivasi tribe at Teenchwadi. What got my notice was the absolute absence of any art. No wall paintings, no symbols, no signs of ritual spaces. Nature itself was the canvas here and we were let loose to find our subject of interest for our study.

Noon was nap time and so there was stillness around. Our audiences were the frisky black dog, white cat with unique yellow ochre eyes, loads of desi roosters and chickens with broods of chicks and highly intelligent crows. We had become the entertainers and they the entertained and all of us loved it. The surprise was the odd bangle seller who was on his rounds when all houses were shut. Left us wondering!

In the midst of drawing and sketching breezed in an adivasi girl with a broad smile and a glistening metal plate holding six cups of piping hot tea – That was our moment of the day. So while we take our tea break enjoy our experience through the picture gallery and let the pictures speak for themselves. Should any artist feel tempted to join us on our forthcoming trails, do call, my coordinates are mentioned below.