A Visit to Sree Chitra Art Gallery

Raja Ravi Varma (self portrait)

It was in September 2013 that I came across a book in the biography section of the Cochin University Central Library. Titled ‘The Painter – A Life of Ravi Varma’, it was written by Deepanjana Pal. The book detailed the life of Raja Ravi Varma (1848 – 1906), the most eminent painter ever to have arisen in Kerala. The epithet ‘Raja’ in his name should not be confused with rulership of any kingdom, but is to be understood as the ceremonial title attributed to aristocratic families related by blood ties to the royal house. His oil paintings ushered in a new era in the art of painting in Kerala and for many Malayalis even today, his name is synonymous with the quintessential artist.

The book provided good priming in exploring the life of Ravi Varma. He sparred with the reigning king Vishakham Tirunal, and had to leave Travancore to Vadodara in search of livelihood. All the time, prodigious pictures that portrayed life in its infinite diversity and painstaking detail continued to astonish connoisseurs of painting and art. Right when I was reading the book, a desire suddenly caught hold of me to see all of Ravi Varma’s paintings in original.

Of course, this is an impossible task. Many, if not most, of his works are in private collections and having no mantle of authority of any kind to grease my way, there is no hope to have a peep into the private collections. What about art galleries in the public domain? The largest collection is said to be in the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum in Vadodara, where the royal family employed him as the court painter. A hall is dedicated to him at the Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery in Mysore and some paintings are kept at National Art Gallery in Chennai. Ravi Varma proved his mettle in Vadodara, but his native Kerala also have a few paintings in its collection at the Sree Chitra Art Gallery in Thiruvananthapuram. I haven’t visited any of them yet, so I decided to begin with the local one first.

Taking some time off from an official program, I reached the museum complex in Thiruvananthapuram at 2 pm on February 10, 2016. It was extremely hot, but a lot of people, mostly young couples, occupied the park benches in cool shades. A sense of unhurried charm filled the atmosphere. I walked straight to the impressive building at the centre of the complex, which is in fact the Napier Museum that is shown erroneously as the art gallery in many web sites. The Sree Chitra Art Gallery is where Ravi Varma’s paintings are kept, and it is inside the zoological garden complex nearby. There are separate ticket counters for the zoo and art gallery.

 

Shakuntala

It was a fulfilling experience to view all those pictures so up close! 43 paintings of Ravi Varma is displayed here, including very famous ones like ‘Shakuntala’, ‘Damayanti and the Swan’, ‘Draupadi at the Court of Virata’, ‘Milk Maid’ and ‘Ravana Carrying Sita’. The paintings are placed so close to the visitors that they can touch it if they extend their hands in full, but of course, that is forbidden. Standing in front of Shakuntala, one is instantly mesmerized by her furtive sideways glance at the receding figure of King Dushyanta (who is not in the frame), while bending her knee as if to remove a prick from the heel. The hermitage suddenly comes alive around you with the sound of crickets and the gentle flapping of leaves in the mild breeze until you are brought back to your senses by the loud gossiping of the female attendants in the gallery.

I spent almost an hour and a half at the gallery, which is actually very small in area. As I said earlier, the available space is crammed with pictures. There was only one police officer in the complex and so it is likely that the original pictures are locked away in safe vaults. During the entire period I was in the building, I couldn’t drive away the thought of how the authorities would prevent anyone intent on vandalizing the precious frames? The LED lighting system was not at all pleasing as it threw annoying glare on the uneven canvas surface of the paintings.

'Sweet Remembrance of One So Dear'

The gallery houses the works of Raja Varma, the noted painter’s younger brother. Judging from the painting displayed, it may safely be assumed that he was a worthy brother to Ravi Varma. He died of tumour in the intestines a few years before Ravi Varma himself succumbed to diabetes at the age of 58. The sensuous depiction of a flower gathering girl titled ‘Flower Gatherer’ is simply superb. Rama Varma, who was the son of Ravi Varma, was also a true upholder of his father’s legacy. His ‘Sweet Remembrance of One So Dear’ is an enchanting one as in the dexterity of the interplay of light and shade on the face of a pretty girl wearing a white shawl over her head in profile. This so fascinated me that I decided to procure a reproduction very soon.

It was a memorable time that I had at the gallery. I have decided to visit the others in Chennai, Mysore and Vadodara as well. Web sites say that the Sree Chitra possesses 70 Ravi Varmas, but only 43 are in show. It was maddening to think that the other 27 may be stacked somewhere in its dark storerooms.

The entry ticket costs Rs. 20. The timings are 10.00 am to 4.45 pm except on Mondays and Wednesdays. Monday is a holiday and on Wednesdays, it functions from 1.00 pm to 4.45 pm.

The full list of the 43 paintings by Ravi Varma kept at the Sree Chitra Art Gallery is as follows.

1.    Draupadi and Simhika    1898
2.    Gypsies of South India    1893
3.    Sakuntala    1892
4.    Horses
5.    Judith
6.    Draupadi at the Court of Virata    1897
7.    Swordsman
8.    Milkmaid    1901
9.    Mohini Rugmangada    1899
10.    Mysore Khedda Camp
11.    Jagan Mandir Palace, Udaipur    1901
12.    Raja Raja Varma   
13.    Mr. Ramanatha Rao    1896
14.    Dadabhai Naoroji
15.    Hamsa and Damayanti    1899
16.    G T McKenzie   
17.    Mysore Stables    1904
18.    Mysore Khedda 1
19.    Mysore Khedda 2
20.    H B Grig, Esq
21.    Portrait Study
22.    Dance Pose 1
23.    Rajput Soldier    1901
24.    Brahmin Woman
25.    Rai Pannalal Mehta    1901
26.    Rana Pratap    1901
27.    Danse Pose 2
28.    A Student
29.    Reading the Newspaper    1904
30.    Mrs. Ramanatha Rao    1891
31.    Head peon
32.    Mohini and Rugmangada
33.    Udaipur Palace    1901
34.    Rest
35.    Ravana Carrying Sita    1895
36.    Johar
37.    Rama Breaks the Bow   
38.    Bhil Woman
39.    Lady in Prison
40.    Col. W D Brodie Ketchen    1890
41.    Amma Thampuran of Mavelikkara   
42.    Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran   
43.    Maharani Lakshmi Bai    1883   

Google's Top Spot

Sapientia Semita is my book review blog running as a companion to this one. I have posted many reviews here, not in anticipation of getting someone to read them. For me, writing a review of a book I have just read is a good opportunity to recap the events narrated in the book and also to refer to it in future. My memory power is rather limited. Being an amateur, I can't and don't expect people to flock to my blog to read the posts. But sometimes, a post becomes a hit and many netizens visit it regularly. I had one such piece of luck in the form of the review of a book titled 'India by al-Biruni', a journal written by the 11th century Muslim theologian named al-Biruni. In fact, it is now in Google's top spot if you search Google with the words 'al biruni India review'. See the screenshot below.

Himachal Pradesh 2015

The snow capped peaks of the Himalayas always stood as the sentinel of India in the north. It demarcated Indian culture and way of life as sharp as a divider. Himalayas had been a profound source of inspiration for poets, artists, devotees, statesmen and thinkers alike. I always dreamed about it, the moment I could catch a glimpse of a snow-capped Himalayan mountain peak with my own eyes. The opportunity presented itself only now, in the form of a trip to Shimla, Kullu and Manali

Day 1 (Oct 18, 2015)

Our Indigo Airlines flight to Delhi took off at the right time at 7.05 am from Kochi Airport. After an eventless travel of three hours, it touched down at Terminal 1 of IGI Airport at Delhi. Our Tempo Traveler was ready at the airport. Without wasting much time, we proceeded straight to Shimla at 12 pm. The travel to Chandigarh is through the prestigious six-lane NH-1, but our driver was a very uncooperative person who continued to move very slowly through the highway. Had lunch near Karnal on ‘Haveli’ on the roadside. We lost the beauty of the ghat roads ascending to Shimla as it was already very dark when we reached the foot hills. At last, we reached the hotel at 9.50 pm, just in time when the restaurant was about to close. We had a peaceful sleep at night – the hotel is so calm and quiet.

Day 2 (Oct 19, 2015)

At about 9.30 am, we went to Kufri. The roads in Shimla are very narrow and extremely congested. At the slightest hitch, long lines of vehicles pile up on either side of the road. The moment the vehicle reached Kufri, horse trainers and photographers gathered around us with solicitations of horses and photo opportunities. Rs. 380 was offered for horse ride to the top and for sightseeing. We accepted and the rough 15-minute ride to somewhere that looked like a fair ground felt like an hour. It is very risky to ride on the horse, as the road is very narrow and when two or more horses come abreast, they try to bite each other. This causes a commotion and sometimes it so happen that the animal may be walking very near to the edge of a small ravine. The horse trainers seem to be enjoying the sadistic pleasure in making the horses prance or canter unnecessarily, just to tease the hapless riders. At last, we reached the top where nothing except a view point having a telescope welcomed us. The operators offered a rate of Rs. 150 per person just to have a glance through the telescope which was claimed to be able to peer at the border hills of China. We thought better of it and declined the offer. Tibetan yaks are also positioned there, and it is a good idea to have a photo taken sitting on them.

Every tourist spot in India is riddled with cheats and petty thieves. We fell to the tricks of such a man named Sanjay Sharma. This man approached us totting a camera and introduced himself as a professional photographer who is a member of the local photographers’ group. He offered Rs. 60 per piece and even though very much on the higher side, we accepted the offer. He came along with us and took many snaps in various poses, sitting on the Tibetan yak, donning Himachali costumes and a gesture of stepping for a folk dance. After taking 47 photos, he very kindly offered a discount and demanded Rs. 2500 up front. We protested at the full amount to be paid as advance, but he earned our confidence with such tricky acting that we paid him the money. He told that he will deliver the package at our hotel between 7 and 9 pm. When nobody was seen, we contacted him. He kept telling that a person has started from his place and would reach the hotel within half an hour. Our wait was in vain. It became clear to me then that this rascal had cheated me. Travelers beware of crooks of such type. (Also see postscript to this post).

We drove straight to a local restaurant on the wayside for lunch and then moved to Mall Road. There is a lift operated by Himachal Tourism at street level for carrying tourists to Mall Road at a fee of Rs. 10 per person. Normally, vehicles are not allowed on Mall Road. This street is ideal for shopping freaks as you can see a wide array of merchandise put on display. We went to Christ Church at The Ridge, which is the oldest church built by the British in Shimla. We had a quiet walk on the road till Kali Bari Temple. The abandoned Bantony Castle on the wayside loomed like a ghost house. At about 5.30 pm, we returned to the hotel, but due to a heavy traffic snarl, we reached only by 7.30 pm and settled for a peaceful night.

Day 3 (Oct 20, 2015)

Since this day included a long journey to Manali, we took off at 8 am. Had lunch at Mandi. The ghat road with river Beas on the right side begins after Mandi and is quite an experience. The hills on the left looked so fragile, with granite boulders showing a striated pattern. Somehow, it appeared weak, familiar as we were with the hardness of Deccan rocks. The Aut Tunnel having a length of 3.5 km gave an eerie feeling when we fled past the moist interior covered with smoke and dust. Just after Kullu town, we had the first glimpse of the snow-clad Himalayas. We reached the hotel by about 7 pm and retired for the night.

Day 4 (Oct 21, 2015)

Our driver, Mr. Parvesh Kumar from Delhi was an imbecile. We dropped the journey to Manikaran, which is about 80 km away, as that useless fellow might take an entire day for the trip. So we decided to sample the local attractions. We drove to Vasisht, which houses a hot water source inside the temple. The water is scalding hot, but a few people were bathing in it. The street to Vasisht is full of merchants dealing textiles and souvenirs. At about 11.30 am, we returned to Manali town and had lunch in a government-owned restaurant at Mall Road.

Manali is very picturesque from the banks of River Beas

Our next point of call was Hadimba temple. This is an isolated shrine decorated with trophies of wild animals along its outer wall. In all probability, this might have been the place of tribal worship. It stands in the middle of a clutch of dense and tall deodar trees. We spent almost one hour there. Locals throng the path to the temple with offers of taking photos with their rabbits that looked like large white bags of fleece. We returned to the hotel when it was quite dark.

Day 5 (Oct 22, 2015)

This was the memorable day of Rohtang Pass. Vehicles from outside Himachal will not generally be allowed to the pass without taking a permit. The most practical option is to hire a local vehicle which charges a hefty fare. In our case, it took Rs. 8500 for a tempo traveler with 12 seats. The driver was young but very bold. He was rather reckless by using mobile phone even while negotiating difficult, narrow curves on the hill roads. The cold was just bearable for us, but warm cloths can be obtained on rent from the wayside at Marhi. We wore these dresses high on the hills for Rs. 250 apiece, whereas these may be obtained for Rs. 200 in Manali. Rohtang Pass is situated at a height of 13,000 feet – Manali is at 4,000 feet. Oxygen deficiency was not experienced at that altitude, though two among us appeared rather deflated at the top of the pass. The small hill on top of the pass covered in snow was a memorable experience for us who had never felt the touch of snow. By about noon, we descended back to Manali and had lunch. Nothing was planned for the afternoon, so we went back to the hotel and rested for the day.

Breath-taking Rohtang Pass

Day 6 (Oct 23, 2015)

We started from Manali at 6 am. It was a very long drive of 560 km back to Delhi. Apart from time lost on traffic jam connected with a Dussehra procession and with a flat tyre of the vehicle, the drive was tiresome but smooth. The driver was clueless about the location of the hotel, so we had to spend nearly an hour looking for it. By about 11 pm in the night we were back in bed.

Day 7 (Oct 24, 2015)

We left at 3 am from the hotel to the airport. The Air India flight took off at 5.35 am and landed at 8.45 am in Kochi.

Tour Operator

We booked the tour package at Intersight Tours and Travels, Kochi. The hotels arranged by them were very good, except the one at Delhi. But on the vehicle and driver, they disappointed us. Even though they had promised an English-speaking driver, the allotted one could not understand even a word of it. If that was the only problem, we wouldn’t have minded. He was arrogant and vengeful. If he felt that he was slighted in any way, from that point onwards he drove very slowly as if to upset our schedules. We had to cancel many places like Manikiran just because such an imbecile was allotted to us as our driver. We notified the agency about this after our journey, but apart from a cursory call of apology, nothing was observed from Intersight. The rate was Rs. 13,500 per person for 6 nights and 6 days including accommodation and breakfast-dinners.

Accommodation

In Shimla, we stayed at Hotel Sukh Sagar Regency at Taradevi, which is a good 8 km from the city centre. The place is very calm and quiet, but travel to the city is a torture due to narrow roads and heavy traffic. The rooms, hospitality and food were very good. We had breakfast and dinner as part of the MAPI plan.

In Manali, we stayed at Sun Park Resort on the left bank of the river. This hotel has some excellent mountain-facing rooms, from which we had a breath-taking view of the snow-capped Himalayas that was unforgettable. The rooms, hospitality and food were excellent. We had breakfast and dinner as part of the MAPI plan.

In Delhi, we were put up at Hotel Metro View, Karol Bagh. This has very modern amenities like door locks with smart card keys, but the hospitality was mediocre. The guy at the Reception was glad to know that we would check out in four hours’ time. Presumably, in order to get rid of room cleaning after our exit, he told that dinner will not be served in rooms and we have to be present in the restaurant on the ground floor.

Mode of Travel

We took Indigo flight to Delhi and Air India on the return flight to Kochi. A 12-seater temp traveler was used for travel between Delhi, Shimla and Manali. Another 12-seater tempo traveler was hired at Manali for the trip to Rohtang Pass.

Postscript

I had written about the crook who swindled us Rs. 2500 by promising to given prints of photographs. When we returned, I sent a complaint by post to the District Superintendent of Police, Shimla, detailing all the points. Fortunately, unbeknown to him, one of our team had taken a photograph of that person. His mobile number was already with me. So, in the written complaint, I included all these details. Himachal Police responded with astonishing speed and effectiveness. Hardly a week later, Sanjay Sharma contacted me on my mobile and apologized. He readily sent the photos and CD via speed post to me. Sincere thanks and appreciation to Himachal Police!

Seminar on Managing for Excellence

Attended a seminar on ‘Managing for Excellence’ conducted under the aegis of Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering (IIIE) at Ernakulam on Sep 11, 2015 at The Renai. Shri. George Sleeba, who was the chairman of the Kerala Chapter of IIIE was an active presence on the venue and made the welcome speech. The national president of the organization, Shri. Bhaskar M Bhandarkar, delivered the presidential address. Though rather portly, he had a long service in the Navy and served in the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka. Dr. J Latha, Vice Chancellor of the Cochin University of Science & Technology formally inaugurated the seminar. Dr. M Ayyappan, CMD of HLL Life Care, made a thought-provoking keynote address. The inaugural session began 15 minutes late at 9.45 am, but came to a close at 11.45 am.

The inaugural session was followed by presentations from Shri. C Balagopal, founder managing director of Terumo Penpol Pvt Ltd, Thiruvananthapuram, said to be the world’s largest producer of blood bags and other healthcare products. He resigned from IAS after 6 years of service in 1983 and founded the company which is the first one of its nature in India. His presentation included stills from the factory floor which appeared to be of world class. He stressed the need for maintaining a thoroughly clean atmosphere on the floor. It is strange that most people in the audience, including me, have not heard of this company before, even though it is said to be employing about a thousand people.

After a delightful lunch, the afternoon session was handled by Shri. Rajesh Arakkal, GM of FCI OEN Connectors, who had bagged the first prize in the productivity contest conducted by IIIE. A presentation on the productivity measures implemented in the company was delivered by three of its officers, in a rather dramatic style. However, the content was too detailed and text-oriented to be of any use to the delegates. It is heartening to note that this company too is a renowned one in the international arena. They make connectors for electronic circuits, which help to interchange signals from one board to another. Ensuring a trouble free path for electrical signals is not a mean job and the company has certainly dedicated considerable resources for achieving this.

The atmosphere was a solemn one, in which the vice chancellor arrived with the escort of a uniformed security guard. Though normal for a z- or y-category politician, this looked rather odd for an academician, who was also a learned professor in civil engineering. The function began with a 3-minute long theme song of the organization which was rather modern and somewhat pleasing to hear, but lacked any relevance to the organization or the function. Why the audience have to stand up while the theme song is playing is beyond my comprehension! Bhandarkar, the national chairman, made the point that excellence is not a corollary of knowledge with an example from the Ramayana. Even though Ravana was a very learned man, we associate excellence only with Ram. Knowledge has to be dedicated to the service of the society in order for it to excel. On a lighter note, he sounded like Thikkurissi, a former actor of Malayalam cinema. Dr. Latha stressed the need to think differently, in order to excel. She mentioned George Sleeba, who is the former CMD of FACT, who proposed the idea of gypsum boards in the construction industry to her way back. Even though construction panels were not in the direct line of products of FACT, he thought about alternate ways of using a waste material, which is a sign of excellence. She also warned that different thinking need not always lead to excellence, citing the example of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank which failed in 2008 to herald the era of recession in the US.

Ayyappan reiterated the need for personal excellence in the pursuit of management excellence. He was very emphatic on the requirement of good personal relations, even with the company’s competitors! One should be confident of oneself and impart knowledge to others. The most relevant message delivered by him was an exhortation to get out of the comfort zones in the quest to excel. If you are very comfortable with what you do, chances are that you would stick on to it for an indefinite period of time without any incentive to improvise. Balagopal’s address was replete with anecdotes of his company’s build up of strict quality measures. Throughout the speech, he was praising the Japanese for their strict adherence to quality procedures like Kaizen. The Japanese brought standardization to absurd levels, as he mentioned the case of a Japanese consultant. This man observed that four operators in the company had been doing a procedure in four different ways, even though they were meticulously following the standard operating procedure. The Japanese guy was insisting that everyone should do it in the same way and eventually won his way! This evokes memories of rank automation in a process in which the Japanese treat the operator as just another cog in the wheel. His creativity and personality is no bother to them and in all probability, they would fail to appreciate the message of Charlie Chaplin’s famous movie ‘Modern Times’. As long as the operators were following the SOP, what role this Japanese automaton has, to change their working chores? Frequent references to terms like Kaizen and Gamba were rather pompous. The Japanese don’t value individuality and they are also said to be very weak in conveying bad news.

Balagopal was in fact, enthusiastic about the labour situation in Kerala, comparing the ethos of the workforce to that of Americans. He casually disregarded interference from labour unions and mentioned the power scenario in Kerala to be far more advantageous to the industry than that of Tamil Nadu. This is clearly misleading and perhaps sheds some light on his political leaning. His proved to be a lone voice in singing the praise of labour unions in Kerala whereas the entire state is fed up with the militant and violent trade unionism rampant across Kerala’s industries. Balagopal’s opinion appeared to be politically correct, but insincere.

Most of the delegates were very young, having at the most 5 – 10 years of post-qualification experience. Among them, I felt like sticking out like a sore thumb with the crushing weight of 20 years like a millstone around my neck! Probably, it is conferences like these that help you realize that you have aged a lot. At the same time, Balagopal’s enthusiasm was contagious, even though he was respectfully aged.