Many write in or mention to me that they enjoy reading this blog and ask me since when I wrote so well. I cannot actually remember writing. But I used to draw, taking classes in school. My art teacher at school would arrange for us to meet at the local picnic and recreational spot, the famous Taiping Lake Gardens. Here we would train ourselves to look through a window, an opening cut out into a cardboard and held close to us. We would only sketch what we saw within the frame.
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| Expression in music and dance |
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| A portrait of Tavayogi |
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| A title block for COMICSCENE, a weekly column on superheroes in NST |
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| Another piece of art, just that the names were jumbled up. Mine is on the lower left. |
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| An a note of appreciation from the columnist Daniel Chan |
Later when my brother headed the Penang Indian Cultural Society (PICAS), I contributed my artworks to its magazine and other publications. I also shared interesting articles which were taken from other sources. But I did not enjoy doing that but instead wanted to write my own.
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| On of many illustrations and articles for PICAS bulletin. |
During the years when there was a slowdown in the economy and we did not have any on going projects, I began familiarising myself with Windows 3.1 at the office. When I returned to headquarters, Sekaran who was leaving his job to become a monk at Paramahansa Yogananda's Yogoda Satsanga Sakha Math in Ranchi, had an advise for me. Besides giving me a copy of Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi and Lord Shiva's painting, he told me to take on any tasks given, whether relevant or not, if I had the time. Soon I dabbled with database and moved on to multimedia applications. I began to create presentations for the department. This was the starting of my computer literacy. All the knowledge I gathered helped me launch my website. Later I made the transition to writing a blog - this blog.
My daughter has picked up where I left in art, and with the many YouTube videos to guide, she does some pretty well drawings and paintings.
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| Her colour pencil drawing of Agathiyar at AVM |
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| Her composition for Siddha Heartbeat's Logo/ Title block |
Bala Chandran Gunasekaran too has a talent for art.
So does Sujen Rajah. Saravanan Palanisamy's art illustrations adorn the pages of Siththan Arul.
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| Saravanan's painting |
When I lost my pass or access card to my office building, I was in a dilemma. I was told I had to wait six months to get a replacement. I knew pretty well that I was purposely punished for being so careless with such an important document as it was a high security building that I worked in. I was also asked to make a police report. I went to the nearest Police station. The constable on duty asked if I could write my own report or if I needed assistance. I chose to write myself. I began writing and stayed on it for some time. He was watching me for a long time and suddenly asked what I was doing? I replied that I was writing a report - a detailed report - right from the moment I left office and boarded a bus to a couple of banks and the Post office to settle my bills and till my return back to office, during my lunch break. He appeared angry and told me to make it short and brief. He took over and made the report on my behalf. He wrote two words, "Pass lost". I guess that was the start of my writing career. It began at the Police station! Everyone has a good laugh when I share this incident with them; the day a star was born!
When I was journeying through India, I began to take detailed notes. This I posted on my website indian heartbeat, now defunct. Soon I began blogging. And I am still at it. Thank you to all readers who wrote in and the silent ones too. Your mails and messages in the groups keep me inspired to continue writing.
