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One year of Disobedience

Art collective Visual Disobedience has enjoyed a good run since its 2012 beginning, by firmly planting the ‘inclusive art’ idea.
by Medha Kulkarni

A little over a year ago, on September 22, 2012, an idea was born in the form of a small initiative. The idea was humble but ambitious: have a space dedicated to young and upcoming artists, one that challenged the notions of ‘established’ art, and make it accessible to all. Since its inception, Visual Disobedience (VD), an initiative of Mumbai-based social media agency Flarepath, has already fulfilled this primary aim and is steadily growing with one of the widest range of artists working in several media. It also boasts of having completed numerous projects and been part of some interesting collaborations.

Jasjyot Singh Hans - Adorn“Art can and should be consumed by everybody. Art is not just meant for the gallery space, it’s an important part of culture, like music or film, and it’s unfair to restrict it to fancy galleries and auction houses. That’s the premise we work from. We want to challenge the notions of ‘high’ and ‘low’ and create an environment where Art is accessible to all,” says Suprateek Chatterjee (27), Editor at VD.

“Also for young artists, there is very little institutional support, it is difficult for them to get their work out there and again that’s where VD comes in. We want to be a platform for artists to be able to showcase their work with a wide audience,” says Suprateek.

Visual Disobedience has worked with numerous artists and has collaborated with NH7, Godrej India Culture Labs, Miko Kuro and Queer Ink, among others.

“Things are changing fast. Thanks to the Internet, we’ve managed to grow into one of the biggest artist collectives in the country and all this visibility is leading towards very interesting collaborations and ideas,” explains Suprateek. “We get so many emails every day, from artists based in various places and doing all kinds of interesting work. Our team sifts through each of these and we select the works to be featured on the website.”

Visual Disobedience also works with their artists to create custom pieces for clients, Sulafest and NH7, Pune (2012) being some of them. The initiative also recently collaborated with Sachin muralRanjit Dahiya, known for the ‘Bollywood Art Project’, to create the stunning Sachin Tendulkar mural at MIG Cricket Club, Bandra. ”It was born out of the desire to create a permanent tribute to one of our greatest sports icons,” says Suprateek when asked how the project came about. “It’s definitely the tallest, if not the largest, mural in Mumbai,” he adds proudly.

Collaborative public art projects, which take art out of the traditional gallery setting and puts in the public sphere, are how VD aims at engaging the public with Art. It helps to chip away at the notion that art is reserved for the ‘high-brow’ society and creates a culture of art in a city. Keeping this agenda in mind, Visual Disobedience is also planning a series of pop-up markets in the coming few months. ”Again, it’s all about making art accessible. Our aim is to present as diverse a range of works, in terms of artists and media, and ensure that nothing is priced above Rs 5,000,” explains Suprateek.

Visual Disobedience is steadily and rather rapidly challenging the notion that art is only for the rich. It is also helping to propel several artists, who otherwise would have had to struggle harder to become visible, into the Art orbit, and simultaneously creating spaces where people can engage with Art in various ways. The collective’s rapidly increasing popularity is proof that these notions are outdated and that urban India is increasingly art savvy.

 

If you want to know more about VD, check out their website. 

(Pictures courtesy Visual Disobedience)

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Comic capers with Abhijeet Kini

This Santacruz resident and self-taught cartoonist feels that the city and the country provide great, constant material for all cartoonists.
by Salil Jayakar

I’ve known Abhijeet Kini (30) for well over a decade now, which makes it surprising that I’ve never ever interviewed him in all these years. More so since, as a journalist I have done stories on offbeat careers and his career choice would have been a perfect fit – ‘full-time freelancer cartoonist.’ But as they say, better late than never…

Angry MavshiAbhijeet’s love affair with the world of cartoons and comic books started as a four-year-old, browsing through newspaper comics every day, even if he could not make much sense of them back then. “I always loved the visual medium, drawn, panel by panel,” the Santacruz resident says. It helped that his parents encouraged him from an early age, never saying ‘no’ to his demands for comics and not Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys. Aged seven, he was gifted Tintin’s Blue Lotus issue (which he still has in mint condition) and there was no looking back. He started collecting comics – from Tintin and Asterix to Tinkle, DC and Marvel. That in itself was a huge inspiration for him to take up the pencil and start sketching.

Completely self taught, with no art training, Abhijeet says he always wanted to be a cartoonist. The decision wasn’t difficult because of his supportive parents who never pressurised him into taking up engineering or medicine. When he was 12 (or 13), Abhijeet’s mom took him to meet Ram Mohan and Bhimsen, the pioneers of Indian animation. He carried his artworks to show them and remembers them saying nice things about his work. Naturally, it instilled confidence in his young impressionable mind. “Then in 1997, when I was 15, mom took me to meet the great Anant Pai, editor of Tinkle comics. I always wanted to meet him and eventually draw for the comic, and I am fortunate that I am doing that since 2004.”

Working as a cartoonist

At Abhijeet’s insistence, I shamelessly take some credit for his ‘big break’ with Mid Day Multimedia in 1999. I was freelancing with Mid Day (which was launching chalomumbai.com) and they were looking out for freelance illustrators. I recommended Abhijeet, and the rest is history.

Remembers Abhijeet, “I gave it a shot and my work was liked. Before Mid Day, I freelanced for a few youth magazines and did some comic 2commission based art for a book. This was when I was fresh out of high school and in junior college. But Mid Day added a lot of weight to my portfolio and other magazines followed based on that.”

Abhijeet idolises certain national and international artists and believes some of their styles and techniques have heavily influenced him as a youngster. Sanjeev Waeerkar’s work in Tinkle in the early 90s and Sergio Aragones of Mad magazine being the most prominent ones. “Mad has had a huge influence on me and my sense of humour but Sergio’s work was something else,” he reveals. Other favourites include Ram Waeerkar, Don Martin, Mario Miranda and Jim Lee. In his current work, Abhijeet uses different styles from comic to comic. So while his merchandise line is more slapstick, his Tinkle style is more children friendly, there is a cartoon-violence/young adult style for ‘Angry Maushi’ and a serious style showcased in ‘Milk & Quickies’.

Delhi BilliAccording to Abhijeet, comics such as Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha are going very strong today, too. To him, these are the comics which represent India, just like Manga is for Japan. Other comic book titles range from mythology to superhero storylines. In that sense, yes, the evolution is evident when it comes to the new genres coming up. But he believes there should be more of a social angle in all these. “I do not mean a ‘preachy’ or ‘socially correct/social cause’ kind of theme. Take Mumbai city as an example. If one was to make a comic on Mumbai, imagine the range of topics one has to pick and choose from… and I’m talking humour as a genre,” he explains. Which is why Abhijeet’s ‘Angry Maushi’ series is heavily Mumbai-based. It is about an angry Mumbai lady waging war against corrupt politicians, robots and zombies in the funniest violent way possible.

Money matters

So much money does a “full-time freelance cartoonist” like Abhijeet make? He laughs. “In my field, there’s always a disclaimer (in not so fine print) saying ‘Money may or may not come’. People like me are suckers for creative satisfaction or doing what we love to do, loving what we do to live. Sure, money does come, but maybe in bursts, or trickles. I am thankful that India today has Comic Cons going. My wife Diksha and I participate in Comic Cons all over the country and our merchandise products are quite a hit. Many of my characters today, like ‘Angry Maushi’ and ‘Delhi Billi’, were created for the merchandise first, and comics later.”

For those who want to make a career as a cartoonist, Abhijeet says, “I have learnt that it doesn’t matter what people think about what you do. If you are confident of your work and comic 4have a strong art portfolio, even if you are self-taught like me, you have a strong chance to make it. The industry is very young in India but it’s a great place to be, especially if you are able to convert your ideas to reality. Oh, and if you have big dollar dreams, please leave the room quietly right now!”

 

(Pictures courtesy Abhijeet Kini)

 

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Senior Scouts turn 60

Internationally, the adult scout movement is 60 years old. Indian Scouts want their work to reach more people in society.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The Scout – Guide Movement is one that instantly reminds one of school and camping trips over the vacations. Once school is over, however, it has been ‘Goodbye, scouting’ for most of us.

Satish KhannaBut for some, scouting becomes a way of life, and it is distressing to let go of something that has fulfilled them so much at the school level. This feeling prompted a few young men, among them Khar resident Satish Khanna (78), to ponder over starting a past scouts outfit. “In 1954, a group of friends and I, all of us scouts, organised a get-together of past scouts in Mumbai. Coincidentally, the International Fellowship of Former Scouts and Guides had been established just a year ago in Switzerland to adopt the fundamentals of Scout and Guide movement and serve the society and scouting in particular,” says Satish (in pic on left).

He recalls how there were just about 15 members in the first year of the Body’s working, but today, there are over 3,000 members all over the country. “As per rules, you can be a scout till 22 years of age. But after that, for the true Scout, there is a definite vacuum in his life. So this organisation, where you can join post-25 years of age, comes at a good time in the Scout’s life,” Satish says.

Old beginnings

The national body of the Fellowship was established in New Delhi in 1959 and got affiliated with the International Body. “However, in the initial years, the body did not take up any active projects. Today, however, we are present in 23 States in India,” explains Satish, who is the current President of National Scouts Guides Association (a post he has held for the past six years), and who has served as its Vice President for 35 years. “Our foremost objective is to support the Scout & Guide Movement.

M Hidayatulla, Chief Justice of India, and Lakshmi Mazumdar, National Commissioner of Bharat Scouts and Guides, formed the National Scouts help those in distressBody of the Fellowship in Delhi in 1959. On Saturday, October 26, 2013, the Indian Scout and Guides Fellowship celebrated 60 years of International Scout Guide Fellowship.

What they do

“We have a number of ongoing projects as part of our activities – free book bank scheme, under which we provide textbooks to school and college students every year, adoption of several villages in the country, introducing scouting to boys lodged at a reform school in Matunga, book donation for night schools, holding medical camps. Our endeavour is to try and generate a social awareness and help those in need,” he explains.

In Mumbai, these Scouts also work with a girls’ blind school in Dadar and a women’s development centre in Bandra, where they have donated sewing machines.

8Their most notable contribution in recent times, however, came during the recent havoc in Uttarakhand, when they travelled to the affected areas themselves and distributed materials for survival. “We adopted 500 families and put together a kit for each family. Each kit contained 32 essential items. The situation was extremely grim but we still ploughed on,” remembers SK Agarwal, Senior Vice President, Indian Scout and Guide Fellowship.

“We had even gone to Orissa, Bhuj and the South of India when the tsunami struck. It is in our blood to reach a place of disaster and offer assistance to the affected,” Satish says.

Today, they say, even young persons who have never been Scouts at the school level want to be associated with their activities. “We are open to people joining us, even if they did not have the opportunity to be Scouts of Guides but who believe in their ideals. The idea is to ultimately serve society while keeping the spirit of scouting alive in the country and across the world,” Satish says.

 (Pictures courtesy ISG)

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A vacation well-spent

US student Rayna Srivastava spent her summer vacation volunteering for a Thane orphanage; says she will continue fundraising back home.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

What’s the one thing most students do when they’re staring at vacations after a hard year of study? Parties, overseas holidays, or just goofing around rank high on any student’s wish list. But some students are different. Some students defy the oft-repeated sentiment that today’s youth care only about themselves, that the only way they participate in current affairs is by hitting ‘Like’ on Facebook or retweeting a celebrity’s tweet.

Take Rayna Srivastava, for instance. The student of Frisco High School in Texas did not slot her vacations into the usual party-holiday-goofing around routine, but she resolutely planned her summer vacation for several months before she put her plans into operation – Rayna (16) put in four weeks of volunteering service at the Divya Prabha Home for Girls in Distress, an orphanage in Thane. “I was in India last year, and I had had a lot of fun and learning doing volunteering work. I decided I wanted to come back, to give back to society because I am blessed and because others should also have some of what I do,” she told The Metrognome.

Rayna and her students at the orphanageInitially stunned, her parents Rahul and Waishali quickly agreed to her plans. “My parents were not completely sure about this, but then my father said that when he was younger, he’d wished he could have done the same. At that time, he didn’t have the chance to give back to society. Both my parents were very supportive,” Rayna says.

Doing good

Rayna was born in Mumbai and lived here with her parents for a couple of years after her birth before they all shifted to the US. Naturally, the bond with the country of her birth is very strong. What fuelled her interest in Divya Prabha was that the fact that her grandfather had a contact who put her in touch with Sister Deodita there. “I had heard very good things about the orphanage, about the noble work they do. Sister Deodita was more than happy for me to come down and work with the girls,” Rayna said, explaining that she worked with seven girls, aged nine to 16, and taught them basic conversational English, the environment and the use of the Internet – this last, so that she could stay in touch with them when she returned home. “These girls are orphans, and they were very excited and thirsty for knowledge. They had so many questions!” Rayna said.

She spent four weeks teaching and undertaking volunteering work such as planting trees. Other times, she would simply talk to them. “I taught them English because in today’s world, English is really important and it will help them when they go out to work. I was so grateful for the opportunity to get to interact with them. It was a wonderful experience overall.”

Sister Deodita (in pic on right), in a letter certifying Rayna’s volunteering efforts over four weeks, says, “Rayna gave us an agenda stating that Rayna and Sister Deoditashe wanted to teach English, environment and an intro to the Internet. In the 50+ hours that Rayna spent at the orphanage, she connected with our girls and built a bond with them. I strongly feel that the girls in our institution need friends like Rayna who can help to dream and aspire to look forward to life after the orphanage and understand the importance of education.”

What’s next?

“At this point, the orphanage needs repair work on two toilets, computers, books and laptops for educational purposes. I spoke to friends and family and we quickly mobilised Rs 33,000 for the orphanage. When I go back home, I will try and get two computers to send to Divya Prabha. In fact, that’s my next project,” Rayna said.

If you want to help Divya Prabha Home for Girls in Distress, contact Sister Deodita on 022 25854852 or email divyaprabhathane@rediffmail.com.

 

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When your dreams are in plain sight

Dr Samir Mansuri is visually-challenged, but that hasn’t stopped him from pursuing Ayurveda, selling organic beauty products and conducting research.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Being born visually challenged brings its own set of problems – from having to do everything differently than ‘normal’ people, those without the gift of sight are often hampered in pursuing their ambitions due to lack of support and infrastructure. Little wonder, then, that the country has only a handful of visually-impaired doctors – our educational system also makes it that much more difficult for unsighted people to study medicine or physiotherapy.

And yet, if you have the focus, nobody can hold you back. City-based Dr Samir Mansuri, an Ayurveda practitioner, is proof of this.

Dr Mansuri started his own line of organic beauty and skin products, Ocean Miracle, in 2011, and today, has several celebrities among his clients. We spoke to him about the challenges of studying medicine without the gift of sight, growing up and nurturing the medical dream, and doing all that it takes to realise one’s ambition.

Excerpts from the interview:
dr samir mansuri Being born visually-challenged and then growing up without sight must have been difficult. Can you describe what your childhood was like?
Yes, I was born blind, but I was gifted with a very keen sense of hearing, which I was conscious of since a very young age. Since I could not see, my family sent me away to an NGO-run boarding school for the blind.

Growing up, I realised that my family did not want me to return home because for them, I was a liability, a curse. So when I completed my high school education, I moved to Hyderabad. There was no definite plan at that time…I lived on railway platforms, slept beneath staircases, then later began working in massage parlours as a masseur to earn money.

How did you study Ayurveda?

I wanted to study further, and I did, opting to study Arts and later specialising in Ayurveda. Luckily for me, I met an 89-year-old traditional Ayurvedic doctor, Guru Shamshuddin, who changed my life. I consider him my guru because he gave my career a new direction. I learnt a lot of things from him, learnt about making medicines. I had been a good masseuse, and I had a loyal clientele. These people became the first ones to receive my medicines. Guru Shamshuddin had taught me the science of pulse diagnosis and the secrets of herbal connotations and cures. I assisted him for four years and gathered a lot of experience. Then in 1999, I obtained a medical practitioner’s license in Hyderabad in 1999.

How did you complete your education in medicine without the gift of eyesight? What were some of the challenges you faced?
It was a very challenging task, no doubt. But thanks to technology, the visually-challenged have several ‘aids’ which help to convert text into sound – this helps in learning. And of course my friends and colleagues were very helpful and supported me all the way, apart from my Guru, who taught me everything.

When did you decide that you wanted to become a doctor? What prompted this decision? 
I wanted to do something that was considered impossible or unachievable by the visually-challenged, and becoming a doctor seemed like a good thing to do. I started my own line of beauty and skin products and I practice at my clinic in Juhu.

Have you ever faced any hostility or curiosity from patients because you cannot see? dr samir mansuri zenie media (4)
I have never faced hostility from people, but yes, definitely curiosity. For example, once I went to the police station for my passport verification. When I told the police officer that I was a doctor, he was shocked and surprised and asked me how I could be a doctor when I am blind! Even while travelling abroad (and in India, too) I face a lot of surprised questions.

How did you start Ocean Miracle?
The idea grew over time. We have now developed a range of eco-organic, eco-natural cosmetics.

Who are some of your famous clients?
Some of them are filmmaker Subhash Ghai, TV actress and model Reshmi Ghosh, actor Ashmit Patel and there are several others. I cannot mention too many names due to the doctor-patient confidentiality.
Has the market for organic beauty products grown in recent times? 

Yes, the market has grown tremendously. People are more conscious about the entire ‘organic funda’, to put it mildly. Many people do not want to use synthetically or chemically-prepared creams and lotions on their skin.

How do you vouch for the purity of your products?
They are officially and scientifically tested and certified by labs not just in India but also abroad.

You recently conducted a research on fake and spurious beauty and cosmetic products. What were your key findings?
We studied over 500 products available in India, and found that about 50 per cent of all cosmetics and beauty or skin care products sold over the counter in India are either fake or spurious or both, or whose shelf life has expired and are harmful to the human skin in the long run. Then there are many products that do not have the mandatory Government of India manufacturing license for cosmetic products. We also found that about 65 per cent of unbranded products or unknown brands contain harmful ingredients or compounds.

Even more worrying is the fact that Ayurvedic products manufactured by FMCG giants contain ingredients obtained from herbs and plants or plant extracts grown artificially, not organically.

What are you planning to do with your findings?
We have forwarded our findings to the Ministry of Health and the Maharashtra FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It is for them to take the necessary action.

Lastly, any words of advice you wish to offer students of medicine?
Keep trying, aim high and have complete faith in the Almighty.

(Pictures courtesy Dr Samir Mansuri)

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Mumbai artist to exhibit at Izmir

Artist, writer and former journalist Prakash Bal Joshi flies to Izmir, Turkey, tomorrow to participate in an international art festival.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Noted self-taught artist Prakash Bal Joshi flies to Izmir, Turkey  tomorrow to showcase his work at the biennial international art festival to be held there. The 60-something Joshi, a Mulund resident, was chosen to participate with 49 other artists out of a total 2,500 in the festival that will be organised by the local university as well as the National Museum of Art, and will see the exhibition of select artists’ works as well as debates and discussions on art.

Joshi is no stranger to international showings – he has previously shown at Europe’s biggest art festival at Basel in ‘Art Basel, Switzerland’ in 2012 as well as done a solo showing at Colorida Art Gallery at Lisbon, Portugal, in 2010 and the Las Vegas International Exhibition of select artists in 2010, among others. He has also exhibited widely all across in India.

A former journalist with leading newspapers (he retired a few years ago from The Times of India, Mumbai), Joshi tells us that working with newspapers “widened his perspective”. He says, “I was good at Maths and Science as a student, but I had a strange pull towards Arts. I finally chose the Science stream, but I would put down my thoughts and draw small illustrations as well, just as a hobby.” Joshi is also one of the torchbearers of what he calls the ‘golden period of Indian journalism’ – the Emergency. “As reporters, we had unbelievable freedom to research stories and go to their absolute depths. This grounding helped me later as well, when I started painting as a hobby.

 

“Also, when we worked in newspapers, our written articles would go to the editing desk and come back only after an hour or more. In the mean time, I would sit and sketch.” To this day, however, he confesses that the biggest challenge for him lies not in completing a painting to his complete satisfaction, but to empty his mind completely before he picks up the brush.

The ‘natural’ connect

Joshi confesses to a mysterious connect with rivers and nature, something which probably stems from his childhood tryst with swimming in a river and almost being drowned. He is known to use rivers as a visual metaphor to portray the flow of life, and his dismay at the loss of many rivers to the ravages of time. “I am sometimes asked about painting in a noisy city like Mumbai. But I am fascinated by the city’s crowds and its travel patterns as well.

For the last 15 years, Joshi has actively pursued his passion for painting, despite the demands of a high-pressure job. “I made the switch to canvas several years ago, and I have followed a set routine despite my job – I would come home every evening, zone out completely, then paint for two hours,” he says. He has set up a small studio in his house, and credits his family with astonishing levels of patience with his work. “Those around you begin by not understanding what you are up to, but they develop with you,” he says. “As an artist, you take it for granted that most people may not understand your work, so you reconcile yourself to working without waiting for acceptance.”

He is now waiting to experiment with oil pastels next, a medium he has never worked with before.

(Pictures courtesy Prakash Bal Joshi) 

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