They say destiny has a way of finding you, often on the road you have avoided and sometimes on the road less travelled. In my case, the road passed through my school and generally avoided by all.
Dr. Shirodkar High School, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Back in the day, we did not have social media to dispense feel good messages and moral thoughts by the dozen. The ‘Suvichar’ on the classroom blackboard was the source. A moral thought had to be written in good handwriting before the day began. Now this task demanded regularity and though mandatory for every classroom, was often shirked by the toppers of the class. The responsibility fell on the masses and usually forced upon by the class teacher on an unaware pupil… In my class, that child was me. My responsibility was to choose the thought, write it and decorate this section using white and coloured chalks. The job required good reading and neat handwriting… I possessed neither and had no help or guidance. Today that task seems basic, however for as a school going kid this was a big deal. Looking back, this helped me realise the importance of reading, understanding the meaning both evident and implied. A good habit of reading thus developed and in time refined my skills and broadened my perceptions.
Class 8, 1973 - ‘Thought for the Day’ became my first creative platform with the humble school blackboard being my first calligraphy backdrop.
Eventually the help came from my drawing teacher, Mr Nabar. His one sentence, “Come to me when you finish your studies for the day, I will explain a few things”,
was the start of an amazing journey of exploring letters, colours, techniques and experiments.
A simple chalk triggered my love for tools and testing them with various media. It taught me to manipulate thickness, angles, textures, opacity. Principles of scalability became clearer as I graduated from blackboards to notice boards to announcement boards for our programs. Events, celebrations, festivals were not complete without my input in form of carefully designed boards and banners. Such projects in the school days and timely guidance from Nabar Sir taught me an important lesson. There is a lot to learn from things, people around us, the experiences we have, the tools we use and in the space we design. All we need is the deep desire to learn and have a keen observation. Till date anything new, anything different catches my eye and I find myself thinking about its aesthetics, form and potential. Every incident in life is either an opportunity to progress or to evaluate yourself. It may inspire you, reassure you or teach you. In school I got introduced to an art that would later become the mission in life.
Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai, Maharashtra
After school, with the guidance of my teacher I chose the field of arts and got into the prestigious Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Arts. Here the scope of media and tools, my thoughts and ideas as well as proportions of applications underwent a constructive transformation. It opened a beautiful creative world. Letters became fluid forms and deeper meaning of texts was revealed. My calligraphy found movement and words became more expressive. I understood the true essence of the art. Every surface became a canvas and every object was a possible tool. Each project was an opportunity to bring my ideas to life and experiment to my heart’s content. The calligraphic strokes and compositions could now convey the emotions with their forms.
The journey that unexpectedly began in school gave a direction to my life. I used it as a platform to learn the finer aspects of the art and explore its potential. In a way I dedicated my life to calligraphy and the art too gave me back ten-fold.
Calligraphy wall in the class room of Dr. Shirodkar High School
Written by Achyut Ramchandra Palav #Calligraphy #Indiancalligraphy #Calligrapher #Devanagari #Devanagaricalligraphy
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