Notes from Art for Nepal

Art for Nepal is a fundraiser I initiated in May 2015, to help my Nepali colleagues/friends at Sustainable Mountain Architecture Studio in post disaster reconstruction work. I decided to make scans and reprints of my 2014 travel drawings from Nepal as limited edition art prints and postcards. In August 2015, the project grew to become a collaboration with architects Lakshmi Nair and Sarojini Dantapalli as they developed the Art for Nepal notebooks with original drawings on their covers. The money raised (INR 1.8 Lakh = USD 2650) was used for constructing three transitional homes using local materials and labour in rural Nepal. 

This project would have not been possible without the unending support from Co.Lab Design and Turmeric Design and the generous help from Aarna & Anmol Gupta, Anne Feenstra, Bhavika Aggarwal, Broti Bhattacharya, Deepak Patankar, Jasjyot Singh Hans, Jyoti Patankar, Kriti Monga, Monika Agarwal, Rahul Patankar, Raunaq Kapoor, Reshu Singh, Saurabh Jain, Sneha Punjabi and Varun Bajaj. Rohan is very grateful to Thomson Press and Sona Signature Papers for their contribution towards the printing and paper as well as to instamojo for facilitating the payment gateway at zero percent processing fees.

The project featured was in Platform Magazine, Deccan Herald, Times of India, The Better India, The Scribbler, Bindass Republic, Unbind Magazine

Instagram diaries from when Sarojini and I travelled to Nepal in December 2015, to help build the final two transitional homes from the Art for Nepal funds:

Brush pens flew Air India again. @sarojinidantapalli and I are spending this week in Nepal.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 21, 2015 at 6:05pm PST

'YES!' We spent our first cold cold night in Nepal at Sujan's place in Bhaktapur with his warm warm folks. We played antakshari with his cousins, ate Daal Bhaat and probably the best fried egg we've had in a long time and the ever familiar tulsi infused water that his grandparents drink during the winter. #ArtForNepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 3:42am PST

Our Day 1. Panchkhal, Kavre district. Work for both the shelters  has been on since the weekend. We are here with structural engineer @bij_stha and our favourite upcoming starchitect #swoozanshilpakar from the #SMA #kathmandu team. The stone and timber for the shelters is salvaged on their respective sites from the rubble of the damaged homes on the plot.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 4:56am PST

(Pretty) Early Day 2. @bij_stha, #swoozanshilpakar and I hiked to the other side of the hill in the morning to buy fresh bamboo for the roof frame and wall panelling. After having the bamboo cut from the cluster and cleaned up, we helped our workers lug these 8-10 m long pieces to the nearest motorable road from where we dragged them to the sites. #diedmorethanafewtimesontheway

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 5:16am PST

'To get your hands dirty with your gloves on.' It's so bizarrely conflicting to imagine that what is a slice of mundane everyday life for a whole lot of people in South Asia could even be a check box on the exotic adventure tourism itinerary for a few of us. But at the same time, I realize it's so critical for many more of us to have these experiences and share them with the people around us back in our cities. These exchanges are so real and so relevant for seeing our actual big picture trajectory. #artfornepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 8:16pm PST

'If this was any other country, you guys wouldn't  even be here right now.' The blockade and the consequent fuel crisis in Nepal is something that I had briefly read about before we came, but  only this week did we realize how deeply it has disrupted several aspects of everyday life in rural and urban Nepal. Over the past four months, the stocks from India for basic to specialised medicines, LPG cylinders manufactured clothing, petrol and even Indian made packaging for Nepali products have only been sparingly available. The buses and micros are all running wayy beyond their capacity, taxis are super expensive to take, several basic things are being sold in black, tools and supplies have gotten more expensive, transporting the materials to site has gotten more expensive. Our project here is already running over our estimated budget and it's almost funny to realize we have much to do with it. Even though it almost feels like bullying, the constraints have been pushing our team to keep going more and more local with everything.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 9:22pm PST

pa-pa-para-pa Bamboo number five. #artfornepal #bamboo

A video posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 28, 2015 at 7:10am PST

Different from our cities, water is a free resource here but Kamala and her friend make about fifteen trips through the day to the nearby spring to fetch water in containers to be used for making the mud mortar and plaster. The spring is about a fifteen minute hike from the  sites and they rest for about five minutes between trips. No one wastes water at site. #artfornepal

A video posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 28, 2015 at 8:00pm PST

Guna Laxmi and Ambar Bahadur Shrestha spoke only Nepali and I barely knew any Nepali. Even despite this, we had long conversations almost everyday about everyday life, poverty and wealth, food and bagoti (grapefruit). We realized only midway that we had begun calling their site the grandparents' site. #artfornepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 31, 2015 at 10:14pm PST

The tree in their yard bore the most flavourful and tangy raw bagoti (grapefruit) that we had during our stay in Panchkhal. Mrs. Shrestha would serve it to us with this mind blasting freshly ground chillies and salt chutney. #artfornepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 31, 2015 at 10:25pm PST

Three members from Chameli and Tirtha Bahadur B.K.'s family of six also worked on the construction of the two transitional homes built in Panchkhal as unskilled and unskilled labourers. The project gave them not just better shelter but also employment for a week. It also gave them the technical and strategic skills to help any other villager to build such a transitional structure for themselves. #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 4:41am PST

Red Mud (from the site) and cow dung plaster on the edge wall made with salvaged stone. The salvaged window tells you about the family's lineage as ironsmiths. The bamboo sourced from a kilometre away. #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 4:59am PST

We spent our Christmas in Panchkhal, distributing blankets and thermal inner wear to families and children from the leftover #artfornepal funds. Everyone from this hamlet on the highway in Northern Nepal thanks all of you wonderful people who contributed to the project!

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 6:07am PST

To meet and to work with such passionate and driven people has probably been the most enriching part of the project. The inspiring #SMA team, Bikash Dai, Rumi Rumi, @Bij_stha and our favourite upcoming starchitect #Swoozanshilpakar; the ladies #LakshmiNair and @sarojinidantapalli, it's been wonderful having each one of you as collabotors and friends. #DreamTeam #ArtForNepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 9:54pm PST

Back in Kathmandu, spent a pensive Saturday morning at the Patan Durbar Square listening to @nicholsontunes, coping with the realisation that the Nepal earthquake of 2015 took away the big temple that features in the middle of my drawing. However, it was reassuring to see the square just as populated as I had remembered it last; full with tourists, travelers and residents who were sunning themselves and basically having a good time. Until the time that it is reconstructed, the memory of the temple lives through its high plinth and the shrine that sits in a room with walls made of fabric. #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 10:55pm PST

I accompanied Bikash Dai and his friends to Kirtipur for an incredible Newari meal at what they call an Open Museum, run by a co-operative of Newar women (only) from the town. Together they were prepping, cutting, grinding, mixing, cooking, steaming, frying and serving these handmade traditional recipes of snacks and beverages in brass utensils and cutlery in a space next to their open kitchen. We finished our meal with some divine yomari, steamed rice flour dumplings with a gooey jaggery and coconut filling.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 2, 2016 at 5:24am PST

And then, in the evening, this happened. After a 20 minute amazing-race-esque expedition through the town of Kirtipur that involved showing copies of drawings on postcards to startled locals as we asked for 'Kirtina- David- Sujan- Dilsan?!', I was back on the little street where my Kirtipur journey had begun in July, 2014. Reunited with Kirtina and David, I told them and their parents and grandparents about #ArtforNepal and how their drawings had contributed significantly to the fundraiser. To me and to my sporting comrades on this Boxing Day Adventure, Daphne and her friends at VSO international, this was probably the most exhilarating moment of 2015.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 2, 2016 at 6:59am PST

David Maharjan with his version of the Bagh Bhairab temple drawing in Kirtipur #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 2, 2016 at 7:42am PST

In Jan 2016, the #SMA team visited #Panchkhal to check on the completion of the two transitional homes. The Bahadur family had bought more bamboo to finish their walls and the Shrestha family had settled into their shelter #artfornepal #nepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Mar 4, 2016 at 9:54pm PST

Back again to where it all started, this  time with @sarojinidantapalli, #lakshminair, #SMA and #artfornepal. It's been quite a journey. We are very grateful to each one of you who supported the project and helped us see the process through. #kathmandu #nepal #latergram

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Mar 4, 2016 at 9:06pm PST

Travel far enough to meet yourself.

So I quit my dayjob and spent one month putting my work together, chilling at home and watching Pakistani shows on the television. Starting January, I embarked on a four week long journey across India.

The travels were intended to help me breathe and revisit some of my favourite places and people in life. The timing also helped me escape the dreary Delhi winters and figure the next steps in life (the next dayjob, work life balance, why am I on this planet, etc). Unthinking much while I was planning the whole trip broadly, I remember freaking out a little just the night before leaving. A month felt like a little long time and travelling alone felt slightly daunting. What were the odds that my new day job would take me outside of Delhi (the city that strangely feels like home now)? What if I just got bored midway? What if all this solo travel got to me?

I realized pretty soon that, even though I was travelling solo, it was hardly so because, at each place that went to, I was meeting and staying at homes of close friends and family. These were people who’ve been close to me at different points in life and this time around, they were sharing with me slices from their lives in their cities. Along with the people, there were also places that I had been to in the past and had always wanted to revisit. Going back and spending time with these people and places reminded me of why I had always loved them so dearly. It was 

Jaipur, Rajasthan

Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra

Hyderabad, Telangana

Badami, Karnataka

Hampi, Karnataka

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Portfolio Update

Hello there! Updates to my work can be found here. Travelling now for four weeks across India to Jaipur, Bombay, Hyderabad, Badami, Hampi and Chennai. More soon.

The View from the Window

For the past few months, I have been doing the lights (turning them on and off on the console, really) for the Design x Design Exposé events that are hosted by Allliance Francaise de Delhi and Studio iF once every two months. It gives me the chance to be part of some of the back end processes of the events but also to experience it from the projection room. I can see the proceedings and sense the developments but I'm still not there, really. But then I get this wide window ledge of the projection room to leisurely place my notebook and the sketching paraphernalia and stretch out and listen and draw and write.

While I am drawing, I am disengaged from experiencing the conversation first hand, and seeing it unfold in front of my eyes as a spectator. I still cannot decide if I dislike more the fact that I cannot ask any questions during the discussions, or feel happy and privileged that I get the space and luxury to absorb and draw from an almost external perspective.

It is live sketching but it almost feels like it isn't. 

Here, are notes from the last event held on May 29 featuring Srishti Bajaj/Designbait and Plural Design+ Oracles Landscape.

Notes from B.Town (Day 2)

Moving out of the old city proper, I travelled to explore some of the suburbs of Mumbai. Starting at the Marine Drive, I went to the Banganga tank in Walkeshwar, the mills of Lower Parel and then to Bandra and Pali Hill. I was surprised to see that many Gymkhana Maidans along the Marine Drive do not have any boundary wall facing the main street; made the urban open space feel larger, more public.

I vividly remembered my last visit to the Banganga tank and wanted to relive the experience of this urban oasis, introspective and calm; as much beyond the city as it is inside it. The neighbourhood reminds me of the ruins of Hampi, ancient and oh-so-stable, as though it is going to remain exactly the same for another hundred years. The temples become the social anchor to the tank, holding the essence of the place together in all the bustle and transformation of the city.

Lower Parel was quite a surprising mix of the old and the intervened, with many fluid and elegant multi-storey glass buildings abutting grimly old low lying neighborhoods. This was a story of aggressive urban transformation, that I think would have had equally powerful social consequences. While rehabilitated people occupied humble four storey housing with hand painted signage; offices, stores and meeting rooms occupied the the glass towers. I then went to the Mathuradas Mill Compound, my taxi cab driver told me that most of these towers were built on mill compound sites that would have looked much like this at one point. I did sneaky tours of a few places and finally planted myself at the very pleasant Cafe Zoe. While all of the internal adaptive reuse was interesting indeed, these establishments just felt very disconnected from their setting, almost oblivious and opaque. It felt like the city had here been reduced to architecture, buildings in cement and steel and was then worked with, just formally and spatially. This was quite different to all that I had observed the previous day, but in some way very familiar (almost similar to a lot of Delhi).

I then went Bandra to meet my architect friend Pallavi who took me around Bandra. Lunching at the maze like Candies, we walked to the village of Chuim. Starkly different from the intense urban villages of Delhi, this was pleasant and quaint. Pallavi told me the villagers here were well to do but more importantly content with their peaceful lives. Walking past a few cool studios we came across this partly hidden funky signage to the Hive. Curious much, we walked in to find ourselves in the middle of this inspiring and engaging place that hosted coworking, independent events, workshops, classes for village children, a cafe and a sea of possibilities on their spacious terrace. The discovery excited and inspired me at many levels. How much does the Hive owe to its setting? Are there places like this in Delhi? How can I help sustain these creative projects?

The following visit to the Ranwar village only made many of these questions clearer. Walking across the main bazaar street selling fresh fruit and vegetables and everyday things we reached the neighborhoods that housed quaint cafes and street art. It was pleasant and pedestrian in a very good way. There were many people and houses rich and poor; young and old, but essentially ordinary and comfort. The place was eventful but not intense, it was comfortable. It made me wonder how the urban villages of Delhi became so intensely overused and abused, as hotbeds of volatile rental real estate and repurposed architecture disconnected with its neighboring social fabric?

And still every inch of urban space felt utilized skillfully and defined. Later that evening in front of Salman Khan’s home, Pallavi and I talked about this thrifty spirit everywhere in the city. She told me it came from how perhaps everyone comes to Bombay and struggles for a few years, working really really hard and only then does life become a little comfortable. It is not embarrassing to have less money. It is not embarrassing to travel on local trains and buses. It is ordinary life and there are many more people living this ordinary life, sharing public space and transport. How does this compare with Delhi? The metro has made so much of a difference but has it?

I clearly have to spend more time to figure out and visit many more places in Mumbai and Delhi. Crawford Market, Kala Ghoda, Dharavi, Versova, Thane and many many more places are still left to do. Do let me know if you have any recommendations/ suggestions or any starting points of answers to some of these questions.

Notes from B.Town (Day 1)

I went to explore the older parts of Mumbai on the first day, Bombay. Starting from what was possibly the first establishment of Colaba, the Sassoon Dock, I went to Fort, Yazdani Bakery, Horniman Circle, and stopped at Brittannia Bakery in Ballard Estate for lunch. The air mostly felt dense, almost suffocating at places that were not ventilated. While the fish, sea food, flower and everyday goods market by the Sassoon dock became one of the most (overwhelmingly) memorable sensations of this trip, walking through the busy markets into the bylanes of Bhuleshwar with signage reading in many many locally spoken languages made me got me closer to the city’s real diversity and its cultural intersections.

Most of the wandering on the first day made me feel like Mumbai was far more urban than Delhi was and had been a mature and bustling centre of urbanity for much longer than Delhi has. It was thriving with density and diversity, with its people, shops and transactions. Walking through the Fort and Ballard Estate area, with most buildings dating back to the 19th and early 20th century colonial lineage, there was this sense of comfort for the human scale. The formal building edge, the generous footpath and the sufficiently wide road seemed to really make it comfortable for people and also impressively accommodate for the many cars of present times. The synergy felt deliberate.

In Dhobi Talao and Bhuleshwar, the expression on Old Parsi and Gujarati owned buildings changed to become more localized. The street grew tighter (and busier but organized) and the neighbourhood felt a lot more intervened upon and contemporary. The teleporting threshold of the big Krishna temple under renovation at Bhuleshwar felt suspended between the busy transactional hub and the temple courtyard that humbled you amidst other old Gujarati women and men. This un-urbane nucleus was at the centre of all of this city and yet quite outside it.

The city had this amazing intensity that came from its efficient and thrifty use of the available urban space. Seating created by buildings, shop fronts, places for plants, the edge of the sidewalk, the entrances to buildings, large urban doors that could be opened only partly to work like smaller windows. Bademiya in Colaba surprised me and inspired me. It actually manifests itself in a way that the main kitchen and seating area separated by the main street! So it functions as a take-away and a dine in restaurant with the service circulation being its most public access. Among other things, this also got the centrestage to the food. I often miss this efficiency in Delhi where I see tonnes of public space wasted because it is left unclaimed or undefined.

Notes from B.Town

I was recently in Mumbai for a short solo vacation after a close cousin’s wedding. It had been quite a while since I had really been unoccupied enough to just absorb the spirit of a place, draw of it and draw from it. This was ideal. The intention was to pretty much get lost in the city, see the city life and city lights. The plan was simple; to just walk around town, visit neighbourhoods and food places and observe and draw. Much inspiration for drawing with brush pens came from the Superheroes at Turmeric Design and the happy notebooks from Paperbox. 

Having been to the city a few times before and being decently skilled at the Marathi language (though I did not end up in many places where I needed to use it), I was able to easily break the touristy ice and hunt for the local flavour, get a feel of of the city. My Mumbai based uncle insisted that I can never get the real feel of Bombay until I spend a night on a footpath. After having spent almost all his adult life in the city, he claims to have never wanted to get this feel of the city for himself.

On the first evening of this trip, I walked to the very charming Abode, to prepare an itinerary for the coming two days. In the itinerary were things/places my friends in Bombay insisted I do, along with suggestions from Abedin Sham at the Abode. Right after, I spent an hour at the Gateway of India. 

My Bombay bucket list was solid and the tone was set;to unearth the old and to understand the intervened. Having recently done a fair bit of Delhi Dallying I was looking forward to explore the city as cultural and architectural narratives woven together. Now that I go through these notes again, I see a whole bunch of grammatical and etc errors. But, I also see spontaneity and honesty. 

I consciously decided to have no music playing in my ears mostly through the trip, but Avishai Cohen’s album Gently Disturbed seemed to be getting the vibe quite well. Articulating an underlying structure in the city that you can surely sense but cannot decipher lucidly, the music during the breaks was as engaging as the city itself. 

Here are notes from Day 1
Here are notes from Day 2