An Artful Eventful Day

Mornings here in Bangalore have a real beauty to them. The sounds of the neighborhood and city start to creep into your consciousness as you lie in bed. The local dogs barking to defend their territory, the auto rickshaws starting to buzz down the street, it all adds up to a gentle push to awaken and join the fun and adventure that wait for you today.

And what a day it was! First, I need to tell you that I have been successfully crossing "that street" all week in order to take Anna to the school bus. I am not nearly as brave as the locals, but I manage and can even do it in the afternoon with the heavier traffic - the rickshaws, buses, scooters and cars all passing inches away from me. It is quite exciting! ;)

Now, Wednesday was a really special day. I met up with Debbie Ann and Charles (both of whom I met through blogging before I even came to Bangalore!) and had a traditional South Indian breakfast. Masala Dosa and filter coffee- yum! This is quickly becoming one of my favorite meals! Then we dropped Charles at work and headed off to a "road trip" organized by the OWC. When I saw this trip I knew I had to go since one of my personal tasks while I am here in Bangalore is to discover if I still have a passion and interest in art. (I attended- though never graduated from art school when I was younger.) We went to the studio/home of Balan Nambiar. Wow. I am so glad that I went! He is a painter, sculptor, enamel artist, photographer and researcher. He is very influenced by his upbringing in rural Kerala and was a fascinating, interesting, and kind man. I sincerely hope that I might be able to have some future interactions with him. Debbie has written a little write up of our experience there, you can go read it if you would like to know more about him.

Well, after we were done Debbie suggested that we head over to Chitrakala Parishath. It is a local art school and has a museum that exhibits traditional and modern Indian art. They wouldn't let me take my camera inside, but I can tell you that I was very impressed with much that I saw and also enjoyed the student exhibit and the exhibit from Kolkata by the Spectrum Artists' Circle.

Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

After we were done in the museum we wandered around the campus a bit and saw some fun sites:

A pillar with decoration

A student(?) sculpture

Dog resting outside and open air classroom

And then we saw......

A MONKEY!!!

This one is for you Margit!