It is said nobody is left alone in life. The forces that emerge to help will lead the talented into meaningful paths. Take the case of young Ramesh who only remembers being part of MILT’s Snehalaya, a destitute home where he was raised, nurtured and sent to school. Post his 10th Standard, he is now chasing his dream of being an artist. Ask him for his initials in his name, and he shrugs, “Perhaps I can be called S. Ramesh for growing up in Snehalaya or M. Ramesh for having studied at the MILT School. All I know is, my ‘home’ is my family and my guiding spirits at MILT Residential School are my parents!” says Ramesh. “I don’t miss anything as I grew up with as much good food, play and study, as with abundant love and affection,” says the practical boy, yearning to make it big in the art world.
Burning desireThe young boy’s burning desire to draw, paint, sketch and wield the brush resulting in colourful expressions is hard to ignore. At Snehalaya’s get-together he declared: “We celebrate our MILT Chairman’s birthday every year and we are encouraged to bring in our creations to exhibit them or sell them at nominal prices. When my oil-on-canvas nature’s interpretations was sold for a small amount a few years ago, it gave me an impetus to do much more. The money I got was so precious, I gave them to my family home, Snehalaya.” The glint in his eyes mirrored his pride. “If you come to my small studio on Avenue Road you can see my paintings,” he offered. Nearly 100 paintings, most of them explaining nature in different hues, occupy his tiny room where he practices in the morning. As naturescapes form much of Ramesh’s expressions, wildlife and colourful blossoms are also seen. “I took part in competitions in school. I got prizes at the Wildlife Week conducted by Regional Museum of Natural history and later at the painting contests at Shivarathreeshwara High School in Nanjangud.” When did he realise he could draw? “When I was in fourth Standard I drew a herd of elephants racing through the jungles, and later a sacred pose of Lord Eshwara. To my surprise, one of the senior MILT members had it framed and put on the wall. I felt as if I had already received an award. That was the starting point. Whatever I saw around me, I wanted to draw on paper,” recollects Ramesh, framed by umpteen sunrise portraits on the wall.
Ramesh took part in painting and athletics at school. “But I didn’t have a great hunger to study after my 10th as my paintings fetched me money and my passion became my vocation,” he says. But it was a question of time, or a process of growing up for Ramesh when he gradually veered away from nature-paintings and got himself into abstract idioms. If luck or fate did have its way for Ramesh, it was a wrong-call that connected him on phone to a jeweller. “If you are interested in jewellery design, your sketches may get you a salary,” said the philanthropist owner and that was another turning point.
“This is how God led me to my present job where I do these jewellery designs,” says Ramesh, displaying a host of his neck-wear and earring designs. But that’s not all, the young artist is all excited to teach the nuances of painting to young minds fluttering to fly into the art world.
“I couldn’t make it to Chitra Santhe this year, I want to take part with my own stall there in 2015,” says the young teenager, who has sent his paintings to the Scrutiny Committee at Chitrakala Parishath.
