I am delighted to know that The Hindu MetroPlus Tiruchi is celebrating its 10th anniversary. I owe much to The Hindu for having, in a big way, brought me, as artist and verse writer, into the limelight where narratives usually engage in politics of the bad kind and cricket, with a dash of Bollywood.
What shaped my imagination in my early childhood was the schooling I received at the Railway Mixed Middle School in Golden Rock. A child of the verdant colony, I revelled in the greenery, the backyards of bungalows and the intense feel and fragrance of Nature in times of rain.
Forty years of my life were spent in learning and teaching in St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchi. Here I familiarised myself with the wisdom of the Sages, be it Literature, Philosophy or Religion.
Though Tiruchi applauded my solo exhibitions and sallies in verse, I never got to be known beyond a very limited audience.
While many of my people migrated to other countries, I stayed put in Tiruchi because all that I have known and been, became intrinsic to its geography; sentimental to the extreme.
As much as I put into my environment by way of empathy, I got back in my visual and verbal expressions. After an early phase of imitating greeting cards, I decided to move into a style of my own. . I was impressed by artists like Picasso and Dali and our very own Satish Gujral, Tyeb Mehta and M.F. Hussain. Some of my paintings sold out at exhibitions for a humble and affordable price.
After illustrating Tagore’s 103 lyrics of the Gitanjali , I realised that this experience received just a nod of approval for being good.
When I felt I was heading for the doldrums, I got a call from the Hindu correspondent, Olympia Shilpa Gerald, asking me to get ready for a photo op and an interview. I was to be profiled in the MetroPlus , then a weekender featuring people who walked the road less travelled. The big day came on October 29, 2010, when my phone rang from the early hours, friends calling to congratulate me. The general content of everyday media constantly highlights already well- known personalities. MetroPlus on the other hand profiles talent which may otherwise go unnoticed.
Eugene D’Vaz is a former English professor of St.Joseph’s College, and is now a writer-artist based in Tiruchi.
