As artist Hema Devi recollected the long journey she made to conduct a Madhubani workshop here in the city, it seemed to dawn on her for the first time that it was quite an admirable feat on its own.
From Salempur village in Bihar, she had to first travel over seven hours by bus to Patna.
From here, a long train journey to New Delhi, from where she boarded the Rajadhani Express to Thiruvananthapuram.
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This distance alone is wearisome but she and another artiste from her village, Renju Devi, made this long trip lugging ‘1.5 quintals’ of bags. This converts to around 75 kilograms.
Her precious cargo was essentially mud. In 11 large bags, she brought a kind of papier-mâché pulp to form the basis for the Madhubani craft that she will be teaching the 60-odd participants of the workshop organised by the Bharat Bhavan at Thycaud in association with the city chapter of the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth. Because of the overwhelming demand for the classes, organisers had to arrange an afternoon session as well. The morning class is reserved for the youth, since it is a SPICMACAY initiative, and is free of charge.
The Madhubani papier-mâché is described as a three-dimensional interpretation of this style of painting that is indigenous to a few villages in Bihar. Hema Devi says it is a skill passed from mother to daughter for generations. “It is through SPICMACAY I have organised workshops across the country but this is the first time I’m visiting Kerala,” she said.
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Her innate talent and years of practice was evident from how effortlessly she sculpted a deity from a mound of mud. This mixture of soaked newspaper, glue and multani mitti or Fuller’s earth would be left to dry for a day after the participants moulded it into shapes of little idols, wall hangings and vases.
Over the next four days, they would perfect the papier-mâché models and then learn to paint exquisite Madhubani art on to this canvas.