Illustration–Three Girls and Three Trees

I like trees. I really do.  I have a new Fig tree that I’m wondering where to plant.  There’s space between the two new Coconut trees in the front garden, and perhaps that will do. I figure, when they are all taller and productive, we can always climb the Fig to get to the Coconuts.

WIFI– Ian Dunbar on TEDTalks

Ian Dunbar: Dog-friendly Dog Training

A very nice talk, with really sensible ideas on dog training. Respecting the dog as an individual is a good place to start. Very few of us would clamor to learn from someone who threatened and beat us, and it’s not on top of the dog’s list either.

Drawing–Self-Portrait

Sometimes I get these floral attacks.

Photo of the Week– Hibiscus

Photo: Kadambini Panse

These are really wonderful shrubs. They are pretty sturdy and tough, so there’s practically no maintenance apart from regular watering. They are in flower throughout the year, and the flowers are beautiful and  attract bees, butterflies and birds. The red hibiscus flowers can be used to prepare natural dyes, and are also added to hair oil for hair-strengthening, medicinal benefits.

Illustration–When I was a Monk

Another illustration sketch from this series can be seen at OrangeMellon.

The story is about a boy who is ‘destined’ to be a monk and who is too intelligent and original to be so confined.

Religion has always been completely irrelevant and unimportant to me,  and I always find it curious as to what illogical lengths people allow it to interfere in their lives. Most of them never even seem to examine why they are following certain precepts and if there is actually any point. Things are done because they were ‘always done’ or because ‘it says so’, the ‘it’ here being the ‘good book’ of whatever denomination and never mind that most of these good books were written centuries ago for the kind of  life-styles that are, fortunately,  no longer relevant in the present age.

I’m not knocking some of the good points of religion, mind you – the philosophical, uplifting things that are spelled in a nice literary way and are  intended to make you a better human being – although, it should be borne in mind that these things only find fertile ground in people who would be nice and tolerable even if they weren’t religious.

For the rest, religion appears to be a nice excuse to exercise their meanness of spirit and smallness of mind.

Sketchbook–Boy Reading

This is from an ashram school I visited in Aine, a tribal area. I was there for two days and the school teachers were very inspiring and creative. The children have open air classes for most part, and they learn from their environment as much as from books. Some children bring their younger siblings along, since both their parents go to work in the fields.

Illustration Friday–Resolutions

My resolutions are simple:

• One thing at a time.
• Plenty of things in the long run.
• Everything in moderation.