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Flow of verse, and a lot of colour

Veteran poetess Padma Sachdev and ace painter Laxman Pai unravel what their art means to them, and a lot more we didn't know

PHOTO: S.SUBRAMANIUM

WHEN HEARTS SPEAK Padma Sachdev and Laxman Pai feel that related arts impact you in no uncertain manner

The choice of her words is replete with the sensibility of a sensitive writer who understands the weight of each nuance and context. Coupled with her self-deprecating humour - the combination is overwhelming. Her poetry is evocative of a soul in quest of the eternal and her prose deeply rooted in the Indian ethos as her words weave their magic. An acknowledged beauty in her prime, her vibrance and innate charm sparkles through the footprints of time. Head demurely covered, she energises all that is around her and it is evident that there is nothing demure about her - only infectious energy. Oodles of it.

Alka Raghuvanshi brings together Hindi and Dogri poet and writer Padma Sachdev in a conversation with the veteran artist Laxman Pai, who is rooted within the Indian context despite having lived in Paris for years. And yet the place has had a deep impact on him and his work.

Padma: I always say that women write in spite of everything! One has to actually steal moments as if one is going to meet one's lover! Poetry is something that comes to you. It finds you rather than the other way round. Poetry is a little like a pre-warning before migraine. And just like the migraine, when it is over and done, your entire being becomes light like a person reborn and one realises the importance of the near cathartic experience. But prose is a different matter - you have to call it.

Laxman: I feel that all art is interrelated and for an artist to understand the nuances, one needs to explore. I learnt to play the flute and the violin and even Kathakali to understand some of these finer sensibilities. But all of this should come with simplicity.

The moment you force, you fail. Simplicity is the most communicative. What is the point of complicating and confusing it?

Padma: Sure. Despite the fact that only words and music interest me, related arts impact you in no uncertain manner.

Even though we are at that stage when it doesn't matter whether it is 2006 or 2007! And yet, har kalakaar utna bada hota hai jitna woh apne andar ke bachhe ko bachha kar rakhta hai - an artist can be measured by the age of the child within him!

Laxman: Music, like visuals is a matter of pure experience. I have done a series on music. Like the alaap, which lifts you onto another plane, I find that in painting there is a harmony of lines which is akin to music. After all, the brain is the same - like a screen it sees and experiences and translates the experience.

Padma: I must confess that I don't understand abstract art. I have to look really hard to find where is the head and where are the feet! At least in the Pahadi, Basholi miniatures or in Raja Ravi Varma, one could make out what was what!

Laxman: Don't try to find meanings in painting, just experience it! When you hear Megh Malhar, you don't hear the storm, but words transform into visuals and poetry. Delicate like the flowers, they are feelings - when you walk in the garden, the swaying trees are like poetry.

Padma: I used to sing folk songs and even now I consider folk music my guru. There is so much truth distilled over centuries in them - and practical wisdom as well! I must recount an instance that happened to me. Once Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma' father who was an accomplished musician himself, heard my singing and advised me learn vocal music. I was most offended, for no wedding would be complete without me singing! But when I heard the real singers, I understood what he meant.

Laxman: When I went to Paris, I was often asked whether luminaries like Picasso or Chagall influenced me. I would retort - they are the ones who have been influenced by me! They were the ones who broke the stranglehold of the Greek style of art and were influenced by two-dimensional art from Japan and Africa.

This two dimensional art was mine already in the eastern concept of aesthetics. Anything that grows has to have roots and when you have deep roots, you stand erect.

Padma: How much of Paris crept into your painting?

Laxman: Paris is Paris. And the rest of France is not Paris! I remember once I gave my landlady a painting in exchange for four months of rent! It can happen nowhere except in Paris! Its almost wistful beauty used to stimulate me and became a part of my mind's landscape. Moulding of artist's sensibility is a long process. It is like the spiritual centre exists in everyone, but is covered, the idea is to uncover it and let it shine through.

Padma: Like the metaphors from Dogri and my life in Jammu have found their way into my writing. I come from a family where my aunt wanted to have a purificatory bath after she held my photograph with my Sikh husband! We were not supposed to look at the lecturer but only hear him, I have come a long way! I have lived my life exactly the way I wanted to. On my own terms.

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