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Strokes of a mighty pen

Manjula Padmanabhan enjoys her work and has a flair for it, writes T.SARAVANAN

PHOTO: K. GANESAN

SPELL BOUND Impressive lecture.

Personal accounts are always alluring. And when it is that of a celebrity artist-cum-writer Manjula Padmanabhan, nothing can hold back.

It was an august gathering's tryst with Manjula at the American College last week where she candidly shared her life's struggles and how she overcame them to be what she is today.

A slide show of her illustrations narrated her life story as an artist and a writer and how she has reconciled to the dual role.

"Many have asked me about this. There is a connection between my writings and drawings. Initially, my illustrations fed me and made me independent."

"At that time, I was a fresh graduate and wanted to be on my own, without any support from family. Soon, I realised I was not doing justice to my creative urge, which many a time controlled by constraints. But once I had the knowledge of what it would be if I had to be a writer, I started writing," she describes, admitting that her writings are mostly to give vent to her personal feelings.

Classic struggle

As is the case with any aspiring youngster, brimming with ideas but with no money to support and left alone in the materialistic life of Bombay, Manjula embarked upon her career as a freelance illustrator and a cartoonist for a weekly.

Her comic strips became popular, but she continued to struggle. Her earning was sufficient only for a hand to mouth existence.

"It is a classic case of struggle, same like several top personalities who emerge over tough situations. There is a huge difference between what you do for money and just for your soul. But the irony is you don't stretch unless you have to struggle to make a living. Most of the exemplary works of art have erupted when pushed to a corner. Hence, I have no regrets," she confesses.

Once the cost of living exceeded her calculations she decided to move to Delhi, where her comic strip `SUKI' for a popular daily attracted public attention.

Soon she realized how seductive it was to be paid to produce work.

Popular comic strip

"Suki provided regular income. I felt as if it was my alter ego, parallel life. She is a version of myself taking life on her own. I kept my private life to myself and made Suki public. She could go and do things, which I could not. Her friends were sometime humans and sometimes extra terrestrial beings. These cartoon figures gave me tremendous freedom to explore and I never felt restrained." But then Manjula also feared losing her originality.

"At times I felt I had lost my voice. And I quit the job, willing to take risks being a single."

She even relaxed her resolve and sought support from her family.

"I did so for I wanted to have the feel of how it would be to produce work without being paid for it."

Ride in autorickshaws

And what followed were some impressive illustrations of her outdoor experiences in Delhi like the one on autorickshaws (one such drawing was an autorickshaw in the form of a skull).

"They are death traps. Manoeuvring through the Delhi traffic is an arduous task on hand. But these autos did it with relative ease," she explains.

Meanwhile, impressed by the design style of Peter Brookes' version of Mahabharata, she drew series of illustrations with black as dominating colour.

"It was just to relax myself from the travails of working under constraints. Some of my best drawings came out then," she recalls.

Hugely talented, she admits to have compromised at times just to suit the publisher's interest.

"I have done some of the works in a hurry. But it is also true that I compromised only when I had no other go. An artist should work entirely for himself or herself."

"As a writer, I can sense audience reaction. But, it is the publisher who decides what is to be published," she says.

Manjula took to writing short stories that were marked by a wry sense of humour.

Her financial commitments propelled her to apply for the Onassis contest and she even ended up bagging the Onassis Prize for Theatre for her play `Harvest' in 1997.

Prize winning play

Her's was one among 1470 entries from 76 countries. Harvest was a futuristic play about the sale of body parts and exploitative relations between developed and developing countries.

"That was the time I was desperately in need of money. I applied, as I found it difficult to maintain myself with dignity. The first prize came as a big relief. It inspired me to stay away from jobs and enjoy the freedom of doing whatever I liked to do."

From then on, Manjula concentrated more on etchings and lithographs. The subject of her work varied from animal species to humans to fantasies.

"I tried to bring together hybrids, as my theme," she says.

Her double images of elephant with human fingers and duck head with human foot generated immense interest.

"A closer look will reveal that the mutations are subconsciously fuelled by the images of Gods," she reveals.

Liking for science

Moreover, she also made it clear her special liking for science fictions. Her illustrations and etchings were exemplary, especially the one that had human head, limbs and a body made of carpet.

"These etchings reached out in more ways than one. It gave me a sense of sharing my vision with potentially large sections of society," she beams.

Widely traveled, Manjula does not nurture any sense of belonging to a particular place.

"Since I was a globe-trotter I am not strongly rooted to one culture. This in fact has helped me to accept multiple things," says Ms. Manjula, who also enjoys creating illustrated books for children.

Replete with twists and turns, her very descriptive autobiographical account was like watching a film on a young creative artist cum writer.

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