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Painting to cleanse the soul Vinod Rajput
■ vinod.rajput@hindustantimes.com
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Nikki Anand uses acrylic, oil and charcoal.
MANOJ KUMAR / HT PHOTO
Sector 39, Gurgaon resident Nikki Anand, 45, known for her abstract and figurative style of paintings is excited about her latest works that will be exhibited at India Habitat Centre, Delhi, from March 2 to 4. The series has 24 paintings that include landscapes, figurative and abstract artworks. “My work depicts the different layers of the soul and how positive energy enriches us,” said Anand, who started painting at the age of 5. “My principal encouraged me when I painted for the first time in kindergarten,” said she. Born in Sonipat (Haryana), Anand was brought up in Delhi. “I studied fashion designing at the South Delhi Polytechnic for Women in Lajpat Nagar because my parents wanted me to pursue a professional course,” said she. “While I was pursuing the course, I tried my hand at painting and discovered that I could
do it pretty well. I felt like painting more and more. I decided to take it up seriously. So, after my course in fashion designing, I did a five-year course in fine arts from the Jamshedpur College of Art. I have been painting every day for the last two decades,” said she. Anand has had four solos and participated in 15 group shows in Delhi, Chandigarh and abroad. Painting is like a therapy for her. “Painting heals me and cleanses my soul. It calms me down. Painting is not a job for me. I do not paint like a factory that manufactures something. I enjoy the process thoroughly,” said she. Anand also likes to listen to Sufi music and do yoga regularly. “Painting is to me what a poem is to a poet,” said she. Her businessman husband, Rohit Anand, is her inspiration. “My husband appreciates my work and encourages me to do better. That is something which motivates me to be more creative," she adds. She uses acrylic, oil and charcoal in her works.
Giving shape to imagination Creativity needs to be explored and experimented with. It enables one to think about things that seem impossible in the world.
Garima Vohra ■ garima.vohra@hindustantimes.com
Though she always had a creative bent of mind, making sculptures happened by chance for Kumud Grover. Her latest exhibition was held at the Triveni Kala Sangam. But the day when she made her first sculpture is still etched in her memory. That was in 1999, when Grover attended a month-long workshop on ceramics organised by the National Small Industries Corporation. Recalls the Gulmohar Park resident in neighbouring Delhi, “One day, we were being taught to make sculptures. Each one of us was given some clay and space to mould the sculpture of our own choice. I made a mother with a child wrapped in her saree. The teacher, who was supervising the work, saw my piece
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KUMUD GROVER
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Grover has experimented with the elements.
and was surprised. She advised me to take classes in sculpture making as she thought it was my forte.” The very next day, Grover enrolled in a sculpture course at Triveni Kala Sangam. “My first exhibition was held in 2004 at Shridharani Gallery. My sculptures talked about the three stages of life. I was apprehensive but my first experience did not let me down. Instead, it pushed me to make more sculptures,” says Grover. Being a nature lover, most of
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her pieces revolve around nature and reality. The things that she observes might include the gestures people make when they are talking, the flying birds that she observes while sitting in her lawn. “Over the years, I have experimented with the five elements. For me, space defines the aspiration towards infinity, air is essential for movement, earth denotes life, water is the origin of life and fire means destruction, purification and rejuvenation,” says Grover. Her work talks about reality
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that reflects truth that one imagines. And she loves this process of giving shape to her imagination in the form of sculptures. Many of Grover’s pieces have been selected by AIFACS, Sahitya Kala Parishad and Lalit Kala Akademi. She clearly remembers her sculpture called Rising Above that was in bronze and had human figures climbing towards their own goal. It was selected by AIFACS in 2005. In 2006, AIFACS again selected one of her pieces called Unnati that had the form of a fish. “Introspection was another piece selected by Sahitya Kala Parishad. I had made a bird on one side that was thinking and introspecting while the other side looked like a dolphin in its playfulness and ready to take the plunge. I have worked a lot with fishes and birds,” says Grover. She adds, “For me, creativity needs to be explored and experimented with. It enables one to think about things or situations that seem to be impossible in the real world. It is like flying high in a world of one’s own and reaching there too.”
Musically endowed
Sunanda Sharma was introduced to the world of music by her violinist father at a very early age
Garima Vohra
ACHIEVEMENTS
■ garima.vohra@hindustantimes.com
While growing up in Dah, a small town near Pathankot, Sunanda Sharma would spend her time listening to stories of music maestros and places like Kashi and Haridwar from her grandparents. “My grandparents would recite stories while my father, Pandit Sudarshan Sharma, who used to play the violin and was my first guru, would ask me to accompany him to various concerts being organised in Pathankot,” recalls Sharma, a resident of Tara Apartments. She adds, “My father would take me to the Hariballabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar every year. He would question me about the performers after every performance.” Sharma still remembers her first bandish in Raag Yaman that she had learnt as a five-year-old. “I sang Dhenu charawat, Bal Kanhaiya and my family was thrilled. I still sing it and it takes me down the memory lane,” says Sharma. Sharma has many performances to her credit and solo music albums like Dharohar, Swar Sanchay and the most recent, Hari Meera Bai Ke Bhajan. Rajan and Sajan Mishra are her father’s friends and since they are from Kashi, she is fond of them as she could relate to the stories of Kashi told by her grandparents. The turning point came in 1990 when she was doing her masters in music from Punjab University. “Since I had won a gold in vocals that year, the university had sent me to the Hariballabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar. There were tears in my eyes as I was going to participate in the same festival where I used to go with my father,” says Sharma. She adds, “Throughout my journey to Jalandhar, I was praying to the almighty to give me a guru as renowned musicians from all over the country had come to perform there.” Her prayers did come true when she was asked to perform with Vidushi Girija Devi who had lis-
■ Visiting classical vocal teacher at Kala Ashram, the institute of Pandit Birju Maharaj, 2006 and 2007 ■ Visiting faculty at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and the Royal Academy of Music, London, 2001 to 2010 ■ Talented Young Ladies Award, International Women’s Day, Bharat Nirman, 2004 ■ Indian Junior Chamber’s Outstanding Young Persons Award, Chandigarh, 2005
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Sharma says she cannot leave Delhi because of her music. SUNIL SAXENA / HT PHOTO
tened to her singing a day before. “That was my first performance with Girija Devi and I accompanied her on the tanpura. After the performance, she walked up to my father and told him that she wants to take me to Varanasi to train me. My father was speechless. He just nodded. In 1991, after completing my masters, I went to stay with Girija Devi in Varanasi,” says Sharma. She trained under Girija Devi, whom she fondly calls Appaji,
May be I got involved in music because I had to learn from maestros, perform with them and also find my husband through music. S UN A N DA S H A R M A
for nine years and learnt the basics of the Benaras Gharana. She was not allowed to perform anywhere for the first three years. She had to only concentrate on riyaaz. “Some girls who used to learn from Appaji as a hobby would sometimes ask me to join them for a movie show or go out for shopping. Once I asked Appaji if I could go, she looked at me and said, ‘your wish’. Though she had agreed, I noticed the unwillingness on her face. I did not go and realised that she did not want me to get distracted so soon,” reminisces Sharma. After the first three years of learning, the first time Sharma was allowed to perform was in the Tansen Music Festival at
Gwalior. “It was an invitation that I was not prepared for. Appaji insisted as she thought that this was the right time for me to come out and sing. I sang Raag Todi,” says Sharma. She adds with a smile, “Often when I would travel to Punjab for a concert, Appaji would say, ‘Benaras ki Ganga Punjab ki or bahayi hai’.” Though she follows the Benaras Gharana, Sharma could not take Punjab out of her completely. “After training in Hin-dustani classical, I wanted to experiment with Punjabi folk. I started listening to a lot of people and for me it was like freedom within discipline. The style of the Benaras Gharana is always close to my heart because it has a lot of genres starting from dhrupad, tappa, holi, jhula, dadra and thumri. Hence, there is more scope for experimentation,” says Sharma. Sharma strongly believes that everything happens for a reason. “May be I got involved in music because I had to learn from maestros, I had to perform with them and also find my husband through music,” chuckles Sharma. Her husband, Jaishankar is a trained doctor and also a tabla player. “We had met during a Spic-Macay tour three years back and gave one performance together. After I came back to Delhi, he called up and proposed to me. I spoke to Appaji and my family and they said yes. I shuttle between Norway, where my husband lives, and Delhi,” says Sharma. Their daughter Kidara, who is named after a raag, is an audience at home when Sharma is doing riyaaz.