Cactus Blooms – 1

The adversities faced in life break some people, while others grow wiser from the hardships. A cactus is riddled with thorns but it also has beautiful flowers, so a life that has suffered from pain becomes beautiful and brings smiles to the lives of others. Pratod Karnik’s article series ‘Cactus Blooms’ will capture such beautiful lives. The first story in this series is that of famous photographer Vicky Roy. Vicky Roy’s story is an extreme transition from a rough life on the streets to a respected figure in the Forbes list. Before knowing that, let’s know how Pratod Karnik came up with this from this first part.

It is often said that creation is born out of pain. Even a small baby is born from the mother’s womb comes through the intense pains of childbirth. In a heart that has been tormented by extreme hardships, and misfortunes – some may call it God’s will… kindles a spirit born out of pain and hardships. It is this spirit which gives rise to a creation, soothing the tormented heart.

I first experienced this when I was studying at an Art College in Mumbai. Back then, college used to be for two hours on Saturdays and Sundays used to be a holiday. I was visiting Mumbai alone at that time for the first time. I had mixed feelings – excited and curious about everything.

After college ended at one o’clock on a Saturday, I set out for my wanderings. At a vast garden nearby, I saw a mob. A girl of my age was saying something accompanied by another 5-6 boys and girls. After that they sat in a semi-circle. One of them quickly distributed pads and drawing papers to the children there. Then, another girl took out some porcelain mangoes from her bag and children sitting around gave a shout out. Some called it Aamba (mango in Marathi) while some called it Aam (Mango in Hindi). Then pencils were distributed. The girl went to the children and showed them the porcelain mango one by one. Later, two boys kept small boxes of chalk in front of them.

The children put the paper onto the provided pad and started drawing pictures of the Mango. Seeing these art lessons being given out in a park excited me. I went to those children. A new opportunity to enrich myself was in front of me, right there in the natural surroundings.

After Mira Nair’s award-winning film ‘Salaam Bombay’ (1988), she had started conducting various activities for the children from the slums and street since 1989. I visited their office and told them that I would like to be associated with such work and immediately joined them. I would look forward to these Saturday noon drawing sessions.

These street children, who grew up in harsh Sun, rain, cold and wind; were barely surviving by eating one or two biscuits and a piece of bread. Mira Nair’s initiative taught them the importance of bathing, cleanliness, and hygiene. Clothes received via donations were given to these children and sometimes Mira Didi would also send in new clothes.

I used to always see children living in utter poverty, but it was only after I joined this group that I realized that these children in flesh and blood live such a miserable life. However, their Didi was working day and night to give a reasonably good life to them trying to turn around their destiny. Gradually many a youth joined this initiative.

It’s been 34 years and this organization has progressed by leaps and bounds to accept full-time guardianship of 500 such street children in Mumbai alone. Their accommodation, food and education are taken care of by the centers of the organization.

I would love teaching drawing and painting to these children, who detested education and hated school. Unaware of their surroundings, they were living life like stray animals. They could not even understand “A for Apple”. A solution was found to this, and different fruits and objects were made from clay so that they can be shown the objects. Charts with pictorial depictions were made and this created a bit of interest in the children. Teaching them numbers and the alphabet in a conventional manner was not going to help. Some innovative methods were needed so that the children remained attached to the organization. So, they were introduced to various activities through stories, songs and paintings.

Most of these children drew with great passion. They painted pictures like a blue mango, or a pink guava. But even these pictures and colours had a strange magic. I can still vividly remember the picture of a clown painted by six-and-a-half-year-old boy named Hamid.

After these experiences, I started thinking intensely about it. I gathered a lot of information on this, researched it and spoke to people about their experiences. This opened a new chapter of life in front of me.

After 21 years, in 2011, a similar initiative was started in Madhya Pradesh. It was limited to painting only. We experienced the same thing there too. The children who would run away if made to sit in one place and had to be given chocolates so that they would sit and paint. Here too, drawings of many children amazed me.

After these experiences, I started thinking intensely about it. I gathered a lot of information on this, researched it and spoke to people about their experiences. This opened a new chapter of life in front of me. Based on these experiences, and research that how when a pencil, paper, color box, or a simple Kodak or Hotshot camera comes into the hands of these children- who are unable to bear the hunger pangs, bloom like colorful flowers on the meadow and prickly cactus……And that is when the thought to start a series on these experiences and research titled  ‘Cactus Blooms’ came to my mind.

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Pratod Karnik

Artist and Advertising Professional