Space big and small

Space big and small

I read with interest the Arts etc section in the Indian express Sunday. An article called travel drawing by yusuf arakkal. Like all kids he used to draw on the walls only to be reprimanded by his uncle. The other elders often advised him to go out and play and stop disfiguring the walls. His favourite were ships and human figures. They even frightened him saying… god will ask you to give life to them on the judgement day , if you don’t you will be thrown into burning fire..!!

what a way to encourage. Perhaps these days moms are not so discouraging and will lead their children (just one or two so more chellam) to an art class ..!!
sure enough his art grew with the encouragement from his grandmother. The wall drawings continued until one day the uncle got to see it again. He asked the servants to clean it up…and thus disappeared his childhood master pieces….!!the charcoal and lime was washed …!!clean.

the inconsolable cries made his father buy him a note book and pencil…he says he tried out the pencil sketches on paper but liked the huge space on the wall.

(I have always advised my children and other children who visited our house that they should not draw on walls too….now I wonder…whether I have lost a yusuf arakkal from home?...i still have that view and cant get over it…but always have books, scale pencil rubber and give to young ones who visit our place. I have seen that it brings a wide smile to a crying child even if she/he is hungry…!!)

Talking of space large and small perhaps it is what you are used to matters…
I wouldn’t know what to draw on a huge canvas, but on a small piece of paper yes, quite a few things.

Having got used to large pans and pots in a joint family, cooking for just two is sometimes with effort. In the initial stages I had to give away/ throw away some food. Even now the birds and squirrels get the extras first thing in the morning. The small pots and pans look like play things..!!
Even if there are quite a few items I hate to eat on a large plate.
When it comes to cars I love ambassadors and not the kutty tiny weeny ones..!!
Does space big or small matter to you?

sathya

Hai Sathya,
I wish my son had dirtied our walls with his drawings, he never ever even drew a line on the wall. His fine motor movements of the fingers was very bad that he could not even hold a glass of water, he used to drop it. Only by the he was around 12 years, he could drink strait from a tumbler. I used straws eveyday to make him drink his milk.
Now about space, I am a very flexible person and never complain about lack of space. As the saying goes, only the mind should be spacious to accomodate people.

Dear Satya,
Space does matter to me, not a lot though.I love to have cute small furnitures and cars, rather than bigger ones.When it comes to home space i like a bigger kitchen which can fit in all my gadgets.As you have mentioned, when it comes to cooking, it was initially difficult for me to cook for 2, having cooked for 4 for many months.But now, the irony is i cook for just my hubby as i dunt take any of the spicy/faty food that he eats.So go adapted.

Nice thread Satya!

hello varloo


the things we miss
do make the heart a little heavy
sometimes the shining rays
come through the sky
a little late
but shining enough
a vast space
that envelops
into its loving fold.....

sathya

hello aishu

sure space matters
sometimes
we want the big space
sometimes
we are more comfortable
with the little ones...
for different times/situations
its different too....

sathya

Dear Chithi,

I agree with you totally that in our wish to keep our home neat and clean we dont often want the young ones to become picassos on our walls....it is difficult to cook for many after cooking for only two...but you are a master at that too......i think space matters....we like to keep our things in a particular way and if others intrude and make a few minor changes it kind of clashes with our routine....

nice write up

Cheers and Lots of Love

Prido.

hello pri


ya space sure matters
esp in relationships
when the heart wants to fly
a coming
the `presence' need to
stay a working...
thats space too?

sathya

Satya,

Space does not matter to me, as long as i am comfortable and it is all in the mind.you feel crowded in a big room when you are not comfortable...

Regarding drawing...well, I think i should take snaps of walls now ..my son is not a small kid anymore..but we are still waiting for them to grow out of scribbling to get a fresh quote of paint on them

down memory lane, when were in muscat in 2000, there was this free gift of painting stamps with thick sketches and markers...then DS was 1.9 months to 2 years...inspite of giving him sketch books..he marked the whole wall with the stamps of nature and wild animals...and i had tough time bleaching the wall...and at the end we had to shell big amounts for the maintenance....

And vyas believes that artists need nurturing..let them have creative freedom...so well you can well imagine how my home should look....

dear Sathya
liitle little lines did you draw
to tie my eyes and my heart
for I have saved each one of your lines
to look back and relish my little ones
forms of art from when you were small..
of big and small spaces
I prefer small so as to
be even more closer to
mine H and not even
give any wriggle room
for him to try and escape :)

Sathya,

Space big and small....

ok, this reminded me of my daughters scribbling on the walls of our apartment where we lived before, with crayons of all colors and shapes
Do you think they would have returned our 'deposit', no way... eventhough I cleaned it with cleaners....

I am ok with small space because it will be easy to maintain and can search for missed things easily, children can hear whenever we call (yell) them....

But I am sure our heart should have a bigger space than any other....

sriniketan