Mahatma's Halo

“Don’t let mental blocks control you. Set yourself free. Confront your fear and turn the mental blocks into building blocks.” ― Roopleen, 

After thirty odd years, I met a few of my childhood classmates. After we exchanged a few pleasantries I had the opportunity of seeing the pictures of their recent visit to our school ‘Kendriya Vidyalayas Golconda No1’. All Kendriya Vidyalaya look alike maybe due to the layout. I had taught in one of the KVs at Pune for more than a year. Each day I would be hurled back into the past when I would hear the prayer ‘Asthoma Sadgamaya…….. Twelve years in a school is a long time. The pictures of my classmates included their banter with our childhood teachers who have grown old but remain pleasing. My classmates showed me my first form teacher, the art teacher and many others.

  Looking at my art teacher Mr B.A. Reddy a torrent of memories arose. I recollected the art period in the school which was a lovable break during the hectic schedule of scholastic subjects. Though the CBSE board has introduced Continuous comprehensive evaluation to implement holistic education we at the Kendriya Vidyalayas have always had a wholesome education with sports, dance, Music, Socially useful productive work and art. The art class was a pleasant break as we had to form a long line and hustle to the art room. The art room was on the ground floor of the new primary building. It smelt of fresh paint and the newness was a fresh experience for us as we were made to sit in the tents till the new primary building was built.The school was expanding and space was insufficient. Teachers would come to the classes from the secondary building to teach us. There were tents fixed in the assembly ground spaced away from each other. Each one was a classroom. The time taken by the teachers to reach our class would be utilised fruitfully by the girls to play behind the tents and the boys would play some other boyish games involving a run on the benches. The teachers disliked us for troubling them as getting the class back into a composure was a challenge. We never wanted a new building as this atmosphere gave us a lot of time to enjoy in between the teaching periods.

However, the building was ready and the ground floor had a large room used as the Art Room. Our Art teacher would control us with his smile and eyes. We used to carry a drawing book and leave our shoes to sit on a carpet and keep gazing at the beautiful drawings fixed on the flannel boards in the Art Room. He would discuss the topic, give us time to voice our opinion till we actually understood the theme and then ask us to begin drawing it. We would busily draw and remain focused as we all wanted to go to Russia in the class eighth. The students of class eight were given a huge chart to draw and paint according to the theme given by the Soviet Union. The winner had an opportunity to spend a month during the summer vacation at Russia. We looked forward to that. Our friend Selvi had illustrated a beautiful India with elephants in a temple festival covered with gold and intricate designs making her a winner. The Art champion's parents would be called to the school and honoured. The whole school then had a festive appearance with a shamiana’ a popular Indian ceremonial tent shelter, commonly used for outdoor parties, marriages, feasts etc.  A long inspirational speech would be rendered. We were always the motivated lot. No more motivation was needed. Each one of us would drift to beautiful Russia during the speech, but only a champ could go to Russia.

We were in the fifth standard I presume when our Art teacher asked us to make a watercolour painting on the theme, ‘My Hero’. As usual, the theme was discussed through a brainstorming. We actively gave our opinion. It was a competition and we had to submit the chart papers to our teacher in the given period of time. Some said they would draw Amitabh Bachchan while some others said Phantom. I planned to do something similar but was not sure. On conversing about it at home, my brother asked me to depict the Indian hero Mahatma Gandhi practising non-violence. I wondered how? He asked me to draw Mahatma Gandhi ‘lathi charged’, being beaten by police officials, but he standing straight with a hand extended to bless them with serenity written on his face. I looked at him wonderstruck. He asked me to draw a halo around Mahatma’s head. I understood ‘halo’ as yellow radiating light. I drew to my best and coloured it, but the ‘halo’ turned out to be dark yellow like a yolk, very dark, thick and ugly. I had to submit it to our drawing teacher. Mr B.A.Reddy took collected all the entries. When he viewed my painting, he smiled and said that the painting was what he wanted, perhaps it was the patriotic spirit which made the theme effective. I felt I could tell him about the badly painted halo which looked like a cap. He told us that when one judges a painting, the judge may view the theme and thoughts governing one’s art, some others view the colours while the other few view the overall presentation. Winning or not, does not make the ones who have lost any less important than others as it is just a perception of beliefs and conviction. In no way is one less significant than the other. It is just the opinion or judgement which makes one unhappy. It was the best consolation for young minds which gave us the right spirit to compete in a healthy manner in life.

“Confident people do not compete with others nor race for recognition to appraise themselves. They do not worry what others think of them. They do not struggle for affirmation. They know themselves well to be shaken up from the outside.” ― Princess Maleiha Bajunaid Candao