Ahalia Heritage Village - Part 2

For those who had not visited Hues n Shades last week or the first timers, read Part 1 before you proceed :) This post is indeed going to be a long post with an array of pictures...

Nature's lap and a haven for the tranquil, serene, green loving souls - Ahalia Heritage Village - has offered more than I had expected. Continuing our journey, here are a few more pictures that you won't be able to resist...

Let me begin with Devan Madangarly Sir...an incredible artist himself. The mural below is his offering. There are such varied nuances to it that one could spend a whole day watching it! The tribal elements are massively prominent and I could think of nothing else but this 'tree of life'!

 The gateway to the Painting Gallery

Remember the Kerala Mural Camp from my previous post? This is how it looks inside...look at each wall and one would just stand there, jaws dropped!!! I was totally in awe of the art displayed here! 

 

An old, forlorn and futile bullock-cart revived to take the center-satge :)

The happy and hard-working girls make these for the different hospitals in the campus and for home decor on demand.

These are the works of Selvan, a skilled craftsman from what I see, who was unfortunately on the leave the day I visited as he was sick. Did you notice the Oscar Award model in the first pic??? It's made out of plaster of paris. The pic in the right end is from the root of a tree!!!

Moving on to the Tribal Mural Camp which was my prime purpose to visit Ahalia -

 Warli Mural (Tribal art from Maharashtra)

It is such an intricate work and the different patterns and elements are striking...A few hours of the day isn't enough to cover all these eye-candy!

Manimala Chitrakar 

 Folk artists - Husband and wife duo - from Bengal/Kolkata

Manimalaji's husband, Mr.Deep Chitrakar, a PhD holder, didnot miss even the slighest of detail about the mural of Mata Manush. He even went on to explain the psychology of artists and the influence of physhe on colours used and the various places he visited, what he found common  among the artists everywhere and so on. It was a delight talking to him and hearing the wise words of the rich artist in person...first-hand experience!

Artist from Odisha

 Artists from Andra Pradesh

 Artists from Nilgiris (district headquarters being Ooty), Tamil Nadu

After this drooling treat for the senses which was complete with Manimalaji's song that she sang with her pata scroll of Radha-Krishna as she unfurled it; the scroll and the tale (just click below at the video link), I eventually as if in a dream floated towards the Kerala mural camp beside the library where the folk tale of Parayi (Parayipetta Pandhirukulam)and her twelve sons was being born on the twelve walls from the hands of twelve talented young mural artists - Unni Amakkavu, Devan, Harikrishnan, Sujil, Sasi Kothachira, Binil, Anoop Ramakrishnan, Abhilash, Satheesan, Ramachandran, Sreerag and Santhosh.

Unni Amakkavu, the artist in the top left picture was kind enough to accompany us and explain the tale pictured in each mural.

Devan, the artist in the top left picture, is from Guruvayur mural institute and a gifted left-handed artist, with whom I had the opportunity to have a chat while having lunch. I couldn't get to know all the artists though. Hari and Sujil, these were the names that repeatedly came my way from Dhanesh, my guide. They are self-taught artists and I must they have done some incredibly fine jobs. The down left picture in the above frame is by Hari and the down right is by Sujil.

 Works of Hari

 Works of Sujil

This is the display area of the artworks of different artists at the Ahalia Eye Hospital .

 Finally these are the artworks I bought from the artisans :

Cherial painting I bought from Madhuji

Warli I bought from Janu and Manakiji

Santhal painting bought from Manimalaji

Finally, here's the video clip of Manimalaji...not a complete one though. I fiddled with my new mobile and the first part got cut. This starts after the first stanza I believe, but magical nevertheless... please do give her your ear and you will find it bewitching & the environment was such...I felt honoured when she offered to sing the song with pata scroll & I was literally in goosebumps...was it the weather or the song??! Definitely the Song :) Immediately she soared to the height of becoming one of my favourite artists. 

"Gaghori Bhoroni Choli Radha Rani..."

Sorry, the video clip isn't getting loaded!!! I reduced the size with Windows Movies Maker, still it's not getting loaded. I have been it till 1 am yesterday and the whole of today!!! The original file is MPEG Movie, 448 MB...reduced it to 68.8 MB, Windows Media Audio/Video file. Any tips to load it here, please let me know. 

As they say, last but not the least - The name I should not forget to mention and unfortunately I couldn't click a picture of, is the Director of Ahalia Heriatge Village, Mr.Vijaya Kumar Varma...whose brilliant and organized efforts is clearly visible in those surroundings and it's smooth functioning.

Note: Ahalia has free bus service from Mangalam Towers, Town Bus Stand, Palakkad to Ahalia Campus. The timings are 8:30 am, 10:50 am and 2:20 pm.

Linking it to Eva and Kristin's PPF...catch some amazing artists over there :)


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