I bought this painting in Bangalore in 2007, and dragged it all around India with me that year. That was my 5th trip to India, and the year that Mr Ratburn came with me. All was well that year until we got apart, then all hell broke loose, lol! You might remember, Michelle, (my sole commentor, LOL!, what the heck, I am keeping this blog mostly for me anyway)...that was the year I missed my train from Jaipur after having a meltdown in that lovely city, then was molested and begged upon all at the same time in the middle of the night in Delhi with a huge load of bedspreads in my arms, and an unwieldy backpack weighing me down as well. Remember that year? Of course you do.
So, that year I left this painting in my hotel, the good hotel, not the bad hotel called HOTEL HELL erm, I mean Hotel Blue in Connaught..no no never stay there, trust me on this, in Delhi and it became lost for five years. That hotel has been under renovation for the entire five years and this year they were finally finished. Sheesh! Can you believe I continued to stay there all throughout the renovation? But, it's a very good thing I did, because five years later my painting showed up again, and here it is. I think you will agree, it was worth the wait. It was painted by a very young man from the Ballary area of Karnataka, and it was his first sale of the day, which means very good luck for both of us. I cannot wait to get it matted and framed and hung on my wall. I have thought about this painting often in the past five years, wondered about the artist and if he is doing well, and is he (hopefully) still painting.
India can be so challenging at times, many times, and then stuff like this happens and you know, it's just the way it was supposed to be.
It is written. :P
8 comments:
Well...
It DOES show her bare feet!
Not near as pretty as yours mind you, but bare just the same!
You convinced the Hotel that the pic was yours?
Very Persuasive Susie-Q
lol Gman same people have worked there all along.
Plus the painting was wrapped with my name on it!
What a cool painting and now a great story to go with it!
that really is an amazing story. i am curious though if you've stayed there each year why it took them 5 years to give it back? so glad it was returned though.
Worth the wait!
The reason it took five years for the painting to be returned:
The hotel was being renovated. Being a government run hotel, well, nothing gets done quickly over there in India...but govt is even slower..it took five years to remodel the hotel. In the meanwhile, the package got moved to some closet somewhere, or a warehouse, or basement, who knows...then someone found it sometime this year and waited for me to come back so they could give it to me in person. We all had given up looking for it...it just showed up again in same package, same tape, my writing, everything exactly the same....
But I think the reason it took so long for someone to recognize this package as mine is that not everyone in India reads English, even if they might speak 5 or six languages, they still may not read or write English.
It is a beautiful painting. I did see some beautiful paintings like that at an India Festival recently and am sorry that I did not buy a painting at that time. Beautiful mendhi.
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