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anyclay |
Hidden Treasures
Mar 6 2007, 9:16 AM EST
It was a Friday, 1235pm to be precise, when I drove into Miskeen Gali ten minutes too early. The Gali was closed temporarily for prayer, and so i took the opportunity to speak with the "permanent fixture" at the tea shop. He came to tell me that it will be another few minutes, and i asked him if he knew where i was off to? Well, of course he did! The commune where artists are busy "painting shainting". He presumes i too ma a shainter:-) "with clay" he says "but why?" And so a conversation was born, as the trucks passed to and fro.
Raggedy children covered in earthen dust, their finger nails black, a smear streaked across their pink cheeks. Bright eyed and barefooted they flick marbles across the road; laughter fills the street, and they come running and laughing to the car, their hands extended for a friendly handshake. They are the children of the gali; they neither beg nor frown. Their pupils sparkle. Cinnamon, licorice, rose petals, juniper berries, jari bhooti's, and treasures from the sea. These are the scents that greet me as i drive into Sadiq Godown, the home of The Commune. Brightly attired women with flowing skirts and paan stained teeth are sifting away. This is the herbal treasure trove; a gowdown where the herbs are cleaned and bagged. These women could have been the divine godesses of the medicinal plants of the forests and oceans. I inhale the frangrance. The train whistles as the large door slides open to face the railway station. All the godowns are curious. this one has the back door to the tracks. goats wander about as passengers embark and disembark journey. The sun or stars glisten; and i smile. Going into the restored, hundred and some year old warehouse the energy is charged. Through the gallery towarsd the far end is my shared studio. i enter the dream house inspired, and ready to create. Clay needs space, and Commune has my hand, heart, and mind in the clay again. C 'est La Vie! Merci. Shazieh G 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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