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Journalism of Courage
A combination of good art and fine architecture, when blended well with each other, can be very dramatic. What makes it even more effective is functionality. Nirja Shah8217;s art may not consist of many of the acclaimed painters, nor does she claim great affinity to contemporary sculptors, but what is sensational is the innovative and exciting ideas with which the assortment of artefacts and Indian art have been used. The paintings are energetic on screens and room dividers, the 200-year-old stove with a Daliesque ladder and kite painted on it is a console with thick glass on it serving as a sideboard, the papier mache urns and canisters appliqued onto the walls, three-dimensionally by Meera Dabir, have vivid, crafted flowers coming out of them. The entrance door is a maze of curvi-linear wrought iron art by well-known artist Papri Bose. Evidently, the editor and publisher of ELLE, has not spent her time on work alone.
Travel to places like Cochin, on work, have also seen the acquisition of items such as amother of pearl inlay revolving chair and wooden vessels of yore which now hang by the dining area. The huge rolltop desk bought from Chor Bazaar is an antique of the type one can only get reproductions now. Even her collection of Mysore paintings are removed from the typical Thanjavur-Tanjore art. Each piece is different and distinct. There is Markhandaya, an aspect of Shiva in earth ochre and mushroom, there is a mother and child, a scene from the Mahabharata, a Ravi Varma-type royal woman, bejewelled in picturesque gems, in a gold-enclosed, claustrophobic gilded palace, glancing longingly out at the open spaces beyond. An old English tub is a quaint curio to be seen from the bedroom through a glass door. Water comes out from the sides, from the floor of the tub, everywhere, a delight on a relaxed weekend to use and to see. The old sewing machine painted in burnished colours forms the base for an old English blue pottery sink. quot;I got the hole for the drain cut by myself standing at Duncan road lest thispriceless antique should break.quot; Accompanying the sink is a huge old blue pottery jug with which water used to be poured to wash hands in times gone by, when there were no faucets.
