Sketchbooks & Field Notes

Site Stories

Drawings, notes, and stories from places where one once stood still.

It starts with sketch books. Jottings, quick sketch notes quickly document one's observations and presence right then, right there. An analogue equivalent of a quick mobile shot or a selfie. Sketch books may or may not take another life thereafter, but still stand as a hand drawn document of the site where it's made. Here are some sketchbooks where documentation moved from just sketches and some where a sketchbook just stayed there. Nevertheless, these are those very few ones that reached the finish line. But more importantly these are drawings, notes and stories from sites where one once stood still.

BAULS OF BIRBHUM

1997, as a part of a television crew I visited the villages of Birbhum, Bankura in West Bengal, India; documenting the songs and lives of the Bauls, the wandering minstrels known for their music and spiritual leanings. These sketches happened somewhere along the way.

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PARIS: MYSTERIES, MYTHOLOGIES and MEMORIES

In 2003-04 I was in Paris as a part of a Residency hosted by Egide & Govt of France. During my stay I went around meeting artists, like minded travellers, visiting galleries and museums, walking around the city. These drawings and sketches were a mix of gaze, burden of stereotypes and reactions to experiences on site.

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SUKOON

I love walking up to people I don't know (they are not strangers), talking to them, digging into their lives and then drawing their stories. This is one such short encounter.

pencils, pen and ink

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ZURICH

How does a resident of a noisy city like Delhi deal with the quietus of a far-away city? For its residents- the city is far from quiet. But for someone like me-the silence is both welcoming and even boring, till football comes to the city. Here are some sketch notes from the city that thrives in silence, or so I thought in 2008.

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THE HOUSEMAKERS INC.

Everywhere around me old houses are being constantly brought down making space for the new. Blue or green shutters are the new installations in every locality. But behind the shutters, arrive a whole army of labour who make this place their own till the work is done and then they disappear. Sketching those lives of the others in my vicinity, these are short conversations that happen and then forgotten, much like the transient lot of the house makers.

Housemakers thumbnail

HAMLET STORIES

In 2022 just around the UP elections, I was commissioned by News9 to bring stories from the field. Speaking to voters, would be voters these are micro-stories from the western part of the state, documenting conversations, opinions and dreams.

BUSINESS MODEL



CAREER PLAN



DREAM GIRL



FIRST VOTE



GOOD WILL BRANDING



JOB PROFILE



LAND'S END



DREAM RUN



MY 100 YARDS



PAPA'S BOY



PLAN AHEAD



PRESENT TENSE



THE CATCHER



THE STARTUP