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Fana<br />
I had an opportunity to attend a residency at <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong>. Most of the other participants<br />
were from as varied creative streams as photography, fashion design and literature,<br />
I stood apart as the only scholar and arts manager. This allowed me, after the first hit<br />
of awe, to assess <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong>, its present and future capability, to value and to permit an<br />
exploration of its potential in my mind.<br />
Coming from the urban metropolis of Delhi and its whirling pace, artifice and<br />
compromises; the secure expanse, silence and beauty of <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong> allow you to still,<br />
be yourself, and find your true voice. Periodically, this is necessary for all of us, but<br />
more so for creative artists. Not being a performing or productive artiste myself, but a<br />
nurturer and facilitator of the arts and artistic growth, I am well aware of the writer’s<br />
block, the jammed mind and the de-energizing rut of daily living. It is reflected in<br />
a creative paralysis and an inability to enthuse. Hell, this had happened to me too,<br />
turning into a short fuse and burning with a desperate desire to get away. It was<br />
just then that I got the invitation for the retreat, and am so glad that I was able to<br />
experience its potential first hand.<br />
khajuraho<br />
photo credit : gopika nath<br />
There are two ways of getting to <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong> - by air from Khajuraho or by train to<br />
Maihar. I came via Khajuraho, allowing me to admire the Apsaras and Salabhanjikas<br />
carved on the temples’ facade, in their most favourable light - the light of the setting<br />
sun. As we drove past the Panna reserve forest - home to the Tiger and the famed<br />
diamond mines, I thought that Khajuraho could well have been the highlight of the<br />
journey. The road from Panna was dark, and the flanking forest made it more so.<br />
Miles moved monotonously.<br />
But suddenly, from the middle of nowhere, <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong> loomed up - surreally ablaze<br />
in the inky darkness. The shock was akin to sighting a UFO landing in the middle<br />
of nowhere. Quirky, imaginative, creatively designed. Sprinkled with interestingly<br />
put-together industrial and artistic material, <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong> is to be experienced as much<br />
as it is to be seen. And words cannot do justice to what a unique blend of past and<br />
present, artistic and mundane, creative and convenient, predictable and shocking<br />
that is <strong>Art</strong> <strong>Ichol</strong>.
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