Stepping Stones

Part 1 of 3


Chitra was busy giving finishing touches to her paintings before her participation in the ‘India Art Fair’ scheduled for the next month. Meanwhile, India’s leading fine art magazine, ‘Art & life’ had showcased selected works from her recent solo exhibition held at Mumbai and had praised her contemporary work and unique approach. They had hailed her as one of the most promising young artists! Congratulatory calls and bouquets from her friends and clients were pouring in through the day.


"What an achievement! Keep up the good work!" Rizwan’s card accompanying the bouquet read. Chitra couldn’t hold back her joy as she read the message. A bright smile lit up her face. Rizwan’s card was very special as he alone was responsible for whatever she had achieved till date. Chitra’s heart was filled with gratitude; she owed every bit of her success to Rizwan’s advice and support during the darkest phase of her life! Rizwan had motivated and financed her to start her work, he had helped her to make peace with her parents and go back to them and he had encouraged her to fight back her defeating circumstances! She was happy that she had realized some of her dreams today, yet a part of her sighed recalling the painful journey she had traversed. She couldn’t help recalling the day, four years ago, when she had walked out of her marriage like a destitute…


*********************


Sonalika, owner of the ‘Maverick’ art gallery had organized a high-profile party to celebrate the success of their recent art exhibition –‘The birth of a Mother’. Politicians, big industrialists, art connoisseurs, celebrated artists, socialites, and media were all there. Sonalika was in the news for promoting and helping a relatively unknown artist sell all his works to high profile art collectors. People had then said that Sonalika controlled the pulse of the market!


Nitin was a relatively unknown artist and a sculptor till then. His work which got him recognition was the solo exhibition he had held at ‘Maverick’ the previous month. It was titled –‘The birth of a Mother’. His innovative style of sculpting and painting, use of bold colors and symbolism had attracted the market and the media’s attention. He had also garnered the attention of Sonalika, the seductress, and a filthy rich socialite!


Chitra silently watched Nitin, her husband of three years flirt outrageously with Sonalika. Even while the party was on, Chitra was lost in a world of her own. With a glass of Pepsi in her hand, she occupied a quiet corner of the party hall, away from the buzz. She was angry, hurt and humiliated; she felt used, manipulated and cheated by Nitin!


*********************



Chitra was no less of a talent, she was an artist herself. While in college, she was Nitin’s junior by two years. They both were ambitious and had dreams of bringing about a revolution in art. Their common goals and interest had strengthened their friendship that later blossomed into love. They had married against their parental consent. Rizwan, Nitin’s childhood friend, had offered his family’s spare flat to them to start their conjugal life.


After marriage when running the household and buying the ever exorbitant art supplies had become difficult, Nitin had coaxed Chitra to take up a job in an advertising agency. He had said, “Just for a year or two take up a job, in the meantime, I will establish myself. Later on, you can give up your job. By then we would be having our own studio and you too can start your independent work.


When she hesitated, he had convinced her, “Don’t think that you will not be doing any creative work; you will, in fact, get an opportunity to study the market’s needs and trends which we can use later to our advantage!”


Chitra had done that implicitly. He was a promising artist, struggling to find his niche. She was yet to begin her career. Wasn’t a marriage supposed to be based on mutual trust and cooperation? This arrangement had helped Nitin a lot.


Two years later, he had come up with an ambitious project. He wanted to trace changes in a woman at different stages of pregnancy till she delivered a child and became a mother. Chitra was shocked as it was her idea noted down in her thumbnail sketch book and Nitin had so casually snatched it away from her! When she objected, he had corrected her aggressively, “Our idea dear, not yours or mine. We are one and not two!”


He had made her feel guilty for having objected. He had said, “Don’t limit your world to narrow confines like mine or yours. Instead, you should be more giving like the mother Earth. A woman is supposed to be magnanimous and she is beyond the selfish modes of the society and that’s what makes her truly great and worthy of worship. True joy is always in giving.”


How right he was? How noble his thoughts were? Chitra had felt awful; she had vowed to change her narrow thinking and grow up to Nitin’s stature and never ever be selfish in their marriage.


Though the thought of the project was beautiful, executing it was difficult as they faced problems in getting a suitable model, that would be available to Nitin whenever he was inspired and be willing to pose for really long stretches of time. Some of the willing women were not up to Nitin’s expectations and they also quoted exorbitant fees and sought facilities, which were way beyond Nitin’s budget. Then one day Nitin held Chitra in his arms and said passionately, “Chitra, I have found my model.”


When Chitra raised her brows in surprise and glee, he had said, “You shall be my model. I have been thinking that it is time we had our own child: yours and mine! What do you say? Won’t it be wonderful to mix pleasure and art? It would also be a unique creative experiment, what do you think?”


*********************End of part 1*********************

*The images have been taken from the internet for representational purposes only.

 

What a pleasure to get your comment, Nandu! Thanks, dear.

 

Dear Lalitha,
Your fb is as good as a story! You must exploit your talent with words.

 

Thanks a lot for your fb, dear periamma. There have been many such exploitative people ruining beautiful relationships.