I've spun a web

Spiderman, Spiderman,

Does whatever a spider can.

Spins a web, any size,

Catches thieves just like flies.

Look out! Here comes the Spiderman

Haven't we all grown up hearing this song whenever the friendly neighbourhood, masked vigilante has come on our screens. I mean Peter Parker has been hero for generations, from my time as a kid to the Generation Y of today. Everyone relates to him, everyone feels he is the symbol of hope and heroism, notwithstanding the Robots, Shaktimaans, RaOnes and Krrishs of the world. 

And not so surprisingly, one of my friend from US wanted to get a shoe painted in Spider-Man theme for her nephew in Surat. Yes, the order was from Uncle Sam's country to be delivered at my home town in Surat. Well, and I was excited and Gautam was doubly excited. He loves Spider-Man and can survive a week, easily, on Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, Hulk, Avengers and all the superhero movies. 

His excitement was infectious, as if I was making it for him. But yes, this was a birthday surprise from my friend to her nephew. Leaving behind Tin Tin, Angry Birds and Chhota Bheem, Spider-Man was actually a challenge. The challenge was to get the right kind of pose to fit in a shoe of a 5-year old. I mean without sounding foolish, I was just not getting the pose that would fit the shoe properly because as all know he is so acrobatic and also the right colour, the perfect red and perfect blue. 

Somehow I decided to take up one of them, which to begin with looked weird. I wasn't able to distinguish between his arms and legs in the picture. But I realised that once I splash colours into the figure, probably it will look better. And voila, it did. The web, Spider-Man himself and the logo of Amazing Spider-Man filled up the shoe to the right amount. The idea was to have the shoe not look congested yet look full. 

In a matter of 3 days, the shoe was ready and I had a steep deadline to get it ready and delivered in Surat on time for the kid to get it on his birthday. And I managed it somehow. In fact to begin with, I wasn't even getting the shoe size because white canvas shoes are not easily available when the schools are in its last 3-4 months. But anyway, the final product is for all to see. 

I got to know earlier in the morning that the kid was stunned and just couldn't part ways from his new acquisition. That's what matters the most. Till next pair comes on, hope you'll enjoy seeing the making of my new creation. 

Ohh Shit!! This is bedsheet? Wow

These were exactly the words Gautam uttered when he saw what I made for our room. Yes, after clocking a good eight nights of work with coco and dosa breaks, I finally managed to come up with this. The hand painted bedsheet with characters resembling me and Gautam was ready to use a week before our wedding. 

I made about 12 illustrations depicting me and Gautam doing things that make a relation special. My favourite is where the character that depicts me is riding a bicycle and the basket on the backseat has hearts falling out of it and Gautam's character is seen collecting it. Second best being what I have done on the pillow covers. My character holds a big magnet which attracts Gautam's character, on the other pillow, and his heart towards me. 

The entire thing is very, very special to me. One has to see it to believe it. It's one my finest hand painted works. I believe its better than my hand painted shoes. On a light blue bedsheet, the characters are line drawings made with pencil first and then used fine brush in black colour and the hearts have red colour. Check the pictures below to get a feel of it. 

Like always, everyone can have something similar or even different on their bedsheets, all they have to do is ping me on FB, shoot me an email and those who have my mobile, whatsapp, sms, viber everything is welcome.

The newly laid bedsheet with the pillow cover

From another angle

My magnetic personality pulling Gautam ;)

Some of the 12 illustrations

My favourite one. :-)

Chidiya Ghar

So like I had promised, the non-twittering sparrows are home. After a week of dilly dallying, I finally got my hands on the right size of the frames and here you go the sparrows are now adorning the wall, which once had some of Gautam's best pictures. But like it happens in every house, wife takes over a lot of things in the bedroom, this wall was rightfully taken away, if not ruthlessly.

The paintings were done long back, about a month before we got married. And I had locked them away in my safe. Once we came back from our mini honeymoon, we decided to unlock my treasure trove. The moment it was opened, and by the time it was emptied, Gautam had deservedly lost 80 percent of room space, shelf space, cupboard space, wardrobe space and now the wall to my creations and basic necessities. 

But this was coming, I mean the sparrows were specifically designed for the wall. I had informed him, or let's say asked him if I could replace these pictures with something else. Like a good boy, he agreed to take up any creative that I would make. And I splashed my favourite neons to come up with this chidiya ghar.

While all the sparrows were my brainchild, my mother for once thought some of them looked like helicopters. Well, that's fine. Creative people are always flawed geniuses. Non creative are always lesser mortals. But yes, this is surely the first of many more things that will adorn the walls of our bedroom. And I am sure Gautam's not complaining. And I can also assure you all that such ideas can also bring life to your bedrooms, dining halls and living rooms too. All that you'll need to do is ping me, discuss the idea, brainstorm and it shall be there.

Till then, hope you'll like this new Chidiya Ghar. 

Wedding Chronicles - My Wedding Invitation, I mean our Wedding Invitation

After taking interior roads to our college in Bandra Reclamation, buying a Reliance phone for making free calls to each other, sharing half a kilo of chocolate cake, being a 'best/ close friend' in the eyes of the world and a long distance relation for almost 3 years, we decided to take the plunge.

Yes, we got married on 13-12-13 with the blessings of Almighty and best wishes of our beloved parents, friends and family. And it was obvious that the creative keeda in me would churn out an invitation card of my taste. Combining Gautam's writing skills and my aesthetic sense, we churned out this simple, effective and colourful piece of invitation for our friends and family.

While both the sides had a traditional wedding card (kankotri) sent to our family members, we still wanted to make one for obvious reasons. And here you go, two versions of the same were sent out and the immediate feedback was overwhelming to say the least. 

Splashing colours, shapes and various other elements, we made it personalised by using our original thumb prints to make a heart shape out of it. Gautam found it a bit filmy, but I thought it was cute and of course creative. 

From tying knot to Chhota Bheem Shoes

Must admit that the last 45 days were madness and it has ended. Golden period has begun. Yes. I got married to Gautam on 13-12-13, after dating him for over seven years. And whattay moment of our lives that was. We dated, fought, argued, celebrated and did all that we did for last seven years and more for this one moment, our wedding. 

Wedding got over, we went for a short holiday, not honeymoon mind it. Went to explore the ruins of Hampi, Karnataka and had time of our lives. The moment we came back, there was an assignment knocking my door. My cousin Ishita was super impressed with the Angry Birds shoe I painted for Gautam and Tin Tin for my lovely nephew Agastya. And she wanted to surprise her nephew Nivaan for his 6th birthday.

And there you go, immediately after I came back from my road madness in the hinterlands of Karnataka, I got my simple brief from Ishita to make this shoe before year end. My colours and all brushes were in Surat and luckily I happened to travel to Surat. Whattay co-accident, I mean co-incidence. So I got my research in place, found all the famous characters of Chhota Bheem cartoon series and started work with all enthusiasm.

I decided to put Chhota Bheem, Chhutki, Raju, Jaggu Bandar and the village setup on the shoe, without imagining that this would be really, really tough. Getting the right shapes and curves of the characters wasn't as easy as it seemed. I continued to push hard to get it right and come December 29, the final product came out well. I was satisfied.

As I am writing this, I am travelling back from Surat to Mumbai to be with Gautam on our first NYE as a married couple. And the shoe has been delivered to Ishita and my professional fees have also been paid ;). More than the fees, its the appreciation that mattered.

All my cousins, my friends including Ishita and my in laws loved what I did. Whatsapp wonders. And now I am getting a lot of enquiries too. Suddenly everything has fallen in place. Shoe came out well, Gautam's trip has been postponed, appreciation, enquiries. Golden period looks Golden as of now. Fingers crossed!!! Enough talking, check out my new creation. 

Tin Tin Shoes for my Tin Tin

It's been a while since I have posted something. But haven't been doing much work these days. Well, getting married soon, so am enjoying the shopping phase. But honestly, that's what I have been doing for sometime now. But in between, I got this request to hand paint a shoe, and the request was from my loving and little genius nephew Agastya.

He had seen what I did for Gautam, the Angry Birds shoes. And mind you the 3-year-old vividly remembered the background of that shoe and wanted exactly the same light blue background but with his father's favourite character Tin Tin in it. Yes, Tin Tin was and is favourite comic character of Agastya's dad since his childhood. 

Agastya got to know about Tin Tin after seeing scores of Tin Tin comic books and VCDs lying in his house, preserved by his doting father since his childhood. And in this smart phone and tablets age, Agastya has more often than not has seen Tin Tin cartoon videos on his dad's phone. And that's how the request to spray Tin Tin on his shoe came to me.

Now, there was a challenge here. I had to hand paint the smallest possible size available canvas shoes for someone who is obsessed with its details too. Due to my shopping ways, I kept the request on a back burner. But one fine day, the cutie pie, called me and said 'Maasi, what's happened to my shoes?. I replied casually, "Sorry Agli, I forgot." Pat came the typical sweet kid response, "Please maasi, get it done naa, please." And my heart melted like an ice cream.

I decided to get on with it on war footing and mind you the result is nothing less than impressive. And I am not the one evaluating my work. Agastya has decided that he will be wearing these shoes for my wedding. Which essentially means, he has 'LOVED' it. So the process was no different from what I did during Gautam's shoe. 

Just that Gautam, at 29, wasn't the one looking for details and Agastya, 3, was. Yes, by mistake a rocket that I had painted on the shoe was filled with wrong colours, and I was told to change it to white and red like its in the comic series. But then it was worth it. I completed the shoe in a matter of three days.

Delivered it to him the next day, and since then, Agastya hasn't worn any other pair of shoe. And has also promised me that he will wear them to my wedding too. That's all what I wanted, the joy he has and the smile he wears is worth more than all the hardwork. 

The beginning

Work in progress

Adding the right colours

The wrong rocket

The finished product with right rocket colour

In love

The rocket with the right colours

Agastya wear's them with some attitude

And mind it he doesn't like anyone saying a word about it

Hand of God

No. This is not about Argentine footballer Maradona who scored a goal with his hand and got this term 'Hand of God' coined. This is about one of oldest friend Dhruvi Reshamwala's skills. This mother of a cute little, 2 & a half year old girl Kavya is one hell of a Rangoli maker. Not that I didn't know about it. But what she did this time around was stupendous, splendid and awe-inspiring to say the least.

Just before Diwali time every year, there is a Rangoli exhibition organised at Surat Science Centre year on year. Dhruvi and her sister Shraddha are hardcore Rangoli enthusiasts and no wonder they were keen on being a part of it second time this year. Luckily I happened to be in Surat this time around, managing to maintain some distance from my hubby-to-be. And let me accept I thank my stars I was in Surat.

Just for the sake of catching up with Dhruvi for old times sake, I eventually ended up spending hours with her for a day or two even while I was feeling sick and unwell. And yes it was worth the pain. Dhruvi was attempting to design a 3D rangoli of 6 feet x 16 feet size. And impossible was not a word she understood. And after a gruelling 7-8 hours of dedication for 5 consecutive days, the result was nothing short of outstanding. 

And what was more compelling is how she managed to switch from being a mother of little Kavya, wife to Devang and daughter in law to Devang's mother. And all this wasn't possible without their support. And it was worth their support. In an exhibition with over 50 rangoli designs, her stood out solely for its 3D perspective and one has to see it to believe it. The disappointing part was the meagre compensation that she received from the organisers, but that was never her motivation. 

So see this and tell me if I was wrong to say that she has a 'Hand of God'

The final rangoli