I'm A Self-Taught Amateur Artist And I Illustrate Memories Of My Hometown In South India

I have been following Bored Panda for a long time and was fascinated by the stories told through illustration. Many times, I told myself to attempt something similar as there are not many tales from my part of the world, nonetheless of characters that look like I or I can relate to.

I am a small-town girl grown in the southern part of India in a town called Alappuzha, Kerala. My place is a little paradise blessed with greenery, backwater, and sea. Due to the canals across the town, it is often called as 'Venice of the East'. It is evergreen around the year and most beautiful in monsoon. No wonder tagline for our State tourism is called 'God's own country.'

My childhood was not spent in high rises or with expensive toys. Rather there was a pleasure in playing in the vast backyard dotted with plantains and many generations old tamarind tree. Our outings were not to malls or cinemas but for enjoying the sunset on the beach with freshly roasted groundnuts and tangy pickled mangoes. There were school excursions in wobbling boats to the small islands nearby.

One of the highlights of the year is the harvest festival of Onam. It is a time when families come together, exchanging gifts. The preparation starts a week ahead of when women of the house spent the entire day preparing the traditional snacks. Our home used to be filled with the fragrance of coconut oil and larder filled with steel containers of crunchy, crispy snacks that will be raided by the children on festive days and packed for everyone when they leave, like a snippet of their family and hometown.

Then there were annual family trips. The best part of being a small-town girl is that every trip is like a gateway to a never before seen magical land and people.

During this pandemic, while being away from my hometown and dear ones, it is these memories that keep me sane. So I decided to attempt inking down a series which I called 'My Memory Project'. I am a self-taught amateur and have attempted to pour my emotions into the pages.