Dakshina Chitra

Dakshina Chitra is a very popular heritage village located on the Southern outskirts of Chennai, on the way to Mamallapuram (previously known as Mahabalipuram). Some months ago I had visited this place with members of my sketching group (Chennai Weekend Artists). My friends were delighted with the sketching opportunities at this venue, and since then we have made two more visits to the place. I am convinced that we will be going there many more times.

During our second visit to Dakshina Chitra there was a performance by a troupe of drummers from a neighbouring state. In the short time available before the start of their performance I managed to do a couple of quick sketches of a couple of the artistes. These served as warm-up exercises to my main sketch of the day. This was a sketch of the Chettinad House. Chettinad is a small region in Southern Tamilnadu known for its local cuisine, architecture, and consequently its skilled masons, carpenters and craftsmen.

Our most recent visit was last month. This time there was a newly constructed building called the Chikmagulur House which caught my eye. It represents the type of houses seen in a certain part of Karnataka, a neighbouring state. As has been my practice over the last few months, I sketched this and the other sketches of the day directly in ink with a Hero 578 fountain pen.

My next sketch was of a cluster of thatched houses typical of rural Tamilnadu. We use different types of thatched roofing in this region. The roof in this cluster is made of river-bed reeds and is considered a higher quality of thatch roofing. The space under this type of roof is much cooler than under other types of thatch roofing which use the woven leaves of palm trees.

Villages in Tamilnadu have temples dedicated to a guardian deity. These temples are called Ayyanar Temples and the priests in these temples come from the potter community. As a result, the icons in and around these Ayyanar Temples are usually made of terracotta. Dakshina Chitra has showcased one such temple and my next sketch was of a white painted terracotta idol facing this temple.

After each sketching trip one of the members of the group posts a report of the visit and the other members then upload their sketches and photographs of the day into this thread. If you would like to see what others in my sketching group sketched on these visits please follow these links:

Dakshina Chitra - 1st visit.

Dakshina Chitra - 2nd visit.

Dakshina Chitra - 3rd visit.

One final look at Coconut Lagoon

These days many up-market hotels, and most resorts, offer massage & sauna facilities. Coconut Lagoon too has such a facility, but there is a difference. What this resort has is an ayurveda centre with an attending ayurvedic physician. And the massage that they offer is for its healing value tailored to the needs of each individual. Many guests come here specifically for this treatment which can last for weeks. Of course, you can also go in for just one massage. Even then, the physician checks you out and prescribes the type of massage and what you should do before and after to derive the maximum benefit from the massage.

The ayurveda centre, as you can see in my sketch, is also a beautiful, airy structure. The inside is spotlessly clean, and you have a view of the lagoon from every part of the ayurveda centre, including the massage rooms.

The bathrooms at this resort are quite unusual. They are very tastefully designed with modern fittings, fixtures, & tiling, and they all have running hot and cold water. But, they are all open to the sky.

My sketch shows the type of cottage that we stayed in. The entire inside was panelled in wood, and fitted with traditional Kerala style furniture. The portion where you see the coconut tree emerging is where the bathroom is located.

And, even though the cottage was air-conditioned, the verandah that you see in my sketch is where I spent a lot of my time sitting in a comfortable chair, drinking tea, and sketching the sights around me.

A Lazy, Refreshing Holiday

My wife and I lazed, and rejuvenated ourselves at Coconut Lagoon for a couple of days. For those who are interested, the resort does offer several activities. But I was primarily interested only in wandering around, taking in the sights, photographing, and sketching and I did a lot of these. My wife's interests were the ayurveda centre, the curio shop, cooking lessons, and music lessons. Of course, we were also well armed with iPods and enough reading material.

I have always been an admirer of the traditional style of timber construction of Kerala, and it was wonderful to see so many examples of this form of construction, so well preserved, and in such a nice setting.

The cottage that we stayed in had a very comfortable, shaded verandah. I was therefore able to sit and do a detailed sketch of the view outside - a luxury rarely available in a hot, humid, dusty, and crowded land like ours.

During our stay at Coconut Lagoon we discovered that the resort was also hosting a national painting workshop. This was a two week workshop attended by artists from all over India. We were able to go to the venue and watch the artists at work. Most of them were working in acrylic and were quite willing to talk to us about their paintings and the techniques they used.

We also found that Coconut Lagoon had set aside 5 acres for farming. Two crops are raised on these 5 acres - fish and paddy. That's right. For about 6 months of the year the land that has been set aside for farming stays under water and is used to breed fish. At the end of the 6 months, the fish crop is harvested, water is drained, and rice is planted. We were told that the soil is found to be particularly fertile after it is used as a fish farm and that the rice crop is therefore exceptionally good.