TGIF!
Allah knows, I couldn’t draw to save my position in class. I usually scored 18-20 out of 50, even though I felt it was unfair. I wasn’t THAT bad but I knew I wasn’t an expert. I could never draw a line the way I intended. The best I did was in class 9, to draw a boy playing football. I had practiced it three or four times and according to me, I had perfected it.
The exam day came. The invigilation was on our class teacher Zaheda ma’am. I finished my drawing and submitted it, before time, because that’s what I always did-finish exam before time. I kinda imagined she’d be proud of me. I mean, she knew me to be the girl who knew exactly where each country is, who could solve a map question in the hand-drawn map because she hadn’t brought one from home. I handed over my paper, and came back to my desk-we weren’t allowed to leave until the exam time was over.
I watched ma’am checking out the drawing. For minutes. And then she called me. I stood up, almost pompously, and walked, with a swag.
“The hands of this boy aren’t equal in thickness, and the angle of his foot should have been slightly different, and…”
Just like that, she listed mistakes in my presumably-perfect drawing. Just like that, she crushed all hopes that I had impressed her.
I still can’t draw to save my life.
However, in Dr Bahu, a couple of episodes back, Mina was drawing, and Saniya walked in
Saniya: Does it really help?
Mina: More than you think it does.
And… I had an idea.
I have heard people talk about colouring books for adults, and how therapeutic it is. I had never given in to the temptation but this time, I did.
First, this Sunday, my nephew brought his drawing kit, as he usually does. I always ignore him, except on occasions he brings his drawings for approval. This week, however, I noticed he had a similar colour pencil set as that of Mina, so sat down with my own drawing book (which was purchased in a similar moment of weakness). I drew. And I drew some more. The first thought in my head after looking at the finished drawing was:
Boy, I’m not good at this.
If you looked at it, you’d be like:
There’s no way an adult drew this bad.
To be honest, my nephew helped with some clouds because by then, I was so exhausted.
But the outcome of the exercise did NOT deter me from ordering two sets of colouring pencils: One set of 24 colour pencils, and one set of rainbow pencils.
The rainbow pencils arrived today. Armed with new tools, I felt I’d be better at drawing today. I sat down to first look for inspirations. I found this.
After half an hour of effort, this is what I got.
Don’t even compare. I missed on scale, and skill, both.
The important conclusion is this whole exercise, in general, and just those random strokes on paper, in particular, really is therapeutic, , and I’m not giving up on these pencils. Or drawing, for that matter.
- Subscribe to my blog.
- Find my books on Amazon.
- Show some love!
Shabana Mukhtar