Yes. I’m Banu Shankar. And I’m glad you like my art. Yes, it is intricate work and pretty time-consuming. No, I cannot give you a specific time frame for any art piece that I create. It depends on the size and the intricacy of the work that is involved. No? Remember the Shrinathji that you saw? That took me three weeks. But if you want me to create a Shrinathji like that in a smaller size, it will not take me that long.
Earlier, I used to work from morning till 2 a.m. in the night. Yes, I love what I do. Very much. But it has started taking a toll on my neck. So I work on my art only for three to four hours in the afternoons now. I get all my orders from word of mouth advertising. My art pieces grace the walls of people’s homes. So when they have visitors who appreciate it, they get in touch with me. Earlier I accepted express custom orders too.
So many of my customers have relatives living abroad so when they love my art they request me to complete an order within 8 to 10 days so that they can carry it back with them. But now, I prefer letting go of such orders because only if I take care of my health, can I work on my art. Isn’t it? What’s the point of working on one order and risking my health permanently? Yes, ma. I am very blunt, open and practical. That’s how I have always been.
No. I actually have a masters degree in Zoology. I know you find that very difficult to believe. But I pursued my PhD in Zoology for a good five years too. And then gave it up. My guide and I were having massive issues. And only three people got the fellowship from the several who were mentoring under him. My parents saw how I was struggling to complete my PhD. I would get frustrated very often.
So one fine day, they asked me to quit pursuing it. Yeah. I spent 5 years of my life over it. And I still don’t know whether I did the right thing by quitting it after getting so close to it.
But I had to take a stand at some point in time too. I mean, I was 28. Most girls my age were already married and had children of their own also. And here I was still pursuing my PhD. It’s fine. What else can anyone do? I did not have a job. And I was financially dependent on my parents still. I was not married either. And I couldn’t live off my parents for any longer, could I? So I quit.
Well, I got into the line of arts by chance actually. My father’s friend’s wife was conducting art classes. She was teaching Tanjore painting and Kundan work too. And they wondered if I would be interested in joining the classes. She was creating a group for it. Initially, I joined because I was curious. But very quickly realized that I was very interested and good at it too.
While I was doing my PhD, I started taking art classes in my area and they took off very well. At that time I used to have 30 students in a batch. And you won’t believe me when I say this. Men too were interested in learning this art. So I would organize weekend classes for them.
Until I got married I worked on my PhD and conducted these classes in the evenings. Frankly speaking, I started working on my art full time only after my husband turned up in my life. I moved to Salem after that.
Yes, I love Salem. It is a nice quiet place and Yercaud is very close to Salem. But I have not yet been there. We are always so busy with our work. My husband and I often tease each other saying, “Why should we take the trouble of going to Yercaud? We can see the hills from the balcony of our house itself. It is so beautiful. No?” Yes, you are right. We never get to visit the beautiful places in and around the city that we live in. We keep putting it off assuming we will visit it some distant day and never get around to actually visiting it. That’s life. No?
After I moved to Salem I participated in several exhibitions. I went to Hyderabad, Mumbai and other cities too. My relatives lived there. So that was not a problem. In Mumbai, we used to live in CCI. We would pack the art pieces carefully and transport them by trucks. They always arrived in good condition.
Do you remember the magazine Star Dust – the one about film stars? Those people organized these exhibitions regularly. They were into art actually. They still organize such things. Of course. All my art pieces would get sold out. In Mumbai, they host such exhibitions in the World Trade Centre. Oh? You’ve been there? Good. Ah, yes. People like us come from around India to showcase and sell our work in those handicrafts exhibitions.
Now, I stopped doing that too. I get more orders than I can handle. So I no longer display or sell my artwork in such exhibitions. It can become quite hectic sometimes. Yes, I understand what you are saying. I have already created a small piece about Krishna’s Raas Leela in Vrindavan. I’m sure you will find it if you look through my collection carefully.
Well, actually, on a lighter note – whenever my brother sees my art, he will remark about one thing. He will say, “Your Gajapati’s mouse and Murugan’s peacock looks perfect!” Yes, I must admit one thing. If you want to study zoology, you must be good at drawing. So maybe that has helped me a lot with my artwork.
Yes, we all spend quite a big chunk of our time creating our art pieces. So they do deserve the limelight that they get. The long wait will be worth it. Don’t worry about it. And I agree with you on that. 100%. At this age, we all need to work on things we love at a pace that suits us best and we are most comfortable with. I wonder about others who think we should never use age as an excuse. Yes. You are right. They need to be our age to understand how it feels. Absolutely. Thank you. Yes. It was nice talking to you too.