Day Five Afternoon

We decided to travel as the same group and explore Mangalagiri in the afternoon. It was an eye opener to witness how the workers here operated the hand-looms to make sarees in the dug trenches into the ground. Yes, they did not sit on the ground or the chairs but slip their legs into a trench in the ground. It was cooler and save the ceiling space in this way. The workers were paid $500 Rupees or $10 SGD for a saree which took two consecutive days to complete. I didn't think I was able to work in that kind of environment with repetitive movement and noise for even a few hours. Complete a sketch was already an difficult task with constant bombardment of repetitive sound from the hand looms. It certainly was not music to the ears but visual treat to the eyes with so many colours from the textiles on the hand looms and the costumes worn by the workers.

Day Five - 12 Dec 2017

Mission Accomplished! Our group visited all the villages assigned to us and we could choose to join any other group to continue sketching a village or to have our own itinerary in the afternoon. Before that, all groups set off to visit Undavali Caves together in the morning so here is a sketch I did.






Left: Drawing by Mr. Peters - Panikkar, K. M. (1880) The Cave Temples of India.

Undavali Caves was located on the banks of Krishna River in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. This very popular tourist spot was around 10km from Vijayawada and 40km from the town of Guntur. Undavali caves were carved out of solid sandstone on a hillside in the 4th to 5th centuries A.D. There are several caves and the Undavali Caves were the best known and largest at four-storey high with a huge recreated statue of Vishnu in a reclining posture inside a room. It was sculpted from a single block of granite inside the second floor.

Undavalli caves were an example of how many Buddhist artifacts and stupas in Andhra were converted into Hindu temples and deities. It was originally a Jain cave resembling the architecture of Udayagiri and Khandgiri. The main cave was one of the earliest examples of Gupta architecture, primarily primitive rock-cut monastery cells carved into the sandstone hills. Initially the caves were shaped as a Jain abode and the first floor abode still retained the Jain style; the vihara exhibits Jain monastics and includes tirthankara sculptures. This first level of the cave was a carved vihara and included Buddhist art work.

The site served as the Bhikkhu monastic complex during ancient period. The walls of the caves displayed sculptures carved by skilled craftsmen. The caves were surrounded by the green countryside. From the high hill above the cave overlooking the Krishna River many fine specimens of rock cut architecture could be seen. It was a fine example displaying three religions - Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism in Undavali Caves.

Day Four Afternoon

We were given two villages to visit on day four, after leaving our host, our driver brought us to V Square for lunch where we met other groups when we were about to leave for Sakhamuru palem. We were not given a contact at Sakhamuru so our driver gave us a ride to the small village. The view unfolded in our eyes when we entered the village was spectacular as we were greeted by a beautiful lake and lush vegetation. I sat under a big tree and sketched this scene directly oppostie the lake. A big star adorned the church at the far end signalling X'mas would be here soon. I noticed in this village a tall water tower on the right, water tank in the middle and a new water supply station on the left so water resources management could be an important and vital issue. Hopefully the new Amaravati city will have new and modern infrastructure to benefit the future generations of all the villages we visited.






Sakhamuru Palem was a small village but the villagers were so friendly. The kids surrounded us when they returned home after their school hours but they were all very well behaved. One elderly man came to us and said he was one of the landowners in the first group that visited Singapore. That must be in late November. Suddenly I felt we were so small in this universe but somehow we were connected in some way. So surreal but true.

Last Sketchwalk of the year at Orchard Road

For the last sketchwalk of 2017, we will be sketching the Christmas lighting at Orchard Road! This will be an EVENING sketchwalk.

Once lined with fruit orchard and spice plantations, Orchard Road was developed into Singapore's premier shopping district (http://www.orchardroad.org/information/). Every Christmas, the stretch is decorated with Christmas lights and decor with malls trying to outdo each other in creating the festive spirit.

Our location this year will be the junction of Grange Road and Orchard Road, which is surrounded by many sketchable areas and vantage points. Quaint old Emerald Hill is just round the corner and a couple of old houses sit opposite Heeren along Cairnhill Road. Or sketch from the bridge spanning Orchard Gateway. Mandarin Gallery, 313, Centrepoint, Paragon are all within walking distance. Or head to the rooftop of Orchard Central for a birds-eye view of the shopping district. Remember to bring your own light if you plan to sketch in the dark!

MEETING POINTS
Start:
Orchard Fountain Corner
(Between Orchard Shopping Centre and H&M)
https://goo.gl/maps/HmguCa9EPuM2

End:
*SCAPE
(Exact location to be confirmed. Probably at the back along Grange Road)
https://goo.gl/maps/eByz8aTcg1R2

Day Four - 11 Dec 2017

This is a sketch of Sivalayam Temple where I got my bindi at Nelapadupalem.


Our host is Mr Rama Rao Dhanekula at Nelapadupalem. He did not respond to my What'sApp message so our driver asked along the way when we reached the village. It turned out that he was at the construction site just adjacent to the small village where there was some kind of ceremony or walk-about with so many cars, local officials, people, camera men and media on site. We met the Minister inside his car just when he was about to leave the site. There was car leading us to the house of our host and we had a very entertaining session with him and his guests. One gentleman led us to the temple and we started sketching after visiting the priest at the temple. It was such a special and wonderful cultural experience for us to go through the simple prayer session and got the bindi on my forehead. Bindi is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration and it also represents the third eye.

Day Three

Srujan Chowdary, the younger host brought us to Srk Grand for lunch. We had the best biryani rice of different flavours in town. Very fragrant and delicious. We asked for a landmark to sketch and he brought us to the nearby village temple called Tallayapalem Temple or Sri Saiva Kshetramu Temple. It had a multi-level tower entrance and it was the most famous Lord Shiva Temple in Tallayapalem, Thulluru Mandal Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh.

I had never seen so many lingams in my whole life and you could find different shiva lingams made in mercury, spatica, stone and crystal etc. Even the temple walls were adorned with lingam graphics everywhere. Lingam is an abstract or iconic representation of the Hindu deity, Shiva, used for worship in temples or shrines. In traditional Indian society, the lingam is seen as a symbol of the energy and potential of Shiva himself.

Day Three - 10 Dec 2017

Day Three in the morning we were given a village to visit and sketch. Being a team leader of the group of 3 sketchers, all ladies, I sent a What'sApp message to the host the day before and I did not expect he replied almost immediately and said "OK". He then asked for our driver's contact number and that was really a big surprise for us. The village had the longest name called Uddandarayunipalem. Palem meant village in their Telugu dialect. The one replied to my message was a young man Srujan Chowdary and he brought us to another host's home. Mr Chalapathi Raobu owned a modest house with a very big store room packed with sacks of rice and other crops presumably harvested from his farm land. He put in 72 acres of his farmlands for land pulling exercise to build the future Amaravati city and I later learnt that he was thus far the biggest landowner. Mr Raobu was a 60-year-old learnt man graduated from London as an engineer. He might be joining other landowners to visit Singapore when I invited him to do so. He said he could not visit Singapore earlier due to the death of his mother a few months ago.

In this sketch, the statue, the water tower and the house tell the story of this seemingly richer village. India has a history of constructing memorials and statues, as ways of recognizing and preserving political memories. These are reminders of important historical events or people, and are built to keep the past alive. This statue is next to the water tower which is another typical structure in a village. Spiral staircases are very common but this one has a few flights of straight stairs. The water towers were usually old and rusty and we witnessed in the villages new water stations were erected usually at the entrance of the villages with CM's photos plastered on it.

The Statue is Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), popularly known as NTR. He was an Indian actor, producer, director, editor and politician. NTR founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982 and served three terms as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh between 1983 and 1995. He was known as an advocate of Andhra Pradesh's distinct cultural identity, distinguishing it from the previous Madras State with which it was often associated. At the national level, he was instrumental in the formation of the National Front, a coalition of non-Congress parties which governed India from 1989 until 1990. The current party leader is Nara Chandrababu Naidu (born 20 April 1951) who is also the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and son-in-law of NTR.

Uddandarayunipalem has a population of 14,000 people and it is considered one of the bigger villages in Amaravati, the new and modern capital of Andhra Pradesh. The houses here are modern and colourful and the roads are very clean. People are well groomed and it appears to be a richer village.

Day Two - Ghandi Hills

On 8 Dec, 2017 which was day one of our trip to India, we arrived at Hyderabad from Singapore Changi Airport via Silkair and checked into a hotel called "Hotel Hyderabad Grand" to catch a quick nap for about 4 hours and next we were on domestic flight Spicejet from Hyderabad to Vijayawada on Day two. I was told we should check into Novotel Hyderabad Airport but it was fully booked on that night.

On 9 Dec, 2017 in Vijayawada, after having lunch at the Fortune Murali Park Hotel, we visited two sites - the 'Seed Road' which is under construction for Amaravati new city and the foundation stone unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oct 2015. Next, we visited Ghandi Hills when the sky was still bright and we had like an hour to sketch from dusk to night, the view at Ghandi Hills was spectacular.

That evening, we were all tired of the air travel, transfer, road trips, sketching on top of Ghandi Hills and dinner at a place called BBQ Nation across the hotel, we went straight back to the hotel room and slept through the night.