IT’S HARD TO EXPLAIN!

Frankly Speakin’, Friday the 13th (in the month of May) couldn’t have been better! Thanks to Padma Bhaskararaman, we got downright dirty experiencing Wabi Sabi - a Japanese philosophy to relax and unwind.

A teacher for life, Bhaskararaman, wanted us to wear clothes in shades of brown. Of course, it wouldn’t have done justice to the colourful personality of Influxians, but we tried anyway! Only later did we understand the need for ‘brown’. Brown, the most unappreciated shade in the colour wheel, has a charm of its own. Just like people. And we discovered that through art!

Bringing out the ‘lost’ child in us, Bhaskararaman made us play with clay mud; do abstract art work with paints and crayons and make something nonsensical with natural materials that are vulnerable to weathering, shrinking, warping, cracking and peeling. And we had a blast doing it! Not only that, we learnt to appreciate the muted beauty of all things around us, accept the things as they are and most of all - to embrace the perfection in imperfection.

We celebrated ourselves, appreciated the things and people around us, expressed ourselves through different mediums and had a new perspective on life.

At the end of the session, even though we understood the concept of Wabi Sabi, we found it hard to explain it.
Then, we realised that it has to be experienced!