At Trinity Lyceum , the Boarding school in Kollam that I spent the final three years (1974-1976) of schooling, there were all manner of guys (mostly wild!!)

We had a bunch of super creative guys too, like my brother Shyam and Raghunath Menon. They were both very good at sketching , painting, making ship models in bottles etc.

Raghu is now a full-time professional artist. Sitting in his beautiful cottage in scenic Edathara, Palghat, he ……. paints.

We were super happy to have Raghu staying with us at Pavumba last week. And…… he brought along a painting that he created -over a fortnight apparently – out of a photo I had clicked a few months back. The photo was of our neighbour’s Chinese fishing net. Raghu brought the painting on the train, lovingly wrapped in a cloth bag (that too, he stitched himself !). And then came home, drilled the holes in our brick wall and hung it up! A full-service artist!!

The painting has created a sensation in our village. Because everyone recognises the place; it is theirs!