CHENNAI : When a tragedy strikes, you handle it carefully. Nothing is impossible. Bonds grow stronger, artistic capabilities improve and life takes a whole new dimension,” tells Manohar Devadoss, an 82-year-old visually-impaired scientist-author-artist. There is something promising about the artist and his sketches. As we step into his home, with one arm on our shoulder for support, he slowly leads us into his drawing room filled with black and white art works of Meenkashi amman gopuram, Yanaimalai hills and pillars of Thirumalai Nayakkar palace.
The shelves are stacked with heavily-bound books, the furniture has an antique finish and the floors are painted in red oxide. “This house was given to us by my late wife Mahema’s father after our marriage. We have a daughter. Life took a tragic turn when our family met with an accident in 1972. I fell victim to retinitis pigmentosa, lost vision in one eye and had a tunnel vision in another.
My wife was paralysed below the neck and was wheelchair bound. As days passed by, we decided to pursue the art of giving by involving ourselves in charity works and made greeting cards,” says Manohar, a resident of Santhome. He has penned seven books so far, mostly in memory of Mahema and Madurai, the temple town he grew up in.
Manohar, Mahema and Madurai
Sipping on his favourite tea, Manohar takes us down the nostalgic lane. The author and his only elder brother were born and raised in Madurai. He earned a degree in Chemistry from American College in 1957. On his father’s advice, he decided to use his break year to learn piano, art and mathematics. After his father’s demise, Manohar had to be the bread-winner of the family. He decided to move to Chennai and joined Oldham company as a chemist in 1958
. “My first art work was a Christmas greeting card for my boss and he was very impressed. I sketched fisher folks and catamarans. On the professional end, I was very dedicated and involved with my work and lab experiments. I’d refer to books in libraries and try out alternative methods with chemicals and equipment by myself instead of seeking help from foreign countries which was expensive. My company sent me to London for three months in 1962. I visited the museums, listened to western classical music and took a tour around London with my British friends. I also got to take a two-day trip to Paris,” he tells us.
After his return, the prospective for the groom shot up and people would call him foreign-return. Manohar had the habit of penning down letters with illustrations for his friends and family. It was one of his cousins who played cupid in the love story of Manohar and Mahema who studied literature and worked as a lecturer. They got married eventually and Manohar went to Oberlin University in the US to pursue his Masters degree in 1969. Mahema joined him. He calls 1970-1972 as the most glorious years of his life. “We got back to India and I continued working for Oldham for 40 years. I started as a chemist and retired as a technical director,” he tells us.
Chemist-turned-author
Manohar began to sketch and write in 1982 when his vision started deteriorating completely. He would sketch pictures on the spot as his wife read a book. The sketch proportions would be perfect. “Sometimes I would click photographs, keep them under a transparent paper and would draw along the outlines using my .1, .2 and .3 mm pencils under illumination. My eye power was very high at that time but I managed to find a bifocal lens designed to match my vision.
I’d draw and my wife would write. The first book came in 1997 and it was titled The Green Well Years. It is an autobiographical novel and affectionate tribute to Madurai. These are real life stories inspired by my childhood friends, our way of growing up, festivals like Chithirai thiruvizha and various landmarks. After my wife’s death, I hired a person to help me with typewriting,” shares Manohar, who also plays harmonica.
Eventually he went on to publish his second book which is more like a documentation on his wife titled Dreams, Seasons & Promises. The veteran published another biographical novel on Mahema titled A Poem to Courage, at the same time in 2002. His fourth book came out in 2007 and was titled Multiple Facets of My Madurai. Every page had a sketch and an explanation by the side.
In between, around 2010, he decided to give a small tribute his wife and published a book titled Mahema and the Butterfly with colourful sketches. The fifth book was in 2014, titled From an Artist’s Perspective. As a self-trained artist, he speaks about perspectives and this book was designed for architects, students and engineers. A bunch of students from Fatima college in Madurai filmed a 28-minute documentary on Manohar’s work titled Third Eye.
“I’ve given several lectures about tourism in Madurai. Most of the renowned personalities have said that they think of Mahema and me after Meenakshi Amman temple when they visit the town. I might be financially a middle class, but intellectually rich and emotionally eternal,” he tells us. He’s working on two books that are yet to be published — ‘Creative, loving, giving lives amidst searing adventures’ and one with architect Sujatha Shankar titled ‘Madras Inked’.
Upcoming books
Manohar Devadoss would draw and his wife Mahema would write. The first book came in 1997 and it was titled The Green Well Years. He’s working on two books that are yet to be published — ‘Creative, loving, giving lives amidst searing adventures’ and one with architect Sujatha Shankar titled ‘Madras Inked’ which is said to have 61 sketches by Manohar and description on 42 subjects by Sujatha.