Man's life has been undergoing a consistent change since ancient times. His intellect and the unmatched genius has helped him prosper with the advancement of science. Every individual is different from each other and so is the variety in life! The varied costumes, tempers, cultures, life styles and shades of beauty reflect life. Every individual has her own perspective of looking at life. For me life is, accepting the bad with the good.

The phenomenal beauty of the living and non-living, expressions of pleasure and grief, generosity and many more qualities when effectively depicted through some or the other medium, is called Art!

Creative art is the artist's portrayal of such appealing piece of imagination which has absorbed the forms of nature, man, animals etc. Watching such art, we experience a wide range of emotions such as joy, wonderment, sadness, happiness!

I am one of such artists! With the palette and brush I try to capture different shapes, shades of light, textures, strokes in a skillful manner using varied colours so as to see various pictures evolving to life through them. And when I see people appreciating such works of mine with a feeling of pleasure and admiration, it gives me immense happiness and contentment. And this contentment itself is my spiritual goal!

I hail from a place called 'Ghoti, near Nasik. I have some unforgettable memories of the time I have spent in 'Ghoti' My father is a cloth merchant. We own a cloth shop there. My father and brother run this shop. Amongst our chief customers we have, 'Thakari people, specially thakari women. These women have a unique costume and a distinctive type of ornaments. The kind of the blouse (they call it choli) they wear has a peculiar border with a variety of designs. I don't remember, exactly since when I did start observing these women with their wonderful costume and lovely ornaments but one is certain that they have fascinated me all through! And my fascination of these rustic beauties sooner found a way of expression through my paintings. I can proudly say that, with my minute observation of these

'Thakari people, specially women'. I can paint as many varieties of emotions as one can.

'Thakari people' are little dark in colour, for they have to work under the Sun all the time. So I have selected 'blue' colour to depict their dark skin. These women tie a piece of cloth round their waist (they call it 'Phadke'). After shopping, whatever litter they have purchased, they put in this piece of cloth and wind this cloth around their waist. Besides this, every 'Thakari' woman wears a big silvery bangle sort of ornament on their arm called 'Bajubandh' and one big thick silvery payal called Toda. All these have charmed me a lot. I have been so passionately fond of them, their costume, that I have already drawn many pictures covering aforesaid minute details, and still can paint many more.

All in all, what I feel is observing these 'Thakari people' and trying to capture them in my painting has influenced me very much. It has developed an insight in me. For I feel it is always a thrilling experience to portray them, their emotions. And this experience has benefited me a lot!