Last week, at a meeting with a senior executive we were discussing design thinking and digital product management when during the final moments he asked me a question quite unexpectedly – what I would do with a box of 10 pencils. And adding that my answer cannot be related to using the pencil for any writing purposes.
That question involving a ‘pencil’ evoked memories of my art school and the innumerable creative assignments. By the way, if it wasn’t for my long stint at the school I could have never identified myself with the pencil types (H, HB, 2B, 6B) and how each grade could bring a proportionate effect to my artworks using the pressure of my fingertips, sketching actually became like an addiction. I have preserved some caricatures and most recently switched to a dedicated sketching book for collecting my artworks. At the school, I was pretty average at drawing the human anatomy with a live model where some of my classmates excelled beyond imagination, but I had picked up caricaturing on my own with pencils that gave me an opportunity of applying my style to any human form, which somewhat eased my discomfort of committing mistakes in art, besides being a great way to unwind after a hard day’s work. The pencil was that friend, that helped me grow in confidence. However, my colleague wasn’t expecting this answer, he was looking for something where the pencils were used in more ways than a common writing device.
It was the most expected moment of 2006 when Raj Thackeray, the young turk announced the formation of a new political party the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) yesterday at a grand rally in Shivaji Park, Dadar. The flag of the party was unveiled much earlier – that of green, saffron and blue stripes and what most believe depicts the 3 communal fronts of Muslims, Hindus and the Dalits. The message was loud and clear. He’s taken a great leap by breaking away from his uncle’s agenda of appeasing the hindus and fighting for hindutva by embracing the 3 together.
I met Shyam from the