This was originally posted on August 7, 2012. Then my Mejdi was happy, glad and constantly putting her full energy to keep us all happier with her glowing presence. We are not ready to accept that not seeing is missing her! Since July 22 2019 the feel of her presence, in a sense, has been getting stronger! – Bublu, Gangtok | March 22, 2020
I was trying to understand how to digitize books, studying the DIY Book-Scanner that Google adopted for digitizing millions of books [DIY is the acronym for ‘Do It Yourself’]. I managed somehow to erect a home set-up. Yes, the book stand made of cardboard, one camera and so on. I was trying the software that I would use for digitizing.
I wanted to try the set-up and first laid my hand on a sitar-notebook, my first one that was mostly written by my Guru Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra. I discovered a loose leaf inside the notebook. This was already brittle. There was grocery list on one side and the other side showed a pen-sketch. I got excited! Someone drew my sketch!!
I liked the pen-lines. A simple ball point pen was used. ‘Bublu’ was written on the work. ‘Bublu’ is one of my pet names. I was not sure about the artist and started conjecturing. The drawing gave me the impression that it was done when I was around twelve year old. I thought I recognized the handwriting, I thought it was Mejdi’s. The other possibility was Chhordi. I was not sure. But they did not remember anything! Finally, Chhordi came and saw the sketch and ascertained that it was Mejdi’s handwriting…
Mejdi, Sushanta Siromoni [2010]
Mejdi loved to sketch, when she was young, during her school and college days. She did not have any formal training. But, she saw her aunt [Pishi] at work, who was a serious artist. I am glad that at least one of Mejdi’s work-specimen got discovered by chance. She almost forgot that she used to sketch for the sheer love of it.. This piece of art has been waiting for 45 years to be get rediscovered..! Thanks to DIY project!!!