Works from 2019 to 2022, as a visual artist with Samaj Pragati Sahayog’s in house media team. A grassroots non-profit organization in rural Madhya Pradesh, India.
Selected visuals and website design for Terra Tales.
Documentation of wall painting to raise awareness of ground water levels and the importance of mixed cropping.
Location of villages- Singlade and Kaliratadi.
Stills from a fiction animation and live action film to spread awareness about the rise of the Covid Pandemic and dispell false myths.
Contribution to Food Diaries. An initiative by Pinky Brahma Choudhury to document the local wild foods of the region.
Ground research and first draft for a story on jowar k pakwan, later translated into Hindi by Shashank Shekhar Shukla.
“marne par bhi jowar, delivery k time bhi jowar. Jowar har cheej mei kaam aata hai”
“during time of delivery we feed pregnant women thulli. Ghatti mei peeskar, paani mei
ubalkar usme ghee, gud, kaaju, badam sei svaadi bane, says surli bai. Putting a saradi
jowar roti on the tava, Surli bai’s daughter Sangita says she was fed thulli with a glass of
chaas during her pregnancy.
Pankiya is amongst the multiple dishes of jowar laddu, halwa, bhujiye, thulli, laal jowar
khichdi, raabdi and roti.
Best enjoyed in the cold months of November, pankiye gets its name from the very
special flavors of the leaf the dish is cooked in. Surli bai reminisces of a time when her
husband mohan singh and her would collect the leaves of khakra and akaav, to make
pankiyas in the forest. After grazing their goats, hot jowar pankiyas would be enjoyed
with a spicy crab chutney. “Jowar mata has kept our breath healthy until this day”, says
Mohan singh.
Pankiyas can be enjoyed savory or sweet. To make the savoury pankiyas, sangita makes
a paste of garlic, and adds to it fresh green coriander leaves, red chilli powder and haldi
and grinds it until the masala turns a lovely red- orange. Adding salt to the atta, sangita
adds in the masala and kneads it together. I have never imagined that the spicy flavors
mixed with kneaded aata itself could bring water to my mouth, and tickle my nose.
The leaves of akaav are soaked in water and the khakra leaves are washed. Sangita and I
make balls of the aata and begin to flatten it on the leaves, occasionally wetting our
hands. After the atta is flattened onto one leaf, we cover it with another.
It has become evening in Shyaampura. Under the moon, we have set a fire to the corn
cobs. All of surli bai’s family sits around the fire where the pankiyas are getting cooked
on. Slowly and steadily, the leaves start to turn black and separate from the jowar roti.
Sangita and her sister peel of the leaves and turn the paankiya from side to side as the
pankiyas get red. A smell of the leaves and jowar slowly start to fill the night breeze and
mingle with the smell of hot ghee. As the pankiyas rise from the centre, Sangita’s sister
starts to break them in two and dip them in ghee. The sound of the pankiya soaking in
the ghee tell us the wait is finally over. In my mouth, as I crunch the crispy outsides, the
inside of the pankiyas melt and blend in with my experience of Surli bai’s family.
Let me leave you with one more unique dish I learned from haarbai in potla- biger tel
bhujiya. A dish which seems minimal, but is full of technique.
Coat a large haandi with ash and leave plenty of water in it to boil.
Knead some jeera, salt and water into the flour to form pieces of atta the size of finger
tips. Sieve these aata pieces so tiny grains stay behind. Transfer the atta bits into a steel
plate and tie it up with a cotton dupaata to be placed upside down on the haandi.
It takes around 15-20 minutes for the bhujiye to cook. Enjoy the hot soft savory bhujiya
with winds of the monsoons.
Ground research, story and photographs on pitlaji, translated from English into Hindi by Kirti Kumar.
Documentation of production for a film that differeniates SHGs (self help groups) from private micro finance companies.
To illustrate to the women so they can make informed decisions on investing their energies and money.