How Meenakshi made music from clay
Meenakshi Kesavan of Manamadurai in Tamil Nadu spent half a century making ghatams – the high-quality musical instruments that resonate in south Indian Carnatic concerts. Aparna Karthikeyan wrote her story: ‘When Meenakshi beats a pot 3000 times’.
A 10-year-old school girl, Anushree Ramanathan, retells the story in a PARI comic book.
Editor's note
Anushree Ramanathan was a student of Class 5 at Anand Niketan School (Satellite) in Ahmedabad when she read the PARI story by Aparna Karthikeyan, When Meenakshi beats a pot 3000 times – a story about a woman ghatam maker in Manamadurai who steps into a male domain to create ghatams. She says, “I liked Meenaskhi’s strength and want to make more comics and illustrate more strong women.” She used her vacation to do these illustrations, first trying a pencil outline and then a gel pen once she was confident. The motif of the recurring birds was drawn from a memory of visiting relatives in old houses. Anushree enjoys singing, dancing and painting.
This comic book was originally published on the PARI website on June 29, 2020.