Mini Naidoo captures MS Subbalakshmi
in the throes of a raga

Mini and Venkatesh: In sync with each
other's creativity and talent

SHE sketches with finesse that breathes life into her portraits. She writes with simplicity that moves you. She plays tennis with the passion of a professional. She devotes quality time to social work because she knows it’s her calling.

In the midst of all this, she runs an efficient home.

It’s definitely not surprising when Mini Naidoo says: “There has never been a boring day in my life.”

Originally from Punjab, Mini spent her childhood in the tea estates of Assam, where her father worked with Tata Tea. She started playing tennis at the age of eight — her mentor, none other than her father. She practised long and hard; she had high expectations to live up to.

She was just seventeen when she married Venkatesh Naidoo who was working with Tata Tea at the time. But marriage did not deter her from playing tennis. At eighteen, when she was three-months pregnant, she participated in the Assam Open. She walked away with the ladies doubles title and was runner-up in the singles event. Modesty makes her say there wasn’t much competition.

Though she married young, she knew she wanted to “do a whole lot more than just run a home”.

When Tata Tea started a child welfare programme for its employees’ children, Mini couldn’t resist. “What better way to get in touch with yourself than to interact with children,” she asks.

She enthusiastically contributed ideas to broaden the scope of the programme to include mothers as well. The mothers were taught knitting, tailoring and weaving. They were also educated in family planning, immunisation and malnutrition, which benefit the children in the long run. “If you do what you enjoy, you won’t work for a day in your life,” says Mini. To her, the ten years dedicated to the welfare programme couldn’t have been more enjoyable or rewarding.

Her husband’s job took her to Moscow, Calcutta and eventually Cochin. The Naidoos have been in Kerala for seven years. For non-Keralites, they seem to have adapted remarkably well, and have enjoyed every bit of their stay.

Mini was overjoyed when she discovered Raksha, an institution in Cochin, which trains handicapped children. Raksha did not lack qualified teachers; so Mini became part of the team that handled projects and funds. She missed personal interaction with the children though.

Later, when she became Chairperson of Projects, she encouraged vocational training to help the children join the mainstream. Today, the vocational training unit organises classes in carpentry, tailoring and greeting-card making.

Mini took the initiative to introduce Raksha to recycling of paper. Thanks to her upbringing, she feels one with Nature and says people should be responsible for the next generation. With sufficient background work, she has made the paper-recycling unit, which involves Raksha children and their mothers, a success.

A door-to-door programme was conducted to inform people of such a unit and to encourage them to stack up every bit of waste paper. Raksha volunteers are now monthly visitors at several houses and apartment blocks to collect waste paper.

With most of her time being devoted to social work, Mini’s art took a back seat. As a child, her first brush with creativity and art was assisting her mother in Batik paintings. When she was thirteen, she did a charcoal portrait of Beethoven for her brother.

But Mini didn’t do much to further her talent until the age of thirty, when her mother encouraged her to attend a six-week course in the Philippines. “I thought I was jumping straight into the deep end without knowing how to swim, but I jumped anyway.” Today, after mastering the brush-and-eraser method of charcoal sketching, Mini Naidoo has become a name to reckon with.

The artistic genius in Mini truly blossomed in Kerala. She was discovered only when a portrait of Mother Teresa, which she did for her home, was chosen to be photographed for a Raksha card.

“It was by accident rather than design that I started taking portrait-sketching seriously,” she says. Friends encouraged her to do more portraits and some even offered to buy them.

She sketched writer and poet Kamala Das, probably better known as Madhavikutty and now as Kamala Suraiya. Suraiya’s son, Chinnen Das who heads The Times of India in the South, chanced upon this portrait of his mother and bought it. Chinnen Das featured Mini in his newspaper and prodded her to display her work at an exhibition.

Undoubtedly, excited about the prospect of her own exhibition, she suppressed all anxieties as best she could. “I was taking a step into the unknown and I wasn’t sure how I was going to be received as an artist. But I knew I wanted to take that first step,” she says, absolutely convinced that it was the right decision.

Mini first toyed with the idea of sketching great Indian personalities, but she didn’t know where to start. Eventually, she decided to narrow it down to great names in Hindustani classical music.

Trying to toggle between her work at Raksha and her art was no joke. After two years of hard work and intense concentration — her collection was done. In October 2001, India was treated to her exquisite charcoal portraits displayed at the Taj Art Gallery in Mumbai.

The vitality her art exuded communicated directly with the viewer. “The secret is to select photographs that capture people doing what they are best at. They drop all inhibitions and their expressions speak to you.”

Black and white may just be two colours, but the innumerable shades of grey in between are all Mini needs to bring out the essence of her subject. She was thrilled by the response she received in Mumbai. People revisited the gallery to take in more of her brilliant work. There were 28 portraits displayed and over half of them was sold.

Mini’s debut was a success! Despite her achievement as an artist, Mini wants to go back to basics, to learn the technicalities of drawing and proportions. She also hopes to try her hand at palette-knife painting. “Charcoal sketching requires so much concentration and precision, there are times I would just like to let my brush flow.”

Mr Venkatesh Naidoo is a very supportive husband. A creative man himself, Mr.Naidoo understood the importance of making the most of one’s talent and imagination and encouraged Mini as best he could. Mr Naidoo, who has just retired as the CEO of Tata Tetley in Cochin, makes interesting pieces of furniture with jungle wood. He is designer and carpenter rolled into one, and Mini gives him all the support he needs.

“If you want to grow as a couple, each one must be occupied in his or her own way. Only then will the curiosity arise to learn more about the other person,” she says, knowing well that this has been their strength.

Mini’s son Viraj has completed his Masters from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and intends to pursue a career in social work. Her daughter Mandira is studying graphic design in Bangalore. Mandira’s paper collages, which have originality written all over them, are framed and displayed at home. Mini proudly says Mandira is the most gifted of them all.

Mini was also instrumental in bringing out her mother-in-law’s dormant artistic talent. Between eight children and a job, Chandravati Naidoo rarely had time to spare for art. After she retired, arthritis got the better of her, and she found it difficult to pass time.

That’s when Mini got her whatever art material she needed and coaxed her into sketching. Considering her arthritic condition, she sketches remarkably well and has gifted her children and grandchildren with little treasures, which they have proudly displayed.

The Naidoos have just moved to Coonoor, where Mr Naidoo has landed a job, post-retirement. Mini has started working on a series, which will concentrate on Indian classical dance forms.

She hopes to compile a book of her musings and fulfill her father’s dearest wish. “I have no fear of rejection and failure because I know my family will enjoy it. Appreciation from other sources will just be the icing on the cake.”

Mini shares some interesting thoughts on issues she feels strongly about. She grew up in a house full of pets and realises the importance of exposing children to animals and nature.

“Children should be taught that they are a part of Nature and not distinct from it. Only then will they realise the need to preserve it as a whole and not just themselves,” she says. But then, adults should set a good example, she points out.

The menace of plastic is something Mini cannot tolerate. She suggests that everyone carry a cloth bag or cane basket and refuse plastic from shops and vendors. “These principles must be inculcated in children too, as part of their education at school,” says Mini.

Though born a Hindu, she does not believe in any one religion. To her, “spirituality is the meeting point of all religions.” She feels religion is very personal and should not be forced on anyone.

“Being a good human being is the best way to get in touch with your soul. To me, work is worship and I would rather devote one more hour to Raksha than spend it praying.”

— Tina George