As a kid, for anybody to evoke my artistic spirit was enough to give me a crayon and voila! You’d see my talent in those flashy curvy lines and circles I drew on the walls of my house. But this talent of mine was not at all appreciated and so I had to restrict my painting to paper only. Sigh.But Karuna Thukaram has a different story altogether.

As a kid Karuna enjoyed painting on papers and canvases and as she grew older, old enough to enter an engineering college, this interest of hers grew bigger and overshadowed her interest in machines. She was now bored of playing with paints on paper. She wanted something big…and the huge bare walls of her house just seemed to fit her need.

Well, I guess it’s pretty obvious for you all to guess what the reaction of her parents was when she asked for the permission to paint the house walls.

“No! No! Are you crazy? Do you want to ruin the entire décor of the house? No!”

After a week of nagging and begging and all the stuff we can do to convince our parents, Karuna finally got the green signal!

Having given you a small glimpse into the life of Karuna, an engineering student, and a wall painter, she will now paint a wall of her life for you.

Me: Tell me about the first wall you had painted?

Karuna: Well, when I finally got the permission to paint, I ran to the nearby shopkeeper and having absolutely no idea about what is used to paint on walls, I took everything he gave me. The first wall I had painted was in my own room. I had first pasted cardboard sheets on the wall and practiced many times, and when I was confident enough, I started painting the wall. For a first attempt, it was good. So, I posted its picture on Facebook, and I got a lot of good comments. This was all the encouragement I needed.

I know you all are very curious to look at the painting, but sadly among so many wall paintings,  I couldn’t trace out this particular one as all seemed pretty perfect to me.

Me: When did you get THE Break?

Karuna: One of my friends had suggested me to start a page on Facebook which got more than 500 likes overnight! This made me realize that I should continue doing it and then I got my first order! It was from a music studio in Bangalore, and they offered me Rs. 35000. It was a great start!

Me: Why did you choose engineering when your heart was actually in painting?

Karuna: I had already finished one and a half year in engineering by the time I realized my love for painting. I still enjoy engineering and would love to pursue it for some years…

Me: How do you take out time for painting from the hectic engineering study schedules?

Karuna: The weekends are exclusively reserved for painting. Apart from that, whenever I get bored of all the technical stuff done in the morning, I spend the night painting. And if you’ll look at any of my engineering books you’ll see some doodles or scribbles or something drawn on every other page.

Me: We know that you are a cat person. So, tell us how your cat will doodle you?
Karuna: She’ll definitely doodle me as a crazy artist who chews her head off whenever she steps on my palette or colors or enter the place where I am painting.

Me: What moods do your paintings hide?

Karuna: If I have used more of black color then it’s maybe because am disturbed. When I am very calm, there are higher chances that I’ll paint Buddha. Besides, when I start painting from one corner, one design leads to another and so on. It goes absolutely unplanned and yet results in exactly what I wanted it to be.

Me: What do you think are the walls in a girl’s life and how would you paint them?

Karuna: Well, the first wall is when she is still figuring out what she actually wants to do with her life. Something I’m dealing with right now. I’d paint it in bright colors, and it will have all the elements of confusion, friendships and maybe a few heartbreaks, as well!

The second wall is when she has finally figured out her aim in life and has already started working on it. I’ll use sober, calm colors for this one.

And the third one is when she has finally achieved what she wanted because of the two stages she had gone through. This will have a combination of both bright and sober colors.

For Karuna, these three walls look clearly distinguished. But in my case, every day there is a new wall. In the night I spend hours thinking about the aim of my life, next morning I have figured it out, and by night I’m back on the first stage. Tough life!

Me: In 10 years, what do you see yourself with: the technical stuff or the paints?

Karuna: Definitely with paints! Engineering… maybe I’ll practice it for a few years, but painting is forever.