Prarambh

A procession of figures moves laterally across the canvas like a living frieze, their bodies weighted by bundles and vessels that turn daily labor into a quiet rite of endurance. Saturated saris—crimson, magenta, saffron—flare against a cool, fractured ground, so that color becomes both identity and resistance within an urbanizing, unsettled space. The compressed spacing and cropped silhouettes deny individual spectacle, emphasizing instead a shared tempo of migration and work, where dignity is carried as carefully as the loads on their heads. In this tension between decorative pattern and stark shadow, the painting suggests how resilience is stitched from repetition—step after step—until community itself becomes the image’s true subject.