Suhail Rather
Bandipora, Feb 06, KDC: She is an IT expert having a Postgraduate Degree in the Subject but she has mastered the art of sketching and she sketches her imagination with a pencil in her hand.
Nayeema Jan-a 22-year old IT graduate from Brar village of North Kashmir’s Bandipora District developed an interest towards pencil sketching while she worked on different computer programming projects.
There is no connection between an art and studying computer language and programming, but during her studies both developed an interesting relationship. She said while staying on her computer working on different programmes; she would keep making random sketches on papers while I would wait for any programme to upload and run just to kill the time. “For running a programme, it takes time to upload and run on system. During that period I would initially make random sketches on paper just for fun,” she told News Agency Kashmir Dot Com (KDC) adding that with every passing day this odd exercise turned out to be a passion.
“The lines I draw with my pencil on paper turned more interesting with every passing day and sketches grew clearer. This is where I started thinking about polishing this art,” she added. “It is exactly like computer language. You have zeros and Ones but when you put these two numbers in a pattern, you develop a code and language. Same is the case with this art, when you draw in a particular pattern you produce a master piece”.
Nayeema says she had this attraction towards art since childhood as her father too used to make Pencil sketches and now she is trying to continue the legacy of her father who couldn’t make it big in this art as he had to sustain a family and hence worked as a labourer. She draws portraits and to start with, she draws a portrait of her father who is a consolidated worker at the Department of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs.
Her father Jan Mohammad Sofi who earns hardly enough to make ends meet for his 6 member family has toiled hard for his 4 children to receive quality education. Now Nayeema while studying also tries to contribute to the family income by using her art as a means to earn livelihood as she is yet to get any job in her field of Information Technology.
Nayeem says she has been doing sketches and paintings since her childhood in order to take forward the legacy of her father—an artist, but the limited sources are becoming a huge hurdle in her dream chase. She fears that she might have to give up this dream like poverty faced her father to give up his dream.
In Government High School in Nadihal village, she topped in both the 10th and 12th exams and went on to Degree College Bandipora for her further studies. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST).
She said that her family has always supported and encouraged her in every field and in painting as well.
Nayeem said, “Due to non-availability of art academy I faced problems in getting my work recognized or polished as I worked very hard to brush up my drawing skills and now by the grace of almighty, “I can draw”. She attributes her little success to his father who she says is his best teacher, who boosted and motivated her.
Nayeem says she can draw paintings on paper mache, Chinar Leaves, Stones and many more things also. She is getting limited orders from her friends that help her to fulfill her expenses. While studying, she is not able to market her art well.
With a desire to become a good artist, Nayeem avers that locals have to come forward to support the local art and that, she believes, is the only option of making the local art gain some more ground. (KDC)
