With his brush, an Indian diplomat here has virtually brought alive the vivid and radiant flavour of India to Egyptian spectators, bringing out the civilisational similarities between the two countries.
Murugaraj Dhamodaran, Third Secretary at Embassy of India in Cairo, is showing nearly 50 works of art at the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in an exhibition titled 'Blinks of a Brush.'
His paintings not just include the energetic dance forms and the colourful traditional clothing from India, but also the dichotomy that exists in the Indian society.
Although in Egypt for a few months only, he says Egypt and India have many similarities and are faced with same problems.
"There are civilisational similarities between the countries so the mutual affection is there," he told PTI.
"I've been here for six months. Egypt is very nice and people are very affectionate," he said as he was celebrating the opening of his maiden exhibition yesterday. Dhamodaran says he has been practicing this art since childhood.
Dhamodaran says his paintings are under divided under six categories: dichotomy style of painting; storytelling; dance forms of India; and conceptual depiction, descriptive depiction and existential depiction.
The 'dichotomy style of painting', he says, is his innovation. The painter has used acrylics, poster colours and pencils to express his views on different themes.
Of the paintings, only one is on Egypt and features the legendary Giza Pyramids at sunrise. It is named 'Sun Bath'.
"I only painted one painting about Egypt as most of the paintings I did were in India," he said.
India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya, who opened the exhibition, said the event was very special.
"We come here on a mission to build bridges between the two peoples. We have known each other - India and Egypt - for a very long time but as the context changes and the time changes we need to find new ways to make this relations even stronger," Bhattacharyya said.
"Murugaraj has displayed his talent on the canvas that would make any artist proud.
"Murugaraj's paintings show various scenes from Indian life and society, classical dance and colors. I think these will help in understanding a culture that is actually very similar to Egypt," Bhattacharyya added.
Rakesh Kawra, acting director of Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture, said the centre always hosts events to promote cultural understanding between the two countries.
"Almost one year ago we did the soft launch of the Mulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in Zamalek and since then we hosted a number of different exhibitions, seminars and workshops," Kawra said.
"The Indian diplomats are extremely good with their pens and ideas but it is hard to have and Indian foreign officer who is also brilliant with his brush," Kawra said.
The exhibition runs until February 18.
