JOIN USEnter Rama Kataria’s home and the first thing that catches your attention is the needleworks that have been beautifully framed and displayed across the living room.
At 80, Rama Kataria continues to excel in needlework, a hobby that she picked up in school.
Rama recollects that her mother and siblings too did embroidery and stitching.
“I studied at Lady Irwin College and needlework was an integral part of my life. I was fond of cooking and embroidery and pursued these two things through school and college. Even after I got married, I continued following my passion and found time to indulge in it in my spare time,” recollects Rama.
For Rama, the more complicated the artwork, the better it is. “I get a lot of satisfaction and happiness when I see that I’ve managed to complete something that is complicated,” she says. Rama also takes the help of computer-generated graphs to do needlework. “The graphs give an exact idea of the number of stitches to be done. You have to count each thread and choose the colours accordingly. Sometimes there will be an overlap of colours, then you have to make sure the colours don’t blend,” she adds.
Rama takes around four to six months to complete a particular work. “The time taken depends on the complexity of the patterns. The smaller ones get done faster,” she says.
She adds that she enjoys working on flowers because the colours codes are interesting to put together. “I’ve now started working on horses because my daughter wanted me to try something different,” she adds.
An exhibition-cum-sale of about 50 pieces of needlework by Rama, called, ‘Symphony of Threads, A Retrospective of Tapestries’ will be showcased at Chitrakala Parishath, Gallery no 2, Kumara Krupa road, from March 24 to 26 from 10 am to 7 pm.
The proceeds of the exhibition will go towards charity.