Ours is the oldest and largest art gallery in Kochi,” says Riyaz, as he mixes the ingredients for a delicious masala tea. “Draavidia Art Gallery was started 12 years ago in Mattancherry by my brother, Shihabudeen, to promote art in this area. About six years ago, we relocated the gallery to this heritage building in Fort Kochi built by the Dutch some three centuries ago. As you see, we are not just an art gallery today; we have the Solar Café and Lunar Café to cater to different needs of both our domestic and foreign visitors.”
It does not take time to realise that Draavidia has much more to offer than a well -prepared, steaming hot masala tea. One can see art works – a painting or a poster - on every wall of the premises. Antique furniture strewn all over the place attracts the visitor immediately.
The first thing one observes on entering the premises is the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the Solar Café located on the ground floor. Soft strains of Hindustani music add to the charm of the dining place which gets an uninterrupted flow of fresh air and sunlight from the street.
“We did not want this to be an ordinary crowded restaurant,” explains Riyaz. “It was conceived to be a place where the visitors could feel at home, unwind, find solitude or company in a friendly atmosphere.”
The café boasts of a sumptuous breakfast and lunch menu which includes organic Espresso coffee, herbal tea, fresh fruit juices, whole wheat bread, home made soups, toasts with pure wild honey, oat meal porridge, plain/farmer’s omlets, lassi, fruit plates, international salads and cakes. As importantly, the rates are kept reasonable with each item costing anywhere between Rs 25 and Rs 70.
There is a small library of esoteric books and on any given day, one can see visitors (mostly foreign) enjoying their food and drink while browsing through the newspapers, books and magazines at leisure. Some of them sit for hours on end reading, writing or conversing, and the Café does not mind it at all.
A flight of wooden stairs leads to the art gallery on the first floor. Large and small paintings, prints and posters decorate the walls.
The expansive room doubles up as a stage for occasional performance of music and dance. Through the windows, one gets enchanting views of lapping waves and slow moving boats. Writing on the origins of Draavidia, English writer and translator, Helen Muir reveals how Shihabudeen held on to a dream of creating a community of artists of all persuasions who could meet and cooperate to foster an alternative art culture in Kochi. In its hey-days, the gallery promoted many young and unknown artists and brought them up to the centre stage of art movement in Kerala.
“We also have the Lunar shop,” reminds Riyaz. “It offers a variety of products: esoteric books, colourful and twisted cotton fashions; handcrafted pottery; cotton clothes; natural soaps; jewellery; organic vanilla, coffee beans, wild honey, vegetable dyed Andhra Pradesh toys, homemade beauty facials, etc.”
But where is Shihabudeen, the founder-owner? He has receded to the forest, Riyaz tells us, “living and working with tribal community in Idukki district, planting trees and tilling the land.”
A sitar player, Shihabudeen is also known to write poetry in Malayalam. One of his poems translated by Muir runs as follows:
The fruit which I planted
Is grown and flowered today.
Petals for the wind
honey for the birds.
The fruit which I planted
bore fruit today.
Fruit for me.
Seed to the earth.
Draavidia is located very close to Customs Jetty and Calvathy canal in Fort Kochi. Email: artdraavidia@sify.com.
