<p>Frequent travellers at the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor often come across a dewy-eyed lady waiting for a school bus, her hands constantly engaged in creasing and folding small square sheets of paper. <br /><br /></p>.<p>“At times people stop by to ask what I am doing and even miss their bus to see how I complete the folds and join them together to create shapes for our annual exhibition,” says Hitomi Ashta, president of Origami Oritai - the only origami club in the city.<br /><br />As she waits for her children to come back from school, Metrolife, intrigued by her love for the art form and her association with India, engages her in a friendly chat. Hitomi humbly opens up about her life and shares her little love story that led to her marriage to an Indian. <br /><br />“I was born and brought up in Nagoya, a town between Osaka and Tokyo in Japan and aspired to be a school teacher,” says Hitomi, also a black belt in Shorinji Kempo – a form of martial art. Though her gentle personality blies this, she proves it by telling what the people sitting 170 degree left are doing, without turning her head! <br /> <br />It was, however, while learning English from a private institution that she met a young Indian Ashok Ashta who had come to teach at “Nagoya University as part of a fellowship exchange programme from Williams College, Massachusetts, where he was doing his graduation in liberal arts”. Like a true Bollywood romance, the sparks flew but the two couldn’t understand their love for each other till Ashok went back to America and the two got separated.<br /><br />“Soon after completion of his degree he came to Japan and we confessed to each other that we felt something,” says Hitomi who got married in a Japanese-style wedding and both settled in Japan. “Ashok learnt Japanese faster than I learnt English,” she laughs narrating the tale. “In Japanese, Ashita means ‘tomorrow’ so after marriage I was lovingly called ‘Mrs Tomorrow’.” <br /><br />A decade later, “one day he came home and said lets go back to India and I said OK.” The testing time for Hitomi thus began. “It was a challenge for me to come here,” says Hitomi recollecting how she faced the culture shock, yet managed to survive. “My ability to see 170 degree was good but I didn’t want to see what was happening on the roads in India. The display of power and richness was too much,” she says.<br /><br />“My view of India was through a window since my in-laws were over-protective and didn’t let me go out alone initially. All this led me to engage myself in origami,” she says, folding a paper and placing it before Metrolife photographer. It is amazing to see that she had created a frog to amuse the lensman who was waiting to get a perfect picture of this camera-shy lady. <br /><br />“Travelling from my house in Panchsheel Enclave to the Japan Foundation (where her club holds workshops), I create flowers, balls, animals and everything possible. I started this club because I wanted people in India to know that it’s good to work and grow together. Origami is my yoga!” <br /><br /></p>
<p>Frequent travellers at the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor often come across a dewy-eyed lady waiting for a school bus, her hands constantly engaged in creasing and folding small square sheets of paper. <br /><br /></p>.<p>“At times people stop by to ask what I am doing and even miss their bus to see how I complete the folds and join them together to create shapes for our annual exhibition,” says Hitomi Ashta, president of Origami Oritai - the only origami club in the city.<br /><br />As she waits for her children to come back from school, Metrolife, intrigued by her love for the art form and her association with India, engages her in a friendly chat. Hitomi humbly opens up about her life and shares her little love story that led to her marriage to an Indian. <br /><br />“I was born and brought up in Nagoya, a town between Osaka and Tokyo in Japan and aspired to be a school teacher,” says Hitomi, also a black belt in Shorinji Kempo – a form of martial art. Though her gentle personality blies this, she proves it by telling what the people sitting 170 degree left are doing, without turning her head! <br /> <br />It was, however, while learning English from a private institution that she met a young Indian Ashok Ashta who had come to teach at “Nagoya University as part of a fellowship exchange programme from Williams College, Massachusetts, where he was doing his graduation in liberal arts”. Like a true Bollywood romance, the sparks flew but the two couldn’t understand their love for each other till Ashok went back to America and the two got separated.<br /><br />“Soon after completion of his degree he came to Japan and we confessed to each other that we felt something,” says Hitomi who got married in a Japanese-style wedding and both settled in Japan. “Ashok learnt Japanese faster than I learnt English,” she laughs narrating the tale. “In Japanese, Ashita means ‘tomorrow’ so after marriage I was lovingly called ‘Mrs Tomorrow’.” <br /><br />A decade later, “one day he came home and said lets go back to India and I said OK.” The testing time for Hitomi thus began. “It was a challenge for me to come here,” says Hitomi recollecting how she faced the culture shock, yet managed to survive. “My ability to see 170 degree was good but I didn’t want to see what was happening on the roads in India. The display of power and richness was too much,” she says.<br /><br />“My view of India was through a window since my in-laws were over-protective and didn’t let me go out alone initially. All this led me to engage myself in origami,” she says, folding a paper and placing it before Metrolife photographer. It is amazing to see that she had created a frog to amuse the lensman who was waiting to get a perfect picture of this camera-shy lady. <br /><br />“Travelling from my house in Panchsheel Enclave to the Japan Foundation (where her club holds workshops), I create flowers, balls, animals and everything possible. I started this club because I wanted people in India to know that it’s good to work and grow together. Origami is my yoga!” <br /><br /></p>
