Madhukar Vadu with 90-year-old Mashaya, who is a senior painter who has studied the origin of Savara iconography. Vadu, who between May and August gave art lessons to Savara painters, visited Mashaya just to learn more about the Savaras

At the beginning of 2016, the office of the Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation asked Vadu if he could work as a "master craftsman", mentoring a camp for Savara youth spread in the Srikakulam district. He was given a simple brief by the Vishakhapattnam-based Lep-akshi — an AP government undertaking to promote handicrafts — manager K Nagraj: enthuse the Savara youth with the same vitality that Maharahstra's Warli artists show in selling their art to the world.

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"We don't want an indigenous art to die a quiet death because of lack of takers," Nagraj expressed. The Warli-Savara exchange, visualised by Lep-akshi, goes close to the gradual assimilation of Savaras advocated by late anthropologist-ethnologist Verrier Elwin. Elwin appreciated Savara iconography and felt the Savaras should be brought into the mainstream, but on equal terms and at a pace that suited the scheduled tribe (some of whom are now categorised as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs).

Vadu's art classes, held between May 3 and August 5, followed a pace that the Savaras (mostly engaged in terrace farming of paddy, pineapple, cashew and jowar) could adapt to. The Addakulaguda art camp class began at 8 am, with 20-odd pupils having assembled from nearby villages like Dhiguvadaraba and Rasulpeta and even distant (5 km) hill-top settlements like Ekuvadara.

Vadue hopes the current batch will soon be ready to take orders for decorations on T-shirts, greeting cards and stationery pieces

As Vadu could neither speak the native Savara dialect nor Telegu, 22-year-old Krishnam Raju (a science graduate with a Diploma in Education) became his steady English translator. Vadu's drawings of the Warli graphic vocabulary, particularly human and animal bodies, represented by triangles joining at the tip, reached the class when Raju explained the motifs.

Since the geometrical designs of Savara and Warli styles resemble each other because of the stick figures (although Savaras use rectangles in addition to triangles and invest much more detailing in the clothing of the bodies), Vadu conveyed his concepts more on canvas, than verbally, which he will continue to do from his home computer. In Raju's words, "We had become friends and we want him to be back soon. Thankfully, he is monitoring our homework. After the canvas sketches, we will slowly start work on flower vases, pillow covers and wooden trays."

The Savara Arts Society, having e-connected with Vadu, exchanges photos of the daily work done by his students. Vadu's suggestions, such as encouraging the use of poster colours (instead of rice paste), are also being executed. Interestingly, Vadu's tutorial has been less about art and more about survival. "I have just made them aware of the uniqueness of their style and its potential to create a market of its own. Like the Warli painting, the Savaras also need to tap the market in their state and elsewhere." He hopes the current batch will soon be ready to take orders for decorations on T-shirts, greeting cards and stationery pieces.

The exchanges with the Savaras of the Srikalukam and Vizianagaram districts, where 90 per cent of Andhra Pradesh's Savaras are concentrated, will be put down in a book. Writing on his painting-related experiences is not a new task for the 48-year-old, who has a good command over Marathi, English as well as German. He imbibed languages not out of academic pursuit, but in the fight against hunger and extreme poverty in a Warli household at Manor. Raised in a pada where killing frogs and chamelons was an extended playtime, Vadu studied in different ashram schools of Palghar district.

Although he never did well and failed in the SSC exam, he recalls childhood thrills of a kind that were distinct to the terrain — trapping crabs after the first showers; swimming in the river after several no-bath days. Warli folk tales, passed on to him by village elders, became his life capital, as reflected in his book Under the Rainbow. His search for a life outside Palghar led to his search for a German lexicon.

He mastered the English and German vocabulary despite the logistical odds of living in rural remote Thane. His perseverance brought him in contact with German patron Rita Weber Ferlende and publisher Signe Ruttgers. Vadu worked closely with the Talasari-based Adivasi Janjagran Ani Sanskriti Kendra, which helped him locate customers in Germany, Spain, Japan and China. Vadu has also been to Paris to paint a three-storeyed building. His works are regularly displayed in tribal arts exhibitions all over the country, bringing him in the league of celebrated Warli artists like Padmashree Jivya Soma Mashe and Rajesh Chaitya Vangad.

Life is about possibilities and Vadu's class exemplifies the potential of positive partnership. In a short Palkonda stay, he has imbibed a lot of Savara cooking, eating, clothing and housing. He has made friends with 90-year-old Mashaya, a senior painter. From the chemistry that he could generate with the students, one can visualise a dynamic exchange of motifs between two native traditions. A befitting make-in-India wish on the 70th Independence Day.

Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre is a culture columnist in search of the sub-text