Wada dawn
First light over a Puneri wada courtyard in Maharashtrian watercolour: diyas on the ota, the tulsi vrindavan, a tanpura on the baithak and Ganesh, for the Diwali Pahat.
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A wada is the old courtyard house of Pune and the towns of the Deccan, built of stone, brick and teak around an open chowk. The family gathered on its raised ota, a tulsi vrindavan stood in the middle of the courtyard, and at Diwali rows of panatis were lit there. Diwali Pahat, the dawn of Diwali, begins before sunrise with the abhyanga snan, the oil bath, and in Pune and Mumbai it has grown into early-morning concerts of classical music and natya sangeet that people walk to in the dark and leave in the first light. Painters of the Bombay School recorded such houses in transparent watercolour, letting the white of the paper stand for the light.
This film is drawn in the watercolour style of those painters: a wada courtyard at first light, diyas on the ota, the tulsi vrindavan, a tanpura waiting on the baithak and pigeons leaving the roof. The artwork is drawn in the watercolour style for this film; it is not painted by hand. Your family photo appears in a carved teak window.
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