While we were in the Australian Outback, Sharmila and I delved into a bit of the Aboriginal art. There were places that would bus in the womenfolk from the villages and give them all the materials for creating art during the day and get them back to their villages in the evening. We learnt a lot of their style of art.

There are a lot of dots. The dots is the way they told their stories. A stick would be used to stamp on the ground to create the dots. The shapes have stories borne out of their mythologies.

We had been eyeing a couple of paintings for a few days. This one was a large one – 3.5 feet by 6.5 feet. And the other one 3.5 feet by 3.5 feet. This one caught our eyes because of the detail and the resplendence of the colors. The other one was not as striking… at least to our eyes. But it was costlier.

We asked the folks there why the apparent dissonance. Were we missing something? We indeed were. In the rules of the Aboriginal villages, the price pf a painting was a function of the age of the painter – not the size or intricacy. A much elderly lady had painted the other painting we had our eyes on. That is how respect looks like in the villages. You do not have to buy it but it will be priced higher out of sheer deference to elders!!

Buying this was easy. Getting it to US was another adventure. Unlike the large piece of art that the handicapped folks were making in Jordan, these folks do not deliver. So, we had to get it dismantled, rolled up in a tube and then took it to our hotel room.

A bit of research showed that we were not allowed it take it as a carry on luggage!! As a last resort, we went to the Australian Post. The friendliest people ever!!! They took care of us and all custom hassles without fear or favor!

It took some time but the precious painting eventually made its way to our house. Having an artist wife has some advantages. One of them is there are folks who will do all sorts of custom framing for large stuff very cheap for you.

And then it stood in our house waiting for a handyman to eventually put it up in our bedroom. (I was not going to take a chance with this impeccable piece of art and put it up myself).

Every morning when I wake up, right there is a memory of the Aboriginals from the Australian Outback in front of my eyes!!