Journalist Elora Sen's maiden watercolour show is an upshot of her pandemic fightback

Well-known Kolkata based sports journalist Elora Sen chose to paint on one of many such difficult days in the surreal year that passed by. 

The show of paintings by Elora Sen at Cafe Positive in south Kolkata- which concluded on Jan 30- is a tribute to life that she struggled to put together like many, amid the challenges the pandemic threw at us.

Sitting over a cup of Darjeeling tea at the small cafe on Lake View Road run by young adults who grew up as orphans with HIV, Elora says: "Trust me, I picked up a brush for the first time. I painted and made mistakes. Some genuine critics told me to correct myself. I did. The outcome is these works."

So none can judge Elora for not always toeing to the grammar of painting or being perfect. Following YouTube tutorials amid other many open source resources, she just painted- sun, moon, sunset, trees, a lone ship or a boat, skies of many hues, a glistening rain-washed road or a silhouetted lone girl - and started posting them on Facebook. 

Friends appreciated, much like they anyway do for friends, but Elora also got better with each attempt. Then some friends encouraged her to host a show. Cafe Positive came forward to host it. 

To her amazement, Elora also sold several of the paintings for a modest price. 

"I would like to give back a part of the proceeds to the cafe for the great work they are doing with HIV positive people," she says.

(Reporting by Sujoy Dhar)