‘SO MUCH TO DO; SO LITTLE TIME’

When grandchildren come into the picture, one automatically considered “old’. But one glance Rekha Reddy, grand-mum to three adorab granddaughters, and you’d know such theories don’t ho water. “I just turned 60 and the number has not sunk yet. I don’t feel that old,” she says.

Ohryu Rekha Reddy, First Master, Ohara Ikebana, h been teaching Ikebana for 25 years, something she gr up watching her mother Shamala YR Reddy do. The latt was smitten by the art form after a transit trip via Jap while accompanying her husband late Dr Y R Reddy f his work. “Ikebana is a way to get people to be aware nature’s beauty,” explains Rekha, who started Ikeba before she got married in 1983. Later, she continu learning Ikebana from Grandmaster Horyu Mee Anantnarayan and received her Teacher’s certifica from Japan in 1995. She’s since been conducting wor shops and demonstrations in many Indian cities a across 14 other countries. In fact, in 2015 Rekha won ‘Commendation Award’ from the Japanese Consulate Chennai for her passion for spreading Ikebana, prom ing understanding of Japanese and Indian cultures a the friendship between Japan and India.

Rekha also travels to Japan to attend the 5-year Ikebana conferences, with her last one having been Okinawa in 2017. “In1995, three friends and I took off Japan and stayed there for a month to learn mo Ikebana,” says Rekha, recollecting the fun the quar had during the trip.

Besides Ikebana, Rekha, who’d previously writt extensively for various national publications, al worked on another avatar of hers — writer and editor. 2009, she wrote a book ‘Petals & Palette’, juxtaposi Ikebana with MF Husain’s artwork and lines of pro accompanying each creation. In 2018, she did a book w three co-authors called ‘Blooms and Looms’, the theme which was the mix of saris with Ikebana. Soon after, h floral friends and Rekha, who has an MSC in Food a Nutrition, embarked on an ambitious proje “Mishrana”, a book involving contributions from Ikebana lovers, and edited by 3 Ikebana Masters. “W showcased Indian recipes with the floral arrangemen — for Ikebana with mango twigs, we’d have a man recipe next to it,” she explains.

For Rekha, staying young is about keeping one’s mi and body active. Not surprisingly, she's curren immersed in a series of online presentations she starte titled, ‘Lockebana — Ikebana for lockdown times’.

“When your mind is active and you're always in t moment, there’s no space for negative thoughts. Ther so much to do in life and so little time,” she says.