Glimpse of a great secret

In 2008, I took a break from work, burned out and ravished. I got 3 months off and I went to the south of Spain, Granada, to repair myself.

One sunny afternoon, I found myself atop a hill in Granada, Spain looking at the Al-hambra . A blonde haired Greek God type was painting the scene with big flourishes.

I walked over to him, smiled and asked where I could buy paint supplies. He asked me patronizingly (as was his nature) if I painted. I said, I’ve never done it in my life but I’m interested to try. He gave me quick and unintelligible directions to the store which I forgot even before I returned to my rock seat.

A couple of weeks later , I was walking through a side street and there it was. The Art shop. I walked in sheepishly and was confronted by a teenage girl speaking in Spanish at such a speed, that the only thing I wondered about was how was she breathing. So I just pointed at a box set of paint which was on sale, grabbed a book and a big brush, paid and rushed out.

I returned that evening to the mountain and found the God still flying. I found a place so as not to disturb his eminence and started fearlessly to thrash paint on my paper. After an hour or so, I felt someone watching and lo and behold, his blonde highness was peering over my shoulder.

I smiled, expecting gifts of encouragement. He said, for the first time politely,( like most nasty people do when they want something.) ‘could you give me the paint, I really need it’ were his exact words. I looked at him, the smile slowly disappearing from my face and then after what seemed like ages replied ‘give me 5 minutes to think about it’. He shrugged and walked back to his throne.

After 2 minutes of anger, rejection, uselessness, pain , anguish I suddenly thought NO, I really enjoyed that one hour, I don’t even care if the painting is good or not. I walked over and said, ‘sorry I’m keeping them’.

I was up on that hill a lot after that, and always with my paint book. We never made friends, the Greek God and I.