One Christmas Eve, Valampuri John, a celebrated Tamil orator and writer, was invited to a baking show for a Christmas Special where he comedically stated, “Cake is called cake because if you want it, ‘thirupi thirupi cake-anum’ (translation: you have to keep asking for it),” leaving the crowd in hysterics. A young girl in Avadi, who was spending her Christmas vacation watching the Special on Podhigai was intrigued by the pun.
The young girl was Bindhu Hephzibah. She grew up to complete an MBA and work a corporate job only to realise that her passion was in the arts. She would hoard art books and try to teach herself painting techniques during her free time. It was around the year 2008 when the recession coincided with the smartphone boom. “I suddenly had access to resources like never before,” she exclaims about how it changed her life.
She dropped her nine-to-five job and decided to move to Erode, where her father was posted in the Revenue Department. That was the first time she visited an art gallery. “There was a teacher at the gallery, so I immediately decided that I would enroll,” she recalls, “Very soon I started painting and selling my art.” Her marriage took her to Chennai where she
