Here’s how bonsai is picking up as an artform during the pandemic

It is hard to get Ravindran Damodharan, a former lawyer and one of India’s foremost bonsai artists, on the phone. “I am preparing for a demo of my plants over Zoom, and then I have a workshop that teaches trimming techniques,” he says. We finally agree to speak on a late Saturday evening after he has finished a workshop on suitable species to experiment with, for bonsai: the art of growing artifically dwarfed trees in a container. “It is amazing how the Internet has expanded our reach. I have held classes and workshops for several years but never experienced the kind of response that online classes bring. People from across India have been signing up for my workshops,” says the Nagercoil-based artist who is also the president of Kerala Bonsai Association.