Tales of monkey god, distilled like 'ghee'

Sanjay Patel grew up a lonely child in California, but used art as an escape and created animations. His 'Ghee Happy' series reimagines Hindu deities as kids

- SANDIP ROY

In a world of angry Hanuman images, Sanjay Patel draws a different story.

He too works with Hindu gods and goddesses-Saraswati, Kali, Krishna. But in his world they look like cute kids, they sing and dance and play and giggle. They learn the real meaning of Diwali and that feisty little girls like Kali can protect their brothers on Rakhi. There are volcanoes that spew mangoes and treats galore. Patel's series of 20 episodes aimed at preschoolers premiered last month on his YouTube channel Ghee HappyStudio.

It all sounds utterly butterly ghee happy. That very phrase harkens back to his own childhood, growing up in California, US. "My dad would do a puja and aarti," he remembers over a video call from his home in California. "He would offer ghee to the gods." And as we all know, a little bit of ghee can make everyone very happy. But he also liked the idea of ghee as boiling something down to its core. "Stripping something down to its essential nature is what I felt like I was doing with my art," he says. "And sharing it in a way that felt joyful and playful."

But it wasn't always joyful and playful for him. Patel, who is now in his late 40s, grew up as a lonely kid helping his father manage a rather seedy motel off Route 66 highway in California. His father struggled to keep it afloat, even running a gas station to pay the mortgage.

"None of my friends would want to come over because it was really strange to tell people that my parents were a) Indian and b) were living in a motel and c) do you want to play with drug addicts and prostitutes?"

So his friends lived inside the television and comic books-G.I. Joe, X-Men and ninjas. He himself wanted to be a ninja. And he spent his time doodling, sketching, drawing, learning to keep himself company.