Kitta, a Marathi word, means an exemplar or a model, a person, a practice, or a fashion to be imitated. Calligraphy artist Achyut Palav has just published a guidebook (named Kitta) to appreciate the beauty and harmony in the Devanagari script. For someone who grew up reading the ornate handwritten Marathi billboards and blackboards in yesteryear Girgaum, Palav feels strongly in favour of preserving the art of handwriting. He feels the old-fashioned stencil — the rigorous sessions of alphabet practice — cannot be allowed to die in the age of automation and computer graphics. Kitta (and the English alphabet manual he brought out a while ago) is Palav’s way of reaching out to students (and their parents) that should not lose out on the aesthetics of handwriting.

Calligraphy artist Achyut Palav at work