Delhi Times Tuesday February 9, 1999 Display of unusual paintings Even after returning from Japan after a three-and-a-half-year stint with her husband who was a minister in the embassy of India, Madhu Jain's love for the place continues. During her stay, she learnt and researched the technique of Nihonga, the Japanese style of painting. "It's an art handed down from one generation to the next, there are no books available on it," she says. Madhu was drawn to it, painting on hand-made paper using rock pigments with 1,500 gradations.   "This phenomenon is ages old in our country, and it is an eco-friendly medium because it is rock pigments," she says. She realises that in order to learn more about the contemporary art world, she had to communicate and with that, began her extensive courses in the Japanese language.   From February 9-15, she will be showcasing her Nihonga paintings on Rajasthan and her bonsai at her forthcoming exhibition at the Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala academy. And this is not her first. She has exhibited in India and Japan and her paintings have been selected for three consecutive years by the Japanese art body. Three of her paintings were exhibited by the Japanese as part of the 50 years of Indian Independence.