Suddenly Manjit Bawa

And colors fell silent today
A sun struck with
Anecdotes and animals
Screamed somewhere
Narrow yellows merged in
Thick orb of orange
Streets were blown
In a dupatta of white
A smile tinged in ravishing
Blue suddenly looked back
I had seen them all at Garhi
In the seventies
The eye had then staged
Plays of a turntable
Time
Twice even thrice
In a single day
Violence was the afternoon
Manjit drew in rude
Delhi summers
Riding words of a chiasma
Violence is the afternoon
We saw him in flames
Of years and layers
Untold by a dark
Violence he left
Is you and me
And a coherence of
Irrefutable days
He chose to give
Away.


Manjit Bawa passed away today at his home in Delhi. He had been in a coma for three years. One of the first painters to break out of the dominant grays and browns of the western art and opt for more Indian colours like red and violet, the maestro was influenced by nature, Sufi mysticism and Indian mythology. Renowned Poet Pritish Nandy who had given shows of his poetry and art with him was one of his closest friends.
29 December 2008

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra