Mxolisi Nyezwa

For days I looked for my poems
for days I looked for my poems in the streets,
and since I could not find them,
light fell like a flower on the lonely square.
the light sounded the drum of a thud.
beauty came groveling forward
begging,
and children went for days
without food.

Mxolisi Nyezwa

Pastel Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Jiwaji Club, Gwalior

Jiwaji Club, Gwalior is situated close to the Palace and the Medical College. The area is called as Katora Tal I believe it should be one of the numerous mansions and palaces gifted to the community by the royal family of Gwalior. I was not a member of the club but I did happen to visit as a guest a number of times. This club reminds me of the Saturday Club in Kolkata and the Planters Club in Darjeeling, all having the same colonial architecture.

According to the club web site, it was named as the Elgin Club and was established by the former British Regent in 1898. The Late Jiwaji Rao Scindia gave the club to the people of Gwalior in 1936. Since then it has been known as Jiwaji Club.

Watercolor and Ink Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Shinde Ki Chawni, Gwalior

shinde ki chaawni
buffalos sleep opposite haridwar’s sweet shop
oblivious of people, traffic....
in a summer when tar looks different
and rivers of people slackened
dreams
staged
wet
to beating khus songs
somewhere there
in that river unheard of
we had looked up
to a sky often
where we lost our
once sudden breath
in a summer
on another night
when a skin wrapped the floor
eventually
we found resilience
in our tongues
waking to another
dawn
or did we ever
wake up.


Poem and Watercolor on a polished paper by Amitabh Mitra

Art and poem inspired from the music of Gustavo Santaolalla in the movie Dhobi Ghat

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

Vijay Singh Mohite's Palace, Gwalior

Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

One day suddenly

one day suddenly
we meet again
on another road
in an evening rain
pelting thoughts
there would be nothing
just like before
neither an umbrella
nor any people around
the shops too would be closed
the rain on our heads and feet
the smell of wet earth in our hearts
and i think of you again
our promises
our lost hurts
our marriage graffiti on another wall
a rain turns blue
and the sky ashen
one day
just on that day
nobody can see tears in this rain
the road still remains the same
only there are no more people
one day
in an evening rain
the smell of wet earth in our hearts...
did u marry somebody
did we ever grow older
did we turn to our strangerselves
again.

one day...

Inspired from a song of Anjan Dutta, Ekdin Brishti

Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Vijay Singh Mohite

Vijay Singh Mohite Sahab was one of the finest artist India ever had. A product of JJ School of Art, Bombay, he was one royal who indulged in true creativity and the one that Gwalior remains proud of. His huge canvases adorn many a collection all over the world. He was also an ornithologist. Vijay Singh Sahab was a wild life photographer.
This view is from the first floor of his palace overlooking the fort. I might not have done justice to the view in watercolors but that was the way it nearly looked.
This is reminiscent of memories that remain, ever fresh and blooming