Contributed By: Dr. Raghunath Boradkar
Shri. P.N. Bharadwaj appears to be a Globe trotter. He has traveled far
and wide. He had been to Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand. He
has traveled all over India.
He is an artist and likes to sketch famous people and places. This hobby of his
has given him immense joy. He wonders why he is so fond of sketching people and
feels that every face is different and shows different expressions also the way
people stand, sit is different and poses a challenge. He feels that when one
sees the sketches one has done, one can re-live the experience. Here he
narrates one of his memorable and enjoyable experience in Himachal Pradesh when
he visited Palanpur where a famous artist Shri Shobha Singh lived. So here it
is.
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We were touring Himachal Pradesh then and had stopped at Palanpur. It
was a beautiful place and staying in the tourist centre there itself was an
enchanting experience. Here we learnt that the world famous painter Shirt
Shobha Singh lives nearby in a suburban area called Andreta and has an art gallery there. We were so
excited that we straight away got in to a taxi and reached Andreta. On way it
seemed all quiet and green and fresh air which was very refreshing. Shri Shobha
Singh’s bungalow looked like a painting. It was all green. The art gallery was
in a hall in his bungalow. When he knew that we had come from so far to see his
art gallery he was pleased and his daughter took us around and showed
everything. Shri Shobha Singh had create paintings of Sikh Dharma-Gurus on the
lines of Raja Ravi Varma. These paintings are very famous and are seen on the
calendars. The clay models of his paintings are used as wall hangings and
possibly many may have seen them.
After seeing the art gallery we felt like seeing Shri Shobha Singh. He
was sitting in his garden and was warming himself in the sun. He had a shawl
wrapped around him and was relaxing. He
was over eighty years in age and had a solid Punjabi body with long silvery
white hair and a beard rolling over his chest. I greeted him and talked a
little about his work. Seeing his very impressive figure I felt like sketching
him. He was so famous that I hesitatingly asked him if I could sketch him.
Surprisingly he agreed and asked his daughter to give me a good paper and
pencil and asked me what sort of pose I wanted. I was a little scared and I
suggested him to remain in his sitting position.. I hurriedly completed the
sketch and showed it to him. He looked at it carefully and then said ‘this is a
very nice sketch and you did it so quickly’. He went on looking at it for
sometime and then smiled. And then he looked at me and I could see the
admiration in his eyes. The childlike smile on his face after seeing it was the
greatest reward for me. I valued it more than any other reward.
Then he said ‘Give me your address. I will see you when I come to Bombay’. He then wrote on
the sketch’ Very well done’ and signed it and gave it back to me. He asked his
daughter to show us his studio and I was shown the studio. His daughter
remarked that he had never shown the studio to anybody. You are the first to
see it. I can not put in words how happy and fulfilled I felt. There was a half
done painting on the easel and two completed paintings and also innumerable
number of brushes and colour tubes.
To me this was the moment of greatest joy in my life and the opportunity
to meet this world famous artist, getting a chance to sketch him. And seeing
the smile on his face is the greatest reward.
P.N.Bharadwaj
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