Art Ichol Journal

The Furnace at Uchhehra
it made better sense to leave the photography to them.
And what amazing photographs they took! I cannot forget
that afternoon in Bandhavgarh, when Shalini and I were
dealing with our disappointment of not sighting a tiger;
we overheard the photographer duo planning to head
out to a water-lily pond they had discovered yesterday.
Shalini, who was by now completely in awe of her newfound
gurus, followed suit while I decided to freshen up
and did some ink-drawings instead. But soon, the itch to
use the camera was getting to me so I went looking for
them. I found Shalini and Bandeep waist-deep in a dirty,
muddy pond getting high on the water lilies. It was a sight
to be seen. Much as I would have liked to have joined
them inside the pond, I refrained on account of my cold,
hoping the ‘pros’ would share their loot.
Sudeep had to leave early so didn’t join us in Bandhavgarh,
but his poetry and an incident with the local pandit,
ensured he wasn’t forgotten. Sudeep’s anthology of poetry
- ‘Fractals’ was yet to be released, but on our second
evening in Maihar, he read us some poems from this.
A judge and his colleague from the neighbouring town
Katni, acquaintances of the Beri’s, joined us that evening.
In order to make their guests feel comfortable, Ambica
requested I accompany Sudeep by reading a poem I had
written in Hindi, inspired by the Besharam ke phool that
grew ‘shamelessly’ on every roadside in Madhya Pradesh.
Everything was civilized till Mr. ‘Shaen’ [Sudeep insisted
on the Bengali pronunciation] decided that, in keeping eping
with the erotic sculptures viewed at Khajuraho a day
earlier; it would be befitting to end the poetry-reading
with some erotic verse.
photo credit: shalini jaikaria