"...It was so important that she should understand something of what his life in this country had been; that she should grasp the nature of the loneliness that he wanted her to nullify. And it was so devilishly difficult to explain. It is devilish to suffer from a pain that is all but nameless. Blessed are they who are stricken only with classifiable diseases! Blessed are the poor, the sick, the crossed in love, for at least other people know what is the matter with them and will listen to their belly-achings with sympathy. But who that has not suffered it
understands the pain of exile?"
Pico Iyer:
"Now mostly living in New York, (Orhan) Pamuk is perhaps more prey than ever to an exile's sadness, as he finds himself removed from his youth not just by time but space. In response, he has taken to memorializing every last linden tree and halwa seller of his hometown, and to constructing a literal, physical museum of memories that he is planning to take around the world as an exhibition."
U.R. Ananthamurthy:
Rama had been exiled to the forest and Sita was insisting that she would accompany him. Rama tried to tell her that life in a forest would be hard. In the course of the argument, when Rama came up with a strong argument, Sita replied: “In every Ramayana I know, Sita accompanies Rama to the forest. How can you then say no to me?” This is a fascinating example of the intertextuality that unites India.
They say M F Husain was a great artist.
Maybe he was but my mind is clouded with his depiction of Hindu deities. Read related posts here and here. And, more importantly, his pictures don't move me.
But I liked his celebration of A R Rahman's winning of Academy Award. See it here.
I always kind of understood his pain because I too feel exiled living away from Miraj, after our family left it around 1986. Since then I have not been able to call any place I have lived- "My place" (माझे गाव).
Walter de la Mare:
No, No, Why further should we roam
Since every road man Journeys by,
Ends on a hillside far from Home
Under an alien sky
I didn't want to say anything on his passing but was moved by Sudhir Tailang's cartoon-tribute to him. Mr. Tailang has drawn a masterpiece, worthy of the late artist.
Artist: Sudhir Tailang, courtesy: The Asian Age, June 10 2011
This picture reminded me of another cartoon by creators of Chintoo after passing of P L Deshpande (पु ल देशपांडे): Chintoo (चिंटू ) standing at window is looking at a rather hurriedly departing figure of Pu La and a few of Pu La's books are lying near him.
If I had held back a tear or two, that picture gave me an excuse.
Until now there are no tears in my eyes after seeing Mr. Tailang's picture but I feel sad that Mr. Husain had to live and die in exile.
Has he taken a visual museum of memories of India wherever he has gone?