Painting around the Prez

Painting around the Prez
Among the many things Jogen Chowdhury came back with, after his two-week Rashtrapati Bhavan residency, was extra weight. Memories and art from his stay.

The call from Pranabda’s office (President Pranab Mukherjee) in July, inviting me to be the first artist in residence at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, signified a homecoming of sorts. Between 1972 and 1987, I had worked there as Art Keeper; the position is now referred to as Art Director. The first time you step foot in the Bhavan, the grandeur is overwhelming. My job involved not only caring for the artworks in the President’s collection, but also curating them so that they were representative of the time, culture and space.

None of the Presidents who served while I was Art Keeper - VV Giri, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy or Giani Zail Singh - were particularly interested in art. But Begum Abida Ahmed, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s wife, was both, an artist and patron. I often worked in consultation with her and Ashok Mitra, Secretary to the President and a connoisseur of European and Bengali art. Our first decision was to move the portraits of British governors and viceroys, along with French artwork, from the corridors to a special museum set up in the Marble Hall in the basement.

I didn’t paint much back then at the Bhavan, but a portrait of VV Giri back in the 1970s, I remember. It still stands in the President’s gallery. When I came across it during the residency, I recalled the time he’d let me into his room for half an hour each morning to sketch. It took a few days, and on the final day, just as I was winding up, I saw an orderly walk into the room with a silver plate. I thought it held some precious artefact but I was surprised and amused to see that on it were Mr Giri’s dentures.

Another leader I remember fondly was Mrs Indira Gandhi. She knew me as ‘Chowdhury’. Mrs Gandhi took special interest in the upkeep of the Bhavan, especially when VVIPs - including the then President of the Soviet Union or the Shah of Iran - were visiting. She was perpetually busy, but dropped in for personal inspection, like the time Queen Elizabeth was visiting India.

I remember her standing in the corridor one day, watching me work. Both my hands were full with vases. On seeing this, she turned to her coterie standing idle, and curtly said, ‘Chowdhury has only two hands’. Quickly, she grabbed one of the vases, and walked ahead with me carrying another, before an embarrassed staffer picked up another.

When I returned to the building 27 years later in the first week of August, I found myself distracted. We artists, you see, are comfortable in our own studios. Besides, the constant service was, quite literally, too much to digest. The food at the Bhavan is rich in taste and texture and comes from the main kitchen. They’d always serve me in excess. Breakfast meant you had a choice of omelettes, idli, upma, wada, besides the regular bread and butter. Since I am a heavy meat eater, lunch and dinner always included a non-vegetarian dish together with lentils, a variety of veggies, and the mandatory pie or pudding. I think I ate a bit too much. In fact, when I returned home, my wife said I had put on weight.

I was put up at one of the many sprawling bungalows within the estate, and it was in one of the rooms that I made a makeshift studio. I stacked a corner with inks, pastels, acrylics, paper, canvas and brushes.

I could paint what I wished, when I wanted. So, most of the works that you see (points to a bunch of drawings on the table), are spontaneous ink sketches of flowers and expressive figures. I did create a portrait of Pranabda and presented it to him at the end of the stay. Although he was too busy to sit in for the portrait, he did visit me when he could. Through my previous association with him, I know he is a true appreciator of the arts and literature. In fact, he must read every night before he dozes off to sleep. That’s been his routine of many years. Being invited, on his behest, was indeed an honour. - As told to Reema Gehi