Satish Gujral is been an extraordinary man. After losing his hearing at the age of eight he still managed to make a mark in the world of art. His career flourished as a painter, muralist, sculptor and even an architect (having no formal education in the field whatsoever). He has designed the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi among several others. After reading this information in the back covers of the book, it was tempting enough to make interesting reading. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t live upto the expectations.
Being an autobiography it begins with the author’s birth and his early years – which is all quite interesting. The accident during which he lost his ability to hear is indeed spine-chilling to some extent. There on it moves forward to the freedom struggle since both his parents were freedom fighters and staunch Gandhians. The most interesting chapter is in fact on the partition during which he and his family were in Lahore and how they managed to free Hindu women and get them back safe to India. He recalls one horrific story of a young girl which gives you a deep insight into what the partition had done to people’s psyche. The chapters on his life as a student at the Mayo School of Arts and later at the JJ School of Arts is quite flat – not just with the incidents but even in the style of writing and narration. The interest that is lost at this point just keeps going downwards. Especially with the book ending in a chapter on his kids where he praises all of them to no end – instead of depicting some interesting anecdotes (and need to mention here that there is no specific mention of the kids when they were young). The last chapter is totally dedicated to his brother I K Gujral – who was in 1997 the Prime Minister of India. He digs into politics and maligns Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi but the story is part of I K Gujral’s life not directly his. There is too much mention of politics which is plain boring.
The book is edited by Khushwant Singh who takes great pleasure in his forward to mention how Satish Gujral has mocked M F Husain. The author detests the fact that Husain chose his stardom instead of delving into his art. He regards Husain as an artist who could have achieved much more on a creative level but stuck to what the people wanted from him and what in turn got him fame and money. Sounds like a classic case of jealousy in the way it is written.
However the best part of the book are the pictures of his works that have been printed in the book. From his portrait of Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi to the Partition series to Paper collage series to burnt wood series to ceramic murals and others. Some of his personal pictures however look morphed. It is fascinating how a man with a disability like his did not give in to being a loser but fought his way through life with the loving support of his family.