Manjit Bawa

Dr. Seema Bawa

Manjit Bawa was a painter of great repute with a well-founded conviction in his own creative self and that is the reason that he excelled at other creative pursuits that brought him accolades and fame. He was indeed an excellent cook, who had great patience in the kitchen, layering his dishes the way he layered his paintings. His rendering of Sufi songs was novel and always fresh, perhaps he forgot the exact order of phrases or deliberately mixed up the compositions, so one did not know what his Mitti de Bawaieyan was going to sound like each time he sang it. Just as each time he painted cows and goats there was something fresh and new about the composition, the colour scheme and the manifestation of the spirit of the painting. After almost five years since his death in Dec 2009, it has become possible to think of writing about my uncle (my father’s younger brother) in, if not a dispassionate manner, but at least in a reasonably rational manner not tainted by a overwhelming sense of loss and grief.