The artist who is in his mid 80s is ailing and in Ahmedabad but his works radiate his lifelong commitment to Gandhian ideals. The palette knife in a few quick strokes creates Gandhi in various contexts of the past and the present. There he is watching an urban sprawl in silence. Sharing a moment of harmony with Kasturba, picking up a handful of salt. Shah paints the shaggy shadows of three monkeys and Gandhi spinning his Charkha with deliberate economy. The technique is minimalistic but the resonance of the imagery is sweeping as it encompasses some of the most important chapters in Indian history. But there is also a sense of loss. And for a good reason. Like the scene in the recent hit PK, where a clueless innocent learns that Gandhi is relevant only on a currency note, this show brings to focus what Gandhian philosophy has become now. An afterthought. But as curator Renu George puts it,”Haku Shah is an exception. He has not just painted Gandhi. He has lived him.”
In a telephonic chat, Haku Shah’s son Parthiv elucidates the same point,” A few years ago, I bought a car for my parents and they still don’t use it. I hired a driver for them but he had nothing to do the whole day. Now, when I visit Ahmedabad, I drive it but that is how my father has always been. Monastic and simple by choice. He is not a worshipper of Gandhi. He has just aspired to live the ideal of minimalism.He has never aspired to material things.”
Does the scramble to go beyond need and towards greed bother the old Gandhian? Answers Parthiv, “Ofcourse, it does. Civilisation wants to control everything today. The forests, the rivers, nature, cities, and now smart cities but at some point we realise that we can’t control everything. There is a design at work here that we cannot fathom. ” He informs that his father had also done a series on Sufi ideology and created works informed by the Nirguna and Bhakti philosophy to emphasise the need to simplify human existence. “What my father believes is that we can consume and consume some more but in the end, the body will absorb only what it can and throw the rest out. Somehow, life balances out excesses. People go to retreats today but then go back to their old lives. We need to make simplicity a part of us.”
What Haku Shah’s art offers, says his son, is a chance to reflect. He says, “Today, we have no time to stop and think. We are all caught in a rut. We get one thing and want another and everything offers us a temporary joy.” Renu George adds, “The biggest thing to draw from Haku Shah’s work is a simple thought. That contentment is the highest wisdom, the most complete joy and once you know it, you will never let it go. Like he hasn’t.” Padma Shri winner Shah has also worked as a cultural anthropologist and written on folk and tribal art and culture to bring focus back to simplicity. Informs Parthiv, “He has also taught at a Gandhian Ashram in south Gujarat for several years and established a tribal museum at Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad. He has always lived a self-contained life. To him why we are here is a more relevant question than what to buy next.”
The real dilemma today is how to reconcile what Gandhi stood for to a post industrial India. Says Parthiv,”When we talk about development, are we talking about human development or only infrastructure? Just being still with nature, watching a little flower can bring so much peace and this kind of happiness is not just an esoteric idea or a poetic thought. If it was, we would be happy with our air-conditioners and not go running to Coonoor or Goa on weekends. The problem is we are not seeking the simple in our life but the comfortable and how do you define comfort? How much comfort is too much?”
Haku Shah however knows that in life as in art, enough is a feast. You can catch glimpses of his life and work at NGMA till January 21.
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