‘I’ve said so much already, Ai. Tried so hard to convince him that this me is a different person from that one. Even I wonder how I could have been in love with that man. But I can’t deny that I was. We have to learn to live with that, don’t we?’

Ai says nothing. Sharada goes in to put Shantanu in his cot.

‘Even simple things become complex at times like these. Question—what do we do now? Pretend nothing has happened? Go to bed? Or do we stay up till he comes back? If he’s still upset he’ll say, “See, she’s gone to bed.” If he has calmed down and we’re awake he’ll say, “Why did you stay up?” Makes me feel guilty.’

Ai and Sharada sit still. Then Ai says, ‘I’ll go to bed. You stay up. Face whatever’s coming.’

Shekhar returns after an hour. Sharada stiffens when she hears his footsteps on the stairs. He lets himself in. He looks at her, opens his mouth to say something. Closes it. But then he opens his arms. She flings herself into them. Her eyes are streaming. His arms tighten around her.

‘I’m going to put myself through this test again. And I’m going to win. But not too soon.’

Sharada is gazing up at him from the comfort of his chest.

‘Your lower lip is very tempting.’

‘The whole of you is very tempting.’

25

Painting Walls

Girji, a Warli woman, has done a traditional painting on a wall in artist Haridas’s home in Prabhadevi. Janaki Patil writes about the painting in the context of Warli art.

Twenty-five years ago, Mumbai’s art world discovered Warli art. Till then these pictures, attractively etched in simple white lines on cow-dung-plastered walls in the dark interiors of Warli huts, had not been seen in the outside world. Warli paintings are auspicious signs marking rites of passage. They are invitations to the gods to attend events like weddings and births. They are never painted outside this ritualistic framework.

The painters of the pictures must be married women. In a typical painting, the deity’s image occupies a central square. The space outside the square is figured with natural phenomena like men and women, the sun and the moon, snakes, tigers and trees, all drawn in keeping with traditional conventions of representation that are held sacred.

It is not known who first brought this art out of its traditional space into the space of Mumbai’s art galleries. But when it happened, there was great excitement in certain sections of Mumbai’s art world. When Mumbai is excited, thoughts of commercial exploitation are never too far behind. How were Warli paintings, trapped in ritual and tradition, to be turned into commerce? Gallery walls did not lend themselves to being plastered with cow dung. Nor could wall paintings be sold.