RAZA 2 LAST

Although, Raza had spent nearly 60 years in France, the Although, Raza had spent nearly 60 years in France, theIndian in him remained unaltered, for his paintings whichoften have a couplet or a phrase written on them, are like acall back to the miniature paintings like ‘Kavikapriya’ and’Ragamala’, from the past where the text was often inscribedinto the paintings and sculptures. "In a way, he revived the dying art of miniaturepaintings. He used texts from Upanishads and Vedas, fromwritings of Ghalib, Surdas, Tulsidas and even my poems in hispaintings," Vajpeyi said. It was perhaps for the same reason that Raza was oftencalled "a painter of the mother tongue" by his friends andcontemporaries. Vajpeyi says how he was "extremely loyal" to Hindi. "He spoke and wrote such good Hindi that great titans ofthe language would be put to shame. Having lived for so longin Paris, he spoke French very well, English was conspicuouslygood, but if he received a call from anybody from India, hewould talk to them in nothing but Hindi." The writer who had known Raza for over 40 years compareshim with river Narmada, which unlike other rivers has twobanks. In Raza, he said, "On one side was India, on the other wasFrance; on one hand was his greatness, on the other wasgenerosity and on one hand was faith, on the was diffidence."PTI TRS ANSANS