I don’t know if there is a word for this feeling—how one feels after learning a lot of good things about someone who has passed away. Gandhian Haku Shah, the eminent Indian painter belonging to the Baroda School passed away on March 21, in Ahmedabad. His memorial meeting was held at the National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA) on April 13.

My Big Brother of photography Parthiv Shah, Haku’s son, looked grown up, suddenly. During the memorial, Parthiv recalled how his father never scolded him. To his younger self, he told us, his father’s workplace was an ajayabghar (museum). He would listen to his father narrate stories behind each one of the hundred objects that were part of the studio. Parthiv’s son, Anant, after losing his dadaji looked sad, yet he spoke like a true Gandhian that Haku had made him into. His younger sister was performing one of the songs that reminded her of her dadaji. She’s also imbibed Gandhian values like her brother.

Going for a memorial meeting is not a happy feeling. The cab driver, who dropped me off at NGMA, said, “Koi badi meeting lag rahi hai, bahut padhe-likhe log aaye hain (looks like a big meeting is taking place, a lot of educated peopel are here).” This calmed me.

Walking towards the hall, Haku Shah’s photo was smiling on a wall. It read: “Remembering Haku Shah (1934-2019).” As I entered the hall, I realised that the memorial had already begun. The hall was full, except a handful of seat seats towards the end. I stood in the corridor seeing Haku Shah being remembered by so many people. This, unfortunately, is a rare sight given how busy us Delhiites are, especially when it comes to remembering an artist and an author. Delhi, do you have no time even to mourn?

As I moved closer to the stage, I realised I must document this and take photos. Even as the evening progressed, the in-flow of attendees would not stop. The small NGMA hall might not have been expecting this large gathering. I could only appreciate people’s love Haku Shah. Vidya Shah, Delhi’s own singer and  Haku’s daughter-in-law, was accompanied by two musicians—one on the tabla and other on a harmonium. Later, she would come to the stage to pay her tributes. She told the gathering how Haku Shah was fond of Kumar Gandharva and how he’d have his bhajan playing in the background, while he’d work. She sang two Kabirs, Jhini jhini and Naiharwa humkaa ne bhave. When I thanked her for singing one of my favourites, she told me that this was Haku Shah’s favourite as well. The latter is a must listen, it is where Kabir tells us how all the while that we are busy in this materialistic world (naihar: bride’s maternal home), our soul longs for the “final destination” so it can become one with the god. Haku Shah’s must be one now.

Haku Shah was the first person from the art world whom a visibly emotional art historian Professor Parul Dave Mukherji had interviewed. She would tell us how Haku Shah not only gave her, a newcomer, the opportunity to interview but also invited her to his home. He made her meet his family and had food with her. Meanwhile, I was wondering, how impossibly rare it was.

Veteran designer Rajeev Sethi, the man behind the transformation of the Mumbai airport, could not stop praising Haku Shah. He spoke about Haku’s importance and how crucial he was to India’s rural art landscape. With Haku Shah’s book, Rural Craftsmen and Their Work, in his hand—which was co-authored by German art historian Eberhard Fischer—Sethi told the gathering, this is what Haku Shah did in 1970, five decades back.

It was at this memorial that I realised that it was Haku Shah who was the man behind NID, the celebrated National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Later, museologist Dr Jyotidra Jain confirmed this thought of mine in his tribute to Haku. Jain, art and cultural historian who had also been the Director of the National Crafts Museum, also shared his memories of Haku. Later, I also asked Jain about the notes that Haku Shah would make on bus tickets—something that he has mentioned in his tribute. “Minor details like how a potter told Haku Shah that he becomes one with the mud when he is making it ready, mixing it with his feet, how he would feel the mud and how he and the mud are one.” He added that the notes would include details like how the potter’s description matched with the Indian philosophical idea that we are all made of mud and will eventually become one with the mud.

Indian Administrative Service Sujata Prasad remembered Haku Shah’s three practises: art, design and craft. Artist Manu Parekh talked about his long association with the artist, and how Haku Shah spotted Ganesh Jogi and why it was because of Haku Shah that Indian craft could meet art.

More visitors were coming. More chairs were being arranged. NGMA DG sculptor Adwaita Gadanayak was also present at the memorial meeting, along with Director Ritu Sharma.

On my way back, I was thinking, now NGMA will know Haku Shah’s popularity and it will help them, as they are to host Haku Shah’s show soon.