Samir Mondal
There is one incident that I remember. Husain saab’s art instillation, Shwetambri was being showcased at the Jehangir Art Gallery for which the entire space was required. White was the dominant colour. He used all the walls and the partitions between the exhibiting areas to hang white fabric. Every corner had some hanging, the curls and the wings and drapery filled the rooms from one corner to the other, which was one element. For the second element, he crumpled newspaper and threw it on the floor. The entire floor was covered with crumpled newspaper, which gave the floor another texture. It became a walk-through instillation instead of a tiny subject. However, people did not understand the instillation too well. They began to joke about it in the presence of Husain saab. I was there too. I understood the concept and loved it. When people asked Husain saab to explain the instillation, he didn’t say much but because I was there, I started explaining it to the people. However, even though I was talking more about his instillation than Husain was, he was unaffected. In fact, when the photographers arrived, I told him to lie down on the newspaper-covered floor so that the photograph could use an angle that was interesting, with him featuring in it. He didn’t mind it, and obliged. He was shy; I had never seen him talk too much.

Pic/ Getty images