Towards the end of this interview with Shayari de Silva, she shares an anecdote about celebrated Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa’s interaction with Ahmedabad’s illustrious Sarabhai family. “The project was not built since Bawa was failing in health. We have [in our records] some correspondence, a few sketches, and a stack of photographs sent by the Sarabhais to entice Bawa to visit the site.” This detail about site visits is the underlining thought behind the title of the first-ever international retrospective of his work since 2004. Geoffrey Bawa: It is Essential to be There, currently on show at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi, has been put together by de Silva, curator of the Geoffrey Bawa Art and Archival Collections.

Inspired by a statement made by Bawa (1919-2003) about the importance of an architect being on site, the title, she says corroborates the comments of colleagues and friends interviewed for Oral Histories, a section in the exhibition. “They described that his response to a new project would be to spend time on the site and envision what would come…we also see it in the archives, where Bawa frequently writes to clients, ‘My mind works only when I see the site…’”