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I was happy that I asked Carlos to join us for lunch when we reached the Del Oso* … because as I later realized, we could never have such a beautiful interaction with him otherwise.

With Juan Carlos

Sometimes it is important to realize that a chance that we have at a moment, might never ever come back!

In Bombay where I stay, there is a tree outside my window - its tall intricate branches shine when the western light falls on them & amidst its dark leaves they look like some bony sculpture - a structure of fragile bones trying to grasp the air.

The Tree with its bony structure

I know I must paint it someday - before the next monsoon when the new leaves cover those bones. Or before the next pruning when the branches are cut. Or even before that if I have to shift my residence.

The chance I have now, may not remain forever. It could last a day, a week, a season or maybe a couple of years. But not forever.

Few years ago, when Covid hit the world and travel of any kind was ruled out, many of us took refuge in the familiarity of our neighborhood, our fragile ties with people little or not known were revitalized, & we set up some routine for ourselves as if to find sanity in a world going crazy.

For me, whose art has always been largely travel-inspired, soon ran dry of subjects to paint. Except that it presented me with a new opportunity – a chance to explore my immediate surroundings! The tree-lined streets of my colony, the unkempt wooded areas & of course, our centre of life during the Covid times – the playground, all became my subjects!

Another important event happened at the same time. Working on a commission from The Watercolor Artist Magazine, I was closely studying the life & works of the great Indian Artist – the first modernist as per many, the founder of the Bengal School of Art & an early exponent of watercolor, Abanindranath Tagore. Realism in art – principally a gift of the European culture, was not so much of an inspiration for him. Instead, I learnt from his works how imagination can be used to interpret observations made – some even ages ago. Where instant inputs like in en plein air or painting from a model, is not required. You can ruminate on your earlier memories and create completely new images out of it.

Armed with this knowledge I set about exploring my immediate neighborhood & soon found a muse in the central playground. I did not waste a single day after that till I completed a series on it.

Another from the series "Playground"

Which today I find especially valuable, as that playground is not accessible to us anymore.

But I regret not painting the Far Pavilion at the other end of the ground!

The chance of yesterday is gone today. As I stand beside the window staring at the tree, its bony fingers seem to point at me & whisper that in my ear.

“Make hay while the sun shines” …

Many experts believe the phrase “Make Hay While the Sun Shines” came from medieval English farmers who had to take advantage of the hot, dry, sunny weather to cut and gather hay since otherwise it could be ruined easily in rain. Thus, it was just a matter of common sense to them. But since then, the phrase has come to refer to taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves before the moment is lost. Same as the Latin phrase carpe diem, which is usually translated as “seize the day."

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. [Book of Proverbs, The Bible]

And strange as it may seem, the efforts put in to make good an opportunity, usually have a way of paying back, as I realized soon after I completed that series on the “playground”.

I never fell short of subjects to paint after that.

Let me narrate one more anecdote to illustrate this. In 2012, when my old man was diagnosed with cancer, I was forced to revive my painting – a decision I was procrastinating for the past 2 years.

It offered me some solace & internal peace during that challenging time. But the day the old man picked up one of my paintings to frame & hang it in his room, I really got a payback of my early efforts.

Till his last day, he used to look at it & smile – making me happy that I started painting sooner than later.

And I’ll come back to the story I started with, to finish this blog as the last example of how we should never let go of our chances to “make hay as the sun shines”.

Antoni Gaudi's El Capricho, Comillas

That day, after the meal and conversation with Carlos, we were to visit the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana & then the hilly town of Portes before heading back to our station that night, the quaint Santillana del Mar. But after Portes, Carlos threw a surprise at us. Saying that it was a gift from his side, he drove down the winding road that took us all the way to the beautiful San Vicente Beach, and then climbing the twisty lanes all the way up to the quirky Comillas. It was a detour that completely made our day – the true icing on a delicious cake.

Throughout the sun shone alright and boy, did we make enough hay that day!

*[This June when we were on a day trip to the beautiful Picos de Europa in Carlos’s car, we had to stop for lunch at the Hotel Del Oso at Arenos in the Camaleno municipality of Cantabria, northern Spain.]