Remembering Mario Miranda ( 2.3.2016)
In grade V, we had a lesson titled "what and Who". I do not remember the lesson, but I can not forget the illustration of What and who. It was distinct. What and who had a peculiar appearance; both had that startled-stupid expression intelligent people have when they are faced with the task of figuring out our weird world. It was a sturdy drawing. I identified with What and who. In grade VII, a classmate of mine would render his drawing in a systematic cross-hatching. It was, I later understood, an efficient technique in that quite large areas could be filled in in much less time. It looked charming, too. Over the last four decades I have seen artists employing this sort of hatching, but the man who did it with a certain luxuriousness, who arguably was its inventor, was Mario João Carlos do Rosario de Brito Miranda! Amcho Mario bab! Today is his 90th birth anniversary. Some watercolours of Mario Miranda have such felicity in the use of washes in illustration. Mario raised the bar several notches, and, in my opinion, among the few men who CAN draw intelligently, Mario Miranda is the foremost. Such was his accuracy at capturing the essence of things! His illustrations in Manohar Malgaonlkar's book on Goa are masterpieces of the art of illustration. I had not met Mario until the year 2010-11. Met him finally in a group show. That particular year (it was a yearly show) the gallery had dedicated it to him, if I'm not mistaken. He was there at the vernissage, expectedly flocked by many of his admirers. He was frail, but cheerful. He sat in a chair placed for him in the middle of the gallery because he had difficulty walking. I wanted to shake his hand, that precious hand of his which had drawn the world so astutely! After much hesitation I went up to him and held his hand and I kissed it. I said to him, "Sir, this is one hand worth kissing!" He looked at me for a moment. A faint smile came to his face and he said to me, "I think we have met." I could not contradict Mario. I did not want to contradict him. Although I was sure that we had not met prior to that moment, I said to him, "You must be right, sir." It was an awkward thing to say, considering his stature, but I did not know the proper thing to say. For him to say and 'remember' a face in the crowd was overwhelming. Late Dr.Rauf Ali, a relative of Mario's wife Habiba, had told me that Mario used to come to Auroville quietly. "Next time when he comes, I will let you know", Rauf had promised. That day, alas! will never come. Both Mario and Rauf, have passed away. Today is his 90 th birth anniversary. Google has honoured Mario in today's doodle.
