Arty affair of the suitable boy

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We all are aware of this short man’s big world of words, but author Vikram Seth’s love for art is largely unknown. However, those who are close to the suitable boy inform that Seth had shown keen interest in art during his Doon days, the credit for which goes to his art teacher, Rathin Mitra. Seth has also sculpted in bronze, stone, clay, plaster and wood.

“Vikram has been painting since his schooldays. Mr Mitra was a great inspiration for him. When writing happened he stopped painting but now he has been doing all sorts of things — landscapes, trees, calligraphy,” says Leila Seth, Vikram’s mother.
Vikram loves calligraphy and his linguistic abilities are wonderful, claims good friend Sam Miller. Seth, who recently showcased a series of three artworks — in three different colours, three different languages and three different rasas — that he has created in association with the iconic Absolut vodka bottle, at Cheri, says, “I have been devoting more time to art than writing. It is nice to be working with this iconic shape as so many famous artists have worked with it before. I was expected to do only one painting around it but I liked the idea so much that I decided to do three instead.”
Seth’s relationship with Chinese calligraphy is almost 15 years old. Arabic came in later. Of the three paintings, the one in bright orange is closest to his heart. It sees Jiu, the Chinese character for wine, encapsulating the crimson bottle. The green one has the words, Pyasa Pyala, inscribed in Devnagiri, from Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s classic poem Madhushala. And the last one in blue and gold exhibits Na Main Na Mai in Nastaleeq script.
Talking to Vikram Seth is a Christopher-Nolanish-floating-in-a-labyrinth kind of experience. The words don’t flow in linear progression. Seth always has so much to talk about and sometimes he himself is lost in a dream world. That is why he loves to take quick pauses in a conversation before he starts afresh. Similarly when he writes, he likes to be distracted by art or music.
“I like distractions. You know when you have a forest around you, you can’t just see a tree or even the bird. You got to see the eye of the bird because anything we have learnt from the huge book of the Mahabharata is this tiny bit about looking at the eye. You have to focus otherwise all is lost. Given all that, I don’t mind being distracted. In fact I like it. I should be focusing on the Suitable Girl, but here I am talking about art,” reveals Seth.