Born in 1937, in a small town in Gujarat, Sheikh is truly an artist of the times. His work is representative of a civilisational inheritance that we collectively share, and recognise as intrinsic to the nation. Although Sheikh’s commentary of the socio-political exigencies of his location are immediate, they have a universal context and relevance. They are archives of the human condition, chaos colliding with the desire for peace, which is almost always elusive.

Sheikh had returned temporarily to Baroda where I was to meet him over a weekend. Nothing much was said in recent days either in the newspapers or by friends about the “situation”.