Whisker tales: At 90, art historian BN Goswamy lets the cat out of the bag
An author of 26 acclaimed books on art, BN Goswamy, professor Emeritus of Art History at the Panjab University had never thought that his 27th book would be on the cat, a creature he was not particularly fond of.
Walk into the living room of BN Goswamy, professor Emeritus of Art History at the Panjab University (PU), and a world-renowned authority on Indian painting, and you find him sitting with a shawl wrapped around him and a surprise awaiting on the table in front of him. Placed on the table is a book in beige cover, showing off a delightful white cat in robes, sitting cross-legged in the posture of meditation with eyes closed. The playful sketch by Polish artist Jana Kulmatycka takes away from the meeting the shadows of loss and discomfiture of waning years. What follows is a playful catwalk of life lived well through the metaphor of the feline creature.
Born in 1933 at Sargodha in undivided Punjab, Goswamy had much of his education in Hoshiarpur where his father was posted as a judge. He moved to Chandigarh as professor of history once PU moved here.
The tall, handsome, debonair and brilliant professor was a role model for his students, with a reputation of preferring academics to civil services that he had qualified for. Soon he was to move from history to history of Indian art in which he had a brilliant career, home and abroad, with his student late Karuna, who passed away during Covid times, for a life partner involved in the same discipline.
An author of 26 acclaimed books on art, he had never thought that his 27th book would be on the cat, a creature he was not particularly fond of. In the conversation, looking before and after, Goswamy said, “I am not a cat lover, but my son Apu as a schoolboy had adopted a stray cat, nurtured her and gave her the name of Katja. When he returned from school, he would first talk to her.”
The book is dedicated to his son Apu, who sadly succumbed to cancer a few months ago and his Persian cat MAX, whom he would describe as ‘a gentle poem on four feet’.
Goswamy also shared that he found it difficult to visit his dear friend Ursula Dohrn in Zurich because she had a large family of cats lounging all over the house. When he shared with her that he did not quite like cats. She shot back saying that all art historians love cats and he was the only exception.
Goswamy shared, “Some two years ago, the cat started taking shape in my imagination and the idea of the book was formed as I followed the rule of art writing by never losing sight of the object of study.”
The result is cat stories from the Jataka Tales, Panchtantra, Anwar-i-Suhayli and others, selection of poetry across Indian languages, and proverbs, including the famous one from Hindi-Urdu “Hamari Billi, Hameen Se Miyaun” (My cat and she dares to mew back at me!). Besides the words, there is a delightful collection of paintings from Indian Art with the cat as the star in different moods. The book published by Aleph will be released at the Government Museum and Art Gallery on October 26 at 5.30 pm and the title of the event is ‘Billi! O’ Bilii!’ in the typical Punjabi way.
Walking out of Goswamy’s home after the tete-a-tete with him, one cannot but be overcome with the spirit of the art historian who has done the city proud and his courage, resilience and unwavering commitment to his scholarship in even immortalising the cat he was never too fond of.