Delhiwale: Portrait of a painter

Manoj is painting Delhi's Lal Qila on a roadside wall, part of a project to showcase UNESCO world heritage sites. He aims to finish in a few days.

Its construction began in May 1639, it was completed almost a decade later in April 1648– Delhi’s Lal Qila, the seat of the Mughals.

Manoj has been commissioned by an art academy to paint the entire stretch of the outer wall of an underpass near Bharat Mandapam in Pragati Maidan with Delhi’s Unesco world heritage monuments. (HT Photo)

This Lal Qila, however, is in New Delhi and will be complete in just two days. Manoj is giving finishing touches to his monument.

“I am,” he says matter-of-factly, responding to a query if he is an artist. Attired for the intensely humid afternoon in workday shorts and a T-shirt, the Faridabad dweller’s current studio happens to be a roadside pave near Bharat Mandapam in Pragati Maidan. The canvas is an outer wall of a busy underpass, the road underneath echoing with the steady hum of traffic.

Manoj has been commissioned by an art academy to paint the entire stretch of the wall with Delhi’s Unesco world heritage monuments. “Yesterday I completed Humayun’s Tomb.” He waves his brush-holding hand towards the adjacent painting. (The original Humayun’s Tomb was completed over a period of eight years). Working on the site for two days, Manoj hopes to complete the current job in a few days. “I started the Lal Qila last evening.”

Manoj’s Lal Qila shows the Red Fort’s most recognisable aspect: the outer ramparts with Lahori Gate at the centre, where the Prime Minister delivers the annual Independence Day speech. The detailing includes the national flag, too. “I have to make two more world heritages… Delhi has four… Qutub Minar bhi hai, Jantar Mantar bhi hai.”

Lal Qila’s interiors were severely damaged during the uprising of 1857, but it is still left with many exquisitely beautiful structures within. Naturally, they cannot be represented in this drawing, which focuses on the façade of the palace-fort.

Meanwhile, the afternoon is becoming cloudier. It might rain any moment. Manoj continues to work. He had arrived at 12 noon and will work until seven in the evening.

Responding to a query, he remarks that he makes his living through his art. “My most recent exhibition was held in Lalit Kala.”

Minutes pass. Manoj starts to apply his brush on the sky above his Lal Qila. The depiction is accurate only upto a point. This is smoggy Delhi after all, the sky is never this blue.