half a story

Since 2002, Mr. Sen has been an art teacher at the state’s public school. Everyone knows he is overqualified for the job.. he was one of the Rising Brushes when in college. After graduating at the top of the 1997 class, his first job was a set designer in the Bollywood industry! (he was also good friends with SRK, as one rumor goes) His paintings adorn the homes of celebrities, politicians, and even the great standing palaces of Gujarat.

So unequivocally, every freshman student asks him, instead of a promising career in Mumbai or Gujarat, why would he move back to a small town, where there is no appreciation of art? Why had he not taken up the persistent offers of prestigious galleries, and instead worked at a mediocre wage in a town with no name?

Mr. Sen paints stories as good as his portraits, so his answer had a new feature every year. Once it was a mystery power in his father’s home, or he was in trouble with some gangsters. Someone heard a tale of god visiting his dreams, another story says a witch tricked him into it. But after twenty years, the case has been solved!