After many years a conversation abruptly reminded me of an event that took place while I was in college. I graduated with a degree in Life Sciences in the year 2007. We studied under three departments, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology from a very old institution located in North Bangalore. It was the summer of 2007 and we were preparing for our farewell. Farewells back then were intimate half day affairs that ended with lunch. It was a class of thirty odd students with a few teachers who had journeyed with us through the three years of our graduation. The event was going to be held at our Zoology lab. Some teachers gave speeches, some students shared their feelings, a cake and a simple lunch. A few days before this a group of us were on a mission to find something interesting to give to each of our departments as a token of gratitude.

Some of us during our free time, enjoyed walking around the area of Malleshwaram where our college was located. It is an old beautiful locality of Bangalore with a very interesting market area. On Sampige road there used to be an old lodge that had been converted to a bookstore. We had passed by this shop many times on our walks. There were these three paintings on the wall of this book shop that caught our attention everytime we walked by. During our hunt for the gift for our respective departments, we were reminded of these paintings. We did not know if they were a part of the decor or were displayed there for them to be sold. We decided to ask the shopkeeper about it and he had a story to share with us. 

A long time ago when that place was still a lodge, there was an artist who stayed there. He stayed there for a reasonably long duration and when he left the place he did not have the money to pay the bills. He instead decided to settle his dues by giving three of his paintings. Since then the paintings were hanging on the walls of the lodge that later got converted to a bookshop. A friend of mine and I convinced them to sell the paintings to us as we felt it was an ideal gift for our departments. They did not seem to have much of a sentiment towards these paintings and they were kind enough to give these three paintings to us for an amount that did not exceed two thousand Indian Rupees if I remember correctly. We all felt good about it and were excited to have these put up on the walls of our departments and for them to remain there long after we have moved out of our college. 

It is the year 2025 and I wonder if those paintings still hang there. While this trip down the memory lane reminded me of the simple days where the mind was full of excitement about the life that followed our graduation, I also think about the strange order in which life plays out. I wonder where the creator of these paintings is or was from, and what his story is. I think about the way he would have felt if he came to know that his work of art was bought by some graduate students for a bargain and was passed on to be displayed in science labs. I want to know if there were students who looked up and observed these paintings during their lab sessions. How would these paintings look to the eyes of a person who is viewing it without any context. 

I guess it is impossible to know the long term consequences of the work we do and the lives we live. The painter will never know the joy he gave us by helping us offer a piece of local history as a gesture of gratitude to our teachers. Our experience of life today both good and bad, is a result of the work of people and nature that existed from the beginning of time. The work we do today and the life choices we make today will have an influence on lives of the future. I am tempted to take this article towards a conclusion that has a moral which schools people to be responsible about their actions today and to be considerate about the lives that follow ours but It feels very uncomfortable to do that. I don’t really know what this strange sequence of events is trying to tell me. However, I want to put it out there that a particular combination of our interest in walks through Malleshwaram, the work and life circumstances of the painter, the generosity or the lack of sentiment of the owner of the bookstore created a very beautiful moment on the farewell day at our Zoology lab back in 2007. The memory is still being cherished now in 2025. 

A very happy 2025 to you if you have reached this point of the article. 

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