Anil Karanjai was a most unusual Indian artist. His technique in pastels is as finely controlled as it is in so many of his oils. What is new is a genuine sense of romance but not entirely at the cost of the surreal element that is ever-present in his work. These pastels did during a rain-soaked monsoon in Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, stay in the mind; they soothe and caress the senses while retaining their sense of mystery.
They celebrate nature with a maturity not seen in Indian landscape painting in a very long time. His work and his conduct seemed to suggest that the landscape of a nation belonged to its people, the poorest of the poor of them and not the microscopic elite that rules over them.
