Amrita Sher-Gil: The Family
In my last story, I mentioned about Vivan Sundaram’s book (can we call it a biography?) on Amrita Sher-Gil. The book covers her life told through letters she had written to family members.
The letters do a good job at taking the reader through the different phases of Sher-Gil’s life. Sundaram’s efforts to put this compilation together are, therefore, commendable.
Also commendable is Sher-Gil’s (extended) family in keeping these archives in tact all these years. Sundaram makes his gratitude to these members abundantly clear in his acknowledgements at the start of the book. Some family members and friends included among these acknowledgments are — Shobha Nehru, Indira Sher-Gil (Sundaram’s mother and Amrita Sher-Gil’s sister), Joan and Dalip Singh (the oldest living members of Sher-Gil’s family at the time publishing), Eva Sood (Sher-Gil’s step-daughter), Bambi Brar (Sher-Gil’s grand-niece, also mother of former NDTV US-Bureau Chief Namrata Brar) Navina Sundaram (Vivek Sundaram’s sister) and Geeta Kapur (Sundaram’s wife).
The efforts of the family have made a phenomenal impact on the compilation of the book. My fascination with the family, though, stems from an interest in them (perhaps in oblivion) possessing unknown works of the Sher-Gil!
Like I mentioned in the last story, Here’s the family tree then, as showcased in the book and extended to known descendants that I have managed to track down thus far.
