GULMOHUR

She flaunts and frolicks
Shamelessly
Painting the town red
Bursting into wild dances
Mindless of the heat and dust
Of the sweat on man's brow

Flamboyant Hussy
Flames of the Forest
The Gulmohur

She reigns the streets
Indiscreetly
Inviting weary souls
Flouting nature's rules
With her ravishing wanton beauty
Heedless of the stagnant euphoria
Of the fierce midday fervour

My Jezebel
Mistress of Summer
The Gulmohur

'A tribute to the Gulmohur'. Shahpurjat, New Delhi. 2003

While I have referred to the Gulmohur Tree as a 'wanton woman', I have in all sincerity attempted to give her the dignity, power, respect and honour that she deserves.

I have spent many many hours in the scorching Delhi summers looking at her and being inspired by her. There have been days when there was no electricity, no water,the spirits of men were squeezed out of their very existence, tempers flared, nobody had anything good to say to anyone, the heat... the heat did it. It quashed the souls of men and made them beasts.

The Gulmohur... she did not bother. She stood there proud and welcoming, defying the vicious loo winds and mocking the intense heat. The harder it blew the wilder she danced, the hotter it turned the more brilliant her colours mocked.

Yeah, the Gulmohur, my inspiration.

This triptych was done using texture white to give it an almost three dimensional textured feel and a background of the analogous combinations of red, orange and yellow acrylics to highlight the intense heat as opposed to the dynamic hues of the Gulmohur flower complemented by the greens and blues of the leaves. I have also used gold highlights to emphasise their brilliance.