mehr-e-niimroz

I recently saw Amol Gupte/Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par. The first time Aamir Khan says his full name in the movie, I was astounded. Ram Shankar Nikumbh, he says. I had an art teacher in school whose initials were R.S.Nikumbh. This was too much of a coincidence. Google came to the rescue. I discovered this articleby Amol Gupte, the writer, on how he came upon a name for the Aamir Khan character. He has indeed named it after my (and his) art teacher, Nikumbh sir, who taught at Hansraj Morarji Public School (HMPS) in Andheri, Mumbai. If you scroll down that article and look at the comments, you will see an note by me and Amol’s reply to it as well.

This brought back so many memories tucked away somewhere in the recesses of the mind. About Nikumbh sir, about learning batic (yes at some point in my educational career I was taught batic), about his unique signature (he made a beautiful portrait of a lady with the “R” and the “S”), and of course about my own abysmal art skills…