Ashwathama Satish

Satish Deshpande was my dear friend .
An artist who spoke very little but expressed his heart
out on canvas . He used to talk at length about his work
with people he was comfortable.
he was not shy but was averse to loose talk.

we used to talk about his ideas and work . he was lucky to
have Yashwant Chaudhary and Prafulla Dahanukar to guide
him in his long journey as an artist.

More than his work he always remained concerned about
inequality in society and used to discuss issues concerning
people living below poverty line and talk about their sense of
aesthetics developed from struggle for survival.

I vividly remember his talk about existence of Ashwathama,
a legendary myth , living immortal . he believed that
Ashwathama was staying on the top of tall trees in the form of
dark red flowers . these flowers are not visible from below. One has to rise
above ground level to view Ashwathama.
He wanted to depict Ashwathama in his paintings . I do not know
whether he tried or not. but idea was fascinating.

He has gone in search of Ashwathama flowers , little early in life
leaving his friends and well wishers behind.

It is pure pain. He left before realising his true excellence as an artist .