Farmers Movement Archive

From family meals to photography, he makes most of quarantine time

Tribune News ServiceChandigarh, May 2Tum jo mil gaye ho...runs in his background every forenoon as Bheem Malhotra paints his new series — Life Under Lockdown. Clicking nature, feeding stray animals and sitting down together for family meals, this artist is counting life’s blessings as the world fights deadly Covid.“While it’s painful to see life coming to a grinding halt due to the pandemic, cases are rapidly rising and so are the deaths. It’s the first time in so many years that my whole family is sitting together for lunch, said Malhotra.“Earlier work kept me on toes. My wife would ask me to get vegetables from sabzi mandi, but I would forget. Now that the UT Administration has deployed buses for vegetable-fruit delivery, we can eat fresh. Life has surely taken a luxurious turn,” he said.A music and animal lover, Malhotra regularly feeds stray animals around his house on the PEC campus in Sector 12. He clicked a lonesome dog on an empty road, which made his fellow colleagues to watch out for strays in their areas too. Photography and painting are the highs of his day. He is glad that the whole family is locked in together. “Busy in our respective lives, we often missed each other. Now that my wife and both sons are working and studying from home, it’s great to bond all over again. It’s rather fun to see my sons working out in their makeshift gym in backyard,” he said.Malhotra, an associate professor at Chandigarh College of Architecture, and chairperson, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, believes that life post lockdown would be different.He does miss his routine. “Teaching students is what I miss badly. It’s not enough to be in touch on WhatsApp, classroom teaching is an altogether a different experience. We are organising online art competitions on Covid.”“So many pictures, cards, letters, it’s like bonding with friends and family all over,” he added.

The Tribune

2020-05-03

Mona