art that glitters is gold

yesterday was the last day of the exhibition by an octogenarian couple of their oil on canvas paintings encrusted with 24 carat gold and jewels at the nehru centre, worli .173 of them. titled 'om namoh', ram kishen and kumudh goyal were exhibiting their fruits of labour, thanks to some smart commercial sense of their daughter in mumbai. and why not? after all they have toiled so much and put in such hard work in their golden years. should they not reap the benefits replied their daughter, when i asked her whether the art works were not too pricey. some of the paintings i liked were priced at rs 2 to 3 lakhs. i saw some truly remarkable paintings of gods and goddesses. balaji,krishna and radha,ganesh and sai baba were the main exhibits.'makkhan chor' lord krishna dominated the show. one of sai baba in a sitting posture and the other of lord balaji were outstanding.

the very fit husband and wife duo who live in meerut came up to me and welcomed me when i visited the exhibition hall. and their daughter explained to me about the intricacies of the paintings and how it all started. the goyals were also providing a certificate on the purity of the gold. ram kishen goyal began painting after retirement. and his wife kumudh has also been working with him. truly a great achievement by this ideal couple.

there is a moral in this story. don't brood after retirement. keep your mind and body occupied. read,paint,walk,write,blog. and if you can convert your efforts into cash,do so and enjoy what you richly deserve. gold begets gold. that is what this couple with a golden heart from meerut have proved in their golden years..