Alka Raghuvanshi’s death anniversary: Sister Manisha Gawade remembers the sari lover she was

Distinguished artist, author, and curator Alka Raghuvanshi died at her Hauz Khan home on 26 May, 2021, after a months-long battle with pneumonia, and with her gone a wonderful handloom saree connoisseur who used to admire and cherish the six-yard wonder and was instrumental in making people aware of the state of the weavers and their need for a wider audience.

As it’s over a year since she left us, Firstpost spoke to her sister and a renowned artist Manisha Gawade . She spoke about how her fascination with saris started, how she is keeping the late artist’s legacy alive and the book “A Moment in Time with the Legends of Indian Arts” by Dr. Alka Raghuvanshi that was presented by Gawade at an event at India Habitat Centre recently.

The book contains a rare compilation of interviews of the legends of the art world from all the various areas of art including Indian classical dance, Hindustani and Karnatak classical music, paintings, sculpture, and theatre. Written by the late Alka Raghuvanshi, this book is a historic documentation of the artist’s interviews spanning over four decades of the author’s writing career.

It contains interviews of M.F. Hussain , Manjit Bawa , Krishen Khanna , J. Swaminathan , Satish Gujral , Pt. Birju Maharaj , Yamini Krishnamurty , Kelucharan Mahapatra , Ebrahim Alkazi , Sheila Bhatia, B.V. Karanth , Manohar Singh , Uttara Baokar , M.S. Subbulakshmi , Pt. Ravi Shankar , Ali Akhbar Khan, Krishan Maharaj, Bhemsen Joshi, Malikarjun Mansoor, Balamurli Krishna, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Girja Devi, Bismillah Khan, Ram Narayan, Pt. Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.

Excerpts from the interview with artist Manisha Gawade

Alka Raghuvanshi has left behind an unmatchable legacy. How was it growing up with her and the impact she had on you?

Alka was for all practical purposes my mother, although my sister. There was a 14 years age gap between Alka and me. She loved me dearly like her own daughter and my little girl Harika too who also meant the world to her. Alka was my inspiration in the arts and gave birth to the artist who was inside me. Alka and I made a great artist team together and did over 125 shows in India and abroad. We would discuss a show at around 3 am so often our favorite discussion time and this show would be up and about sometimes within a week.

We were indeed like-minded and both perfectionists. So working together was easy. She instilled many qualities in me of being a good artist yet remained rooted. Modesty was an important factor and gratitude too which I learned from her as she led by example.

Alka had a great sense of humor and was a people person. I have pledged to carry forward her work in the arts and with the weavers that she leaves behind.

She was a passionate believer in the handlooms of India and worked with the various weavers of India to bring to the centre stage their dying looms. How do you plan to carry forward this movement?

I have already done three very successful online shows after Alka’s demise last year, of several weavers from all over India. I plan to further develop more artistic and creative designs with the weavers to bring them closer to the urban audience. I also created my own wooden carved blocks and created many sarees on handloom Kanjivaram silk. These are all on display on my Facebook pages as well as Ehsaas Fb page for all to see.

Would you like to take us through that time when her fascination with sari started?

She was 18 years old and recently started going to college when her love for sarees grew seeing the college teachers and there was never any looking back. She observed many weavers from all over India and when she joined the literacy mission as the print media chief she explored loads of weavers and their various weaving styles.

What was the dream of Alka Raghuvanshi concerning sari as she was one big fan too?

The thought of Alka’s saree dream began with the fear of the Kimono story in Japan. There aren’t too many people now in Japan who are seen wearing the Kimono, a Japanese traditional dress for women. Alka just did not want the Indian women to ape the west and forget about their own traditional dress. Since sarees were very close to her heart she made a huge effort to revive them on social media platforms and stirred up a saree movement. Ehsaas, Alka’s dream was a project launched in 2012 by her.

This show celebrates the journey and success of Ehsaas, the largest walking installation of the world of combined arts together, and most of the participants are also a part of today’s programme.

Alka Raghuvanshi, the founder of Ehsaas, curated and designed sarees that were digitally juxtaposed onto sarees, stoles, neckties, and bags from paintings by five eminent artists Prof. Niren Sengupta, Shridhar Iyer, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Manisha Gawade and herself.

The show was a huge success and today, Ehsaas has grown to become a successful saree brand and helped close to 200 handloom weavers. The initiative, although brought to life by Alka (but conceptualized by both Alka and her sister Manisha), her sister Manisha Gawade has made sure that the show goes on, post-Alka’s demise. In a short span of only one year, Ehsaas has held three online exhibitions, helping many weavers and weaving styles from extinction by providing them a bigger platform.

Would you like to take us through the process of conceptualizing the book- “A Moment in Time with the Legends of Indian Arts?

The book is an important historic documentation of art and artists of the last forty years. It peeps into the minds of legendary artists from theatre artists to painters to classical dancers to great classical vocalists and musicians.

The book contains interviews of stalwarts like M.F. Hussain, Manjit Bawa, Krishen Khanna, J. Swaminathan, Satish Gujral etc. Did you get a chance to personally meet them and was their inhibition in their mind when it comes to featuring in a book?

These painters mentioned here above were very individualistic yet were much ahead of their times. Each of them has left an indelible mark on the pages of time. Dr. Raghuvanshi had a great personal rapport with all these artists in the book so they have shared many details with her about their life that they wouldn’t have if the author was anyone else so certainly none of the above had any inhibitions on the author whatsoever.

Nivedita Sharma’s work experience includes covering fashion weeks in Milan, Pakistan, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Dubai, and award functions like IIFA, and TOIFA. 

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