Dr. Neeraj Raj's Exhibition

Dr. Neeraj Raj is a medical doctor (gold medalist and topper), painter, singer, poet, sketcher, animator, cartoonist and mostly someone with immense creative energy which he pours into anything that catches his fancy. I had this wonderful experience of working with him on Sridhar's book, for which he came up with a stunning cover, besides putting me in touch with everyone who could help me with getting material for the book. He has this subtle sense of humour, a rare groundedness, the capacity to be in the moment and make everyone feel important. If there's anything I regret it is not meeting him often enough after Sridhar's book project got done.

Portraits 

Dr Hari Prasad

Dr MV Sridhar

So when I saw a cute invite from him inviting me to an exhibition of his works at their family's ancestral home near RBI, I signed up mentally. I went early, realised parking was an issue, parked in Public Gardens and walked back. 

Water colours

Purdah Gate

Some of the crowd

The place was tastefully done up and many of his works were displayed - people's portraits that he had sketched (I could recognise a few - notably Hari Prasad and Sridhar). There was a group of Urban Sketchers who were also at the job sketching away - from the terrace of the house right up the hill! There was samosa and chai and there were friends and family in abundance. I met quite a few common friends as I browsed through his work. Excellent vibe.

A subtle sense of humour, an openness

His journey

Neeraj studied at HPS, where his short bio that was displayed in a few collages, said that he won the first prize at the Inter school competitions for painting. He started creating cartoons which were published in newspapers such as Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle among others (created a character called Dr Golmalkar. Met top cartoonists like Mario and Sudhir Dar at the World Humour Conference. At Osmania Medical school he painted his answers in water colours and secured gold medals in Anatomy and Pathology and topped medicine. He combined his study of medicine with his love for creation and took off on a career in medical illustration in Computer Graphics and 3D Animation to illustrate medicine. He writes nonsense poetry, jams on 3 line poetry, mentors a group of Urban Sketchers, sings songs and  generally lives life to the fullest.

Many of his friends and family - immensely likeable and popular

View from the top

We met briefly and we made that all too familiar promise - must meet soon. Hopefully before the next exhibition. The experience - I loved it. Just being there in that crowd, seeing those cartoons, soaking in the vibes of an era gone by (Neeraj somehow brings out that era in us when everything was simple, fun and in many ways, intelligent). Lovely.