CHRONICLE OF INTERESTING TIMES

The incisively observed Journals of the painter Altaf Mohammedi provide a fascinating glimpse into 1960s London 

- Ruchir Joshi

Altaf (born Altaf Mohammedi, in 1942) was an Indian painter of the same generation as Nilima Sheikh, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Vivan Sundaram and Nalini Malani. Whereas older Indian artists, including many from the group called the Progressives, made their way to Europe in the late 1940s and early 1950s (shortly followed by Altaf's older sister, the artist Nasreen Mohamedi), people like Altaf, Sundaram and Malani landed in Europe to study art in the turbulent 1960s.

Coming from a well-to-do business family, Altaf received support from home as he grappled with the business of living in London as a young art student. 

The stay in London begins in 1962 and ends in 1966, after which Altaf returns to India and settles in Bombay, joining the group of young artists, filmmakers, theatre people and poets who form the most exciting and transformational cultural milieu seen till then in newly independent India.