How the Hema Upadhyay I knew vanished before my eyes

Hema Hirani Upadhyay was a year senior to me at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Baroda. Soft-spoken and ever-smiling, she had this genteel charisma, this very graceful appeal that would always bowl us over. She was extremely affable, with her quiet, sophisticated charm, and everybody around her loved everything about her.

Her works, in fact, spoke a lot more than she did. She knew her language, she knew her expressions, and she sure did know the stories her canvases would tell. She liked reading, and would have a logical point of view in discussions, academics or otherwise.

Quite a few hearts were broken when Hema and Chintan became a pair. Chintan was the living antithesis of all that Hema was. He was loud, brash and blatant. She was calm, urbane and restrained. And yet, they made a wonderful pair. She gave Chintan the space, shelter and support, figuratively speaking that is, and he grabbed the opportunities to become the resident punk kid of contemporary Indian art.

As an artist, Hema bloomed a wee bit later than Chintan, but quite a blossoming it was! While he was busy with his "ganda bachchas", Hema was steadily coming across as an independent thinker with a distinct voice and a definite thought process. Together they were on their way to become the it-couple of the art scene.

Also read - Remembering Hema Upadhyay: A fine artist and wonderful person

Till random insecurities and complexes started defining the narrative of their combined lives. The rest, as they say, is a Mumbai Mirror cover story. 

But soon enough, despite (or because of) all the mud-slinging and muckraking, a new Hema emerged. Some of her most powerful works made it to the public domain. She was on her own, and brilliantly so. And at the same time, one could see that she was changing. Confident and yet clammed up, with a dwindling friends list, and an extremely private life and disposition. The last I spoke with her was two years back. I discovered today that she had unfriended me on Facebook. I guess she thought I was taking sides.

Stupid woman. If at all I was, I was on her side. We all were. Hoping and praying that the two of them would reconcile and all would be good again.

Nothing would be good again. Hema was murdered on Saturday. And she would be murdered again, and yet again, over the next few days by all the news channels.

Rest in peace, girl. If this is of any consolation to you, wherever you are, we loved Hema Hirani and Hema Upadhyay equally.

And will continue to do so.