So mesmerized is Sen with chromaticity that he wants to see even water, that transparent essential we cannot do without, in see-through transparent colour. Being of Indian origin, he has inherited the inexhaustible use of colour that’s intrinsic to India’s culture. So these red, green, blue, yellow, pink water jars at his home reverberate Sen’s colour sense and are perfect to satiate his colour-hungry eyes.
When India was partitioned 1947 to create Pakistan, a new country for Muslims, about 20 million people of Bengal and Punjab were displaced and brutally victimized. Sen’s wealthy, literate family had huge landed property in erstwhile East Bengal, the present Bangladesh, which was carved out to be East Pakistan for Muslims. So for being Hindus Sen’s family was overnight evicted from their home. Without taking any possessions, they fled for their lives amidst people warring over religion, and so became squatted refugees in West Bengal.
