‘Not one to be daunted by slow learners, Revati did her best to teach her new student with her characteristic dedication, but with each passing lesson it became amply clear that Nirmala was one of those rare beings who could throw any teacher anywhere in the word a Teach-me-if-you-can challenge.’ Of two left feet.

‘Poems arrive in the second section almost all on a sudden, like the scene changes in a train window every second as it moves through the hills. Abanindranath calls them ‘Godyochhando’ – he draws two slim conifers; embracing them are a blur of clouds. There’s something about this drawing that makes me feel cold as I show it to my nephew in the early summer heat of Siliguri.’ The mountains, as witnessed by Abanindranath.