Since I was born in Bombay both of us have spent many years there and have fond memories of that place, my friend Anil thought that it would be a nice gift for me when he came across a book called Mumbai Fables. I am reading it and it is everything that Anil expected me to find in.
The cover is a painting called Bombay Buccaneer by Atul Dodia that is the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Now take a good look at this photograph.
Do you think that I have got the older version of the model for Dodia’s painting? I most certainly do. Unless he is a doppelgänger.
I should know. The older version is my cousin Srinivasan. When he was younger and when he too was based in Bombay, he most certainly looked like the buccaneer, though he was a banker. I however cannot imagine my cousin ever holding a pistol in his hand, nor wear his wrist watch on his right hand. But the resemblance is uncanny. I wish I had access to a photograph taken during his younger days!
I wonder if he had a side business of modeling. What say cousin?
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