To encourage the youngsters to keep speaking their mother language, painter, graphic designer and teacher Saeed Asghar makes a free portrait of every student who speaks Punjabi to him.

His family had migrated to Pakistan in 1947 when he was hardly three years old. Youngest among his seven siblings, he spent his childhood in various districts of Punjab due to postings of his elder brothers.

“Seeing my interest in colours, my elder brother was generous enough to give me his own box of watercolour paints. I used to go to the fields around Qila Sobha Singh in district Narowal and paint the lush green landscape on my own.

“Ustad Lal Din, my drawing teacher in junior school at Bhopal Aali, taught me the basic techniques of applying paints, which became my lifetime romance with paintings,” he vividly recalls.

“Cinema boards were the only artistic expression in the public spaces of Lahore. In the late 1950’s, Mustafa and Rakka were famous for their outstanding skills. I learnt the art of drawing at big scale from the signboard painters.

Saeed Asghar remembers one of his painter friends, Hassan, who, inspired by his drawing skills, encouraged him to make a joint venture in film billboards. Our first commissioned work was making publicity boards for ‘Mauseeqar’.

“We were paid eight annas per square feet and that was enough earning to boost my confidence as a professional painter,” he reminiscences.

One of elder brothers of Saeed Asghar was convinced that he should pursue his career as an artist and he took the young Asghar to Karachi and introduced him to his artist friend, Sheikh Ahmed.

“Meeting legendary Sheikh Ahmed gave me a new direction and highly skilled work opened up a new world to me. Working with him was the most precious time of my life,” he acknowledges.

In 1969, Saeed moved to Lahore to take care of a printing business, launched by his elder brother. The business collapsed after 1971 war and he switched to graphic designing. He worked as a designer for more than two decades and created numerous designs including the logo of the Lahore Development Authority. He joined the National College of Arts in 1976 but left his studies midway after a couple of years.

“I was older than all my classmates and had a family to feed. The environment of the college drastically changed after General Zia’s coup.

“One day, I realised that studying with young students and experiencing the student politics did not suit me so I decided to quit my studies,” he relates. For the last two decades, Saeed Asghar has been working with the Lahore Grammar School, teaching Punjabi and writing plays for children. His works got published in Punjabi magazine Pancham.

“One of my Punjabi plays, based on the story of streetchildren working as vendors, got the first prize in a drama festival in 2000.

“An objection was raised against the play by those who didn’t want their kids to speak Punjabi. As a result, I wasn’t assigned any play for a long time. A couple of years back, I was asked by Patrice Fouquet to write another Punjabi play ‘Bholoo,’ based on ?liver Twist of Charles Dickens,” he adds.

The beauty of human figure has been Saeed’s all-time passion to draw and paint. He works spontaneously with the mediums which are handy to carry out on-the-spot. The contemporary rural life, landscape of Punjab and the portraits are his favourite subjects. He is gifted with refined skills and a sharp eye to portray his subjects.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2017