Mountain Man

It was a bitterly cold evening,when friends and family of the late Serbjeet Singh,painter-filmmaker and cartographer,gathered to celebrate his legacy. Sons Karamjit and Vishawajit,with mother Shanta,niece Lady Mohini Noon and his friends-turned-collectors Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla,Karan Singh of ICCR and Sports Minister MS Gill shared their thoughts on Singh. During his lifetime,Singh,an avid hiker was often compared to Russian artist and traveller Nicholas Roerich for his series of paintings on the Himalayas. And like Roerich,he devoted himself to capturing the mountains with half clad Yogis and village folk and the ranges of green valleys surrounded by wispy clouds. “His paintings are my escape route. Though there is a Roerich like quality about his works,he is a master in his own right,” said Chawla. Later,a 25 minute film Zoji-la,1948 ,named after a high mountain pass,that tells the story of the first war of Kargil was screened for the audience .