Born five months before India’s Independence, painter-illustrator Sridhar Ambadas Ambhore has received seven state-level awards. His distinctive illustrations at one point ran parallel to the works of greats like KK Hebbar and AA Almelkar. But Ambhore, a self-taught artist, does not inhabit popular memory. Few will quote him at an art fair symposium, and fewer would know about his current life in Ahmednagar, where the artist (originally from Vidarbha) has settled down after voluntarily retiring from a post master’s duties.

Ambhore’s second career as an illustrator in fact, has been a matter of chance interactions with literary magazine editors who recognised the government official’s talent. In a supportive, but crucial role, Ambhore has so far illustrated 400 book covers and contributed 1,000 evocative line drawings to prestigious anthologies and Diwali numbers. His faceless human figures, like the Potraj in his pen and ink work titled Kadaklaxmi, speak for the voiceless. Renowned playwright Vijay Tendulkar interviewed him on Doordarshan way back in 1987, a memory he cherishes, though he told this columnist that he wished he had archived the video cassette Tendulkar gifted him after their 180-minute interaction.