It seems like artist Kalidas Karmakar had a similar thought during his recent exhibition at Alliance Francais, Dhaka in Dhanmondi. The organisation held a solo art exhibition of paintings by Kalidas Karmakar. The exhibition was held from November 17-November 30, 2005. The title of his exhibition was Alluvial Pain and Salvation.

One would be easily confused while entering the exhibition hall, as the paintings were accompanied by a group of folk musicians playing live music on the side. Lying in the center of the hall was the statue of a dead man, covered with a white cloth surrounded by lit candles. When asked about why he had such a set up, Karmakar explained with a smile, how his paintings of alluvial pain and salvation were connected to the music. Alluvial soil means the fertile soil that is carried by the flood plains of Bengal. The soil being very fine and fertile contribute to better crop cultivation. Bengla folk music is the music of our common people, of the soil that these people are made of, simple yet rich in productivity. His paintings convey an exact message where he skillfully expressed happiness, grief, simplicity and tranquility of the countrymen of Bengal. Most of his paintings had figures of human faces with illuminated variations. There was this one of a man with three eyes and long hair and the other of an old woman with a very blank expression.

Enthusiastic art lovers crowded at the exhibition and indulged in folk music which fitted the message conveyed by the artworks of Kalidas Karmakar.