“For an artist, his or her art is more valuable than anything else,” says VK Sharma, a theatre artist and the founder of Khilona, a professional company performing for children.
On January 9, 2017, eight police officers were severely injured when Rahul Matta, a man accused of killing his 60-year-old father, barged into a flat in Ajanta Apartments and put an LPG cylinder on fire to thwart the arrest. This flat was Sharma’s.
"Even though art is in my heart and will remain there till my last breath, like memories, there are things that cannot be recovered," Sharma rues. “The dreadful explosion cost me about Rs 10 lakh. But the biggest loss were my scripts, which took me several years to prepare. I lost several awards I had won in the field of creative arts and for performances around the world.”
Sharma has been staying in Ajanta Apartments, a society in IP Extension, East Delhi, for the last 20 years. He has lived in three different flats in the society before he shifted to Flat No 39 two years ago.
After the incident, the managing committee of the society not only shifted him to another flat but also gave a compensation of about Rs 4 lakh. GL Gupta, the general secretary of the managing committee, told City Spidey that 176 flat owners in the society donated Rs 2,000 to him; the managing committee donated Rs 11,000; and the municipal councillor Rs 11,000.
Confirming the donations, Sharma told City Spidey that the uniqueness of the society was that residents always helped each other. “During my days of struggle, when I was unable to pay rent, the managing committee didn’t badger me at all. It’s why I was able to live here for 20 years,” he says.
“Despite living as a tenant in the society, I was given importance both by the managing committee and the residents. Whenever I attended an open house meeting or any gathering of residents, they would listen to what I had to say,” says Sharma.
He says he has uncountable memories of his life in the society with his wife, Kiran Sharma, and son, Kashish Sharma. While his wife is a teacher in National School of Drama (NSD), his son is a guitarist. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that creativity runs in the family.
Sharma himself has either worked or acted in film and television serials, such as Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi; BBC’s Jim Corbett and Jasoos Vijay; NDTV’s Ji Mantriji; TV 18’s Bhanwar; Satish Kaushik’s Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, Milenge Milenge and Khosla Ka Ghosla; and Vipul Shah’s London Dreams.
However, recalling the January 9 incident, Sharma says that what his eyes witnessed was not easy to forget. “That’s why I have decided to leave the apartment. I will leave the society by March 7,” he adds.
