


I was also struck by what Don had to say to Gross about mimicry being an important aspect of his drawing people. So when Don drew me was he mimicking me too? If so, how? We were from two fantastically different worlds: him, from sunny California; I, from hot and dusty Calcutta. By strange coincidence, I believe that Don has only drawn two Indians in his life and both are Bengalis from Calcutta: the other Indian and indeed Calcuttan Bengali was Swami Prabhavananda - Isherwood's Vedantist guru. So, I'm in very good company!
Don's 18-minute interview on Fresh Air made me realize how fresh the memories of that April in Santa Monica are still in my mind.