As a friend deeply familiar with Krishen Khanna’s works, I see them not merely as paintings but as lived testimonies— intensely felt, historically rooted and emotionally charged. One of the most-celebrated modern artists, he has spent decades crafting narratives that bridge history, emotion and everyday experiences. Unlike many of his peers in the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG), who gravitated towards modernist abstraction, Khanna remains committed to narrative figuration, using his canvases to document stories of displacement, resilience and an inexorable passage of time. His renowned series, such as Bandwalla and Truckwalla, capture the vibrancy and struggles of India’s common people with remarkable sensitivity. His genius lies in his ability to humanise history, to transform collective memory into evocative imagery. At 99, he remains an enduring force, his lived experience continuing to inspire and inform his work. Through his art, Khanna not only preserves history but ensures that it is felt, remembered and understood. Khanna was a distinguished member of the PAG, counted among luminaries such as Maqbool Fida Husain, Francis Newton Souza and Sayed Haider Raza. However, what set him apart was not just his artistic vision but the unconventional path he took to establish himself as an artist. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was largely self-taught. His formal education in English literature and his early years in banking before transitioning to full-time painting gave him a unique perspective on society. While others in the PAG veered towards distinct styles—Souza’s bold distortions, Raza’s spiritual geometry, and Husain’s dynamic mythological figures—Khanna’s approach was more introspective, rooted in everyday narratives that revealed profound truths about Indian life. He was never bound by stylistic dogma.