It is very difficult to accept that Geeta Doctor is no more. I can say without hesitation that she was one of the best writers from Chennai, may be the country, who could write on any subject effortlessly. She was one of the icons of the city.
Geeta at the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant on Poonamallee High Road.
I met her first as a young friend of my father’s when I moved back to Chennai from Mumbai. I was then working for Business India magazine, the country’s first and the leading business fortnightly. Having started my career in Mumbai, publicity-shy Chennai was daunting to put it mildly.
Fortunately for me, Geeta was then associated with the Inside Outside magazine which was part of the Business India group. She helped me connect with people and gave a lot of ideas on how to deal with them. She truly encouraged me.
She focused on design and architecture. When we used to have Inside Outside design exhibitions in Chennai, people were clamouring to be featured, and Geeta played a major role in choosing the right people. I know very few people who can write as well as Geeta on these subjects. She was also a great art critic as she really understood art and artists. It must have been very difficult for her to move from vibrant and lively Mumbai to what was then seen as conservative Chennai.
She was not a people pleaser. I know some artists who stopped talking to her after some of her reviews. She never compromised.
Fortunately, the Cholamandal Artists Village was comimg up then and artists were beginning to move in there. Geeta was closely associated with most of them such as S G Vasudev and his wife Arnawaz and played a major role in promoting Cholamandal.
Geeta was a much admired and feared critic. She was multi-faceted. She reviewed fiction, art and also food. She used to let me tag along to some of the restaurants she went to. They were not casual outings. She used to have detailed discussion with the chefs. I listened, riveted.
She was a writer who didn’t mince words and said it as it was. It took Chennai some time to get used to her elegant and blunt writing style which was not accepted by everybody. People used to call up the editors and crib. She always said what she had to say and did not compromise.
Geeta never missed a deadline. She was truly professional. She is going to be greatly missed.