travelled to the city's various Mughal gardens such as the Nishatbagh to sketch. He would then travel on foot into the mountains, surviving on milk given to him by the nomadic pastoral tribe – the Gurjars. An earlier unfinished work from Kashmir, that depicts the change in seasons, illustrates time, and probably has its references from the time he spent dwelling with the Gurjars. Apart from landscapes, his works from this period capture the pointed slanting wooden roofs of the Mosques in winter, or portraits of Kashmiri women rendered similarly, white sharp fine and pointed lines. Having lived in Kashmir for a duration of five years, after a romance gone sour, Raiba returned to Bombay. Upon his return, he married his cousin. His father was opposed to the marriage, as he believed his son lacked character by choosing to be an artist. He soon began to search for a job to sustain himself. During this time he chanced upon MF Hussain, who introduced him to the legendary film maker K. Asif, who employed him as an Art Director in his film studio. The glamour and trappings of Cinema did not suit Raiba and he soon quit. Hussain then found him a job at the furniture store Roop Bharati, at Lamignton road run by a Gujarati lady called Sushilaben. Here he designed furniture along with artists Ara and Hussain during which the Progressive Artist Group invited him to join their collective, to which he declined as he found the functioning of the group least progressive. He sustained himself on commissions of murals, winning notable projects such as those for Air India and the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi. Raiba lived in a 100 square feet tenement with his mother, his wife and three children. This space served too as the studio. Canvas in those was not easy to come by and was usually imported. During his time in Kashmir stretched cloth on a board served as his canvas. Jute when stretched tight is extremely taught, but the fibres from the strains of jute often shed. Being from a plant that grows in standing water, with humid conditions, the fibre resists decay by humidity and is apt for tropical temperatures. It is readily available and cheap. Using jute for its availability and cost, Raiba soon devised a method of priming the stretched jute, using techniques learnt during his training to be a