There was the life-sized oil painting of Shri Nathji, which had been cut out on wood. It had been made by Shri Roop Kishore in 1960. He had left his Art Galley at Roxy Building and had opened a new Art Gallery in the Standard Building on the Mall Road, which was just beneath Shri Nathji’s residence Savitri Nivas.
He had made the oil painting from the photograph that adorned Shri Nathji’s book: “Daivi Kirne” which showed Shri Nathji sitting on a chair in his blue achkan, orange turban and white chooridars and brown shoes. He held a walking stick loosely in his hand.
Shri Nathji’s painting adorned Roop Kishore’s largest showcase and attracted a large number of visitors from the Mall Road.
News reached Shri Nathji in Delhi in 1969 that the Standard Building had caught fire and that the huge structure had been reduced to ashes. Roop Kishore’s Chitra Shaala was amongst the first casulties; it ceased to exist. People said that it had been burnt down totally, and not a single painting had been left.
Many days later, when Shri Nathji was in Mussoorie in 1969, Guruji arrived at his residence, carrying Shri Nathji’s painting:
All the paintings in my gallery were reduced to ashes, he said, except this one! We discovered it amongst the rubble–and not an inch of it was touched by the fire! It was as if the painting were especially protected.
“How could the painting have caught fire, when your good wishes were with me, and I still had to do your work in the world?” Shri Nathji said to him, as he embraced Guruji.