I received the award at the outset of my research for the doctoral thesis. The timely award enabled me to travel to museums and document the set of paintings which formed a good portion of my research material. It also facilitated the correspondence with various other museums abroad and in India, enablng me to gather information regarding their collections and most specifically the Sursagar set of Mewar that I was working on. I could also use the money of the award on processing of photographs of the paintings, copies of which I evenutally sent to the Trust as part of my project report.

During 1990 Shri N M Deshpande, one of the doyens of Indian archaeology, suggetsed that as nobody had studied the sculptural bas reliefs in early Buddhist caves in Maharashtra, I should try to study them. While conducting the primary study on the area, I was transferred to Madras, and lost hope of continuing my interest with this transfer and shelved the project, but a friend suggested that I apply to the NTICVA for a grant. I did so and was very happy to receive the grant.