Vasudeo Hiralal Pandya, Chirag’s Grandfather,  was born in Lunawada Gujarat in 1896. After graduating from high school he became a teacher in a local village school near his home.  Many years later he moved to the area of Tardeo in Bombay (now renamed Mumbai) where he met an Englishman who was so impressed with his handwriting skills that he hired him as a document copier in his company. Pandya’s bosses often travelled to Europe on business and upon their return they would talk to him about their travels by ship and of the many different cities and museums that they visited in Europe. He was especially moved when they talked about the great European artists and of the wonderful paintings that hung up on the walls of these museums. This gave him great inspiration as he too loved to paint and did so as a hobby. In the early days he often gave away his paintings for free as the locals loved them. In a very short time his fame had spread and people from afar came to see and request him to make a painting for them so that they could hang it on their walls at home.

His first major commissioned work was an oil painting of the four handed Hindu deity, Shree Vishnu, the preserver of the universe.