“At this age you don’t miss anything,” Maqbool Fida Hussain, the controversial yet the most loved artist in India said like yogi. “I never left India. I am still there. In this age of communication we are not far away from any place,” said Hussain, who celebrated his 94th birthday, which falls on September 17, at the Tamarind Art Gallery in Manhattan, New York.

He said he is not unhappy at all for leaving India almost 13 years ago after some Hindu organizations threatened him for painting Hindu deities in the nude. “Indians are everywhere and I get the same love and affection everywhere. I don’t miss India.”

He also revealed the secret of  his health: keep your mind busy. “I do whatever comes to me. I don’t plan things. The greatest blessing from god for me is health. If there is no health what is the use?” he asked.

“I want to share the happiness with people. The last 60 years I roamed through the world and met people. I love people. I look positively at things.”

When asked for a message for the new generation, he flatly refused. “There is no message. I am no guru to give messages to others.” He said his messages are in his paintings.

When asked for his opinion to become successful in life, he said hard work is the key. He noted that 80 percent of all achievements come through hard work.

To a question he said he is not sure if he will come to New York to celebrate his 100th birthday. “It is not in your hands.”

Kent Charugundla and his wife Marguerite, founders of the gallery invited Hussain to cut the birthday cake. Both said they were honored to have such a great man at the gallery to celebrate his birthday. As the audience sang ‘happy birthday to you..’ the nonagenarian cut the cake and the Charugundlas gave pieces of it in his mouth. Soon Hussain’s daughter Raisa joined the event and Hussain gave her a piece of the cake.

Tennis legend and film maker Ashok Amritaraj was among the guests. He said he knew Hussain for the last 25 years. “He mentioned earlier about the birthday. So I changed my programs so that I can be in New York to attend the birthday celebration of a great man,” California-based Amritaraj said.

Husain has been painting the ‘Voyage of Discovery’ on the wall of the gallery, which stretches for several feet in length and breadth for the last five years. “He paints it with acrylic and it lasts for ages,” Charugundla said. Hussain, who lives in Dubai and London came to the gallery in July to finish the painting.

The painting depicts a mini India in its all majesty and diversity. Portraits of Mahtama Gandhi, Lord Ganesh, goddess Sarawati, a bull, a courtesan, and a Muslim man are some of the images in the huge canvass.

At the beginning of the canvass the artist wrote: When I begin to paint, hold the sky in your hands, as the stretch of my canvass is unknown to me.’

from rediff.com

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