The barefoot, white beard, striking suit, highly eccentric Indian Picaso MF Hussain is no more. India had lost him long back when he self -imposed exile from the country. Not sure if India is mourning his death but art lovers across the globe must be truly mourning and paying their tributes to him.All our minds are filled with goddess portraits as depicted by Ravi Varma and in a state not to accept any others. Ravi Varma, always portrayed woman in a very sensuous but at the same time very traditional way. I truly did not cherish the obscene portraits of Mother India and Goddesses Saraswathi and Lakshmi by Hussain. May be I am not seeing through the eyes of a Painter, but they are definitely eccentric in nature. I wished, how great they must have been, if they are not nude. I also wish, that I should have met him to know his view on these paintings. I am puzzled what he must have been thinking about the images of Mother India and Hindu goddesses.
Religion must have been out of Hussain’s mind but at the same time being an Islam why he hadn’t made any eccentric paintings on Islam? The situation would have been much worse if he had done so. Even Hindu politicians had made lot of fuss on the exhibitions and auctions of his paintings but at the same time couldn’t stop them to publish on the internet. They had given much propaganda and publicity than the organized exhibitions. The ruthless politicians can’t accept the derogate paintings but they can go to any extent to ruin the image of Mother India for their political advantages. They can go to any extent to sell the Goddess Saraswathi on the roads. Who is more worse? Hussain or the Hindu protectors? Who needs an exile here? Preserving tradition has several sides and we all know how best we are preserving them through our cinemas, media and culture. It is not one man’s job, it is everybody’s responsibility. At the same time, world has become a global village where people are influencing each other much faster. How one can stop the change. If we stop the change, there is no progress and there is no existence at all. These are all open ended questions.
Hussain definitely not a hater of Hinduism he always portrayed Hinduism in several angles very aesthetically. His extraordinary persona is beyond anybody’s imagination. One could never get to understand what he is looking through a painter’s eye. He is certainly a noble soul.
--Vijaya
