He moves swiftly, the swing of his bare feet belying the years they strode the trajectory of his eventful life. Eightyfive years rest lightly on him, like gossamer wings, and a sense of wonder still beckons the artist – to dash off in any direction that promises adventure. M.F. Husain, draftsman, painter, designer, ex-parliamentarian, maverick, celebrity, filmmaker – soared on the wings of fame like no other Indian artist.

And had his share of pitfalls; victim to a Hindu right-wing group of law-breakers, he was hounded for the innocuous nude drawing of a Hindu goddess. In one fell swoop, they snatched away his freedom as an artist while an impotent State stood mute witness. Today, he cannot follow his ‘jagged line’ with abandon, as it leads him, but the flow of that line is as electric, the smudge of colour as luminous.