MF Husain's last wish: 'One day I'll return to touch my country's soil'

At 95, MF Husain had just one wish - he wanted to come home and touch the Indian soil, recalls writer K Bikram Singh about his last conversation with the painter, who died in London Thursday.

"I last spoke to Husain in March. He was in Dubai and was going to London at that time. I told Husain, 'Sir you can't come to India as a citizen, but why don't you come here for some time as a tourist?' He laughed out loudly that time and said, 'Ek dafaa apne watan ki mitti chhoone aaonga (One day I'll return to touch my country's soil).' Those were his words and it is really sad that till his last breath, he couldn't make it here," Singh told IANS on the phone.

Singh reviewed Husain's 60 years as an artist in his book Maqbool Fida Husain, which was published in 2008. He feels Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could have done his bit in bringing Husain back to India.

"Our prime minister has been talking about how Husain's death is a huge loss to the nation. If his absence is really such a loss, then he should have done it (called him) that time. Do you think it wasn't in his hands?"