KARACHI, Feb 6: Well-known artist M.F. Hussain spoke about his early struggle as a young painter and subsequent rise to prominence at the launch of his autobiography in a local hotel on Sunday evening.

Initially written in the Devnagiri script, the autobiography is titled "M.F. Hussain ki kahani - apni zubani."

Clad in a black overcoat with a long red scarf, the painter, known for artistic idiosyncrasies like walking about barefoot, said that at first he had some difficulty in expressing himself through words. He added that for the past 50 years his feelings found expression in his paintings.

"I was barely 11 when I started painting seriously. My father took me to an art school. I told him that even then I was capable of making such paintings which were being made by students in their final year. I also told him that I did not want to waste five years learning what I knew only too well. I told him that I would never do a job and therefore did not need education certificates. I said that I had my brush with which I would paint and if all else failed I would whitewash people's walls. To be honest, I had to do something of the sort - like making portraits - and eked out a living," he said, adding that the only problem was that most people wanted to look handsome, with ruddy cheeks, in their portraits.

He recalled that he decided to bring all his energies to bear upon painting in 1947. "But I painted quietly for 18 years in Bombay without mounting an exhibition. I used to look at other artists' works and attend exhibitions regularly. I also started to compose poetry leisurely and adopted the expression "Haya" as my "Takhalus", but seeing my artworks my friends advised me to change my "Takhalus" to "Bei-haya"," he said as the audience burst into peals of laughter.

Well-known poet Ahmad Faraz, who presided over the book launch, said that he first met M.F. Hussain in London where he saw the artist walk about barefoot and eat ice-cream sitting on a footpath. He said that recently he had read two books by as many youngsters: Khushwant Singh and M.F. Hussain. He quoted verses from Allama Iqbal and Firdousi to show how the poets drew vivid pictures with words.

In his characteristically humorous style, Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi said that these days best fiction was being written in autobiographies. "But in his autobiography, M.F. Hussain has not fictionalized his life. His diction is so good that one feels as if M.F. Hussain had written the book not with a pen ("qalam") but with a brush ("muqalam")," he said.

Former bureaucrat Ahmad Maqsood Hameedi also spoke about the book.