Good riddance Most of my folks are waiting eagerly for this to happen. One of the most celebrated painter and sometime film director Maqbool Fida Hussien has accepted the citizenship of some gulf country and we have heaved a sigh of relief. Simply because the man is not only an overrated painter but has a habit to remain in spotlight by creating one controversy after another.It did not matter much that he, in his twisted mind, imagined some of our revered GODDESS without clothes and actually went ahead and brought out this very contorted image on canvass way back in late seventies. It was only in India that he got away with it. He never dared to imagine ‘his’ GOD in the buff for he knew the fate that his own brethren will give him. It was not very long ago, a simple cartoon of Allah created such a hoopla and still every six months or so, fatwas are issued to teach the cartoonist a lesson.MF has a penchant for headlines and he sure know how to be in the news. Once he went barefoot in a posh hotel and the hotel staff turned him away because he was not adhering to their dress code. They were very much within their rights to do so but our controversy man made an issue by saying that he has not worn a chappal for last 30 years. What an argument !!!! I like to walk in minimum clothes possible during summers but can I do so in decent society ?Maqbool went fida over Dhak Dhak Madhuri after Hum aapke hain kaun and painted her in various avatars. One canvass showed her mating with an elephant. Another had her being done by a horse. That was a crude attempt to be a Kamasutra/Khujrhao man. What really pissed me off was that he was well into sixties and Madhuri was old enough to be her grand daughter.For arguments sake, liberals may put forth the defense that he has freedom of expression as an artist. But for mere mortals like me, this was way over the line. No other painter worth his/her salt has done this much damage to GODs and if he really is for expressing himself, why not start with your own masjid. Balasaheb must have lost some sheen for he said that MF can come back if he apologies but what is the guarantee that people like MF and Taslima Nasreen will not abuse it to further their own end.I like things simple and for me it’s good riddance once and hopefully, for all. Adityaadijohbk@yahoo.co.in