i always had a tremendous urge to paint everything i saw but could never afford to buy paper so when the world outside our village was ripped apart by world war ii i chased japanese fighter jets and kept on feeding my creative spirit i collected natural colours from the local idol maker and made clay sculptures then at the time of the partition my life changed overnight like thousands of other hindus from bangladesh i had to flee thereafter from being a refugee to a painter my journey has been full of strugglesi rented a studio for 10 as i craved for a single piece of paper i did my first painting ever on one of the walls of my uncles place where we took shelter money was an issue all through my student life the assistant headmaster of my school dwarakanath bidyapith often helped me with money so that i could forget about my problems and focus on my studies dadas meagre earning was too little for my big family i passed high school with flying colours by then i had realized that i was born to be an artist so when i was just 16 i got myself admitted in government college of art and craft the first couple of years at the art college are firmly etched in my memory i was the artist who couldnt even afford a canvas instead i managed with a pitch board after some time i started making my own canvases from the third year i was entitled for a refugee scholarship but all the money was spent trying to keep my family afloat it was only after graduating that i gained some acceptance as a budding talent but popularity doesnt help when you have to work on an empty stomach isnt it so financial urgency compelled me to take an art teachers job at howrah zilla school now when i travel around the world with my creations or relax in my apartment on the 22nd floor of a highrise i remember how my family survived on my meagre salary of 125 but i never stopped pursuing my dream many people helped me lady ranu mukherjee gave me space at her outhouse to paint i had no space at my small house in sahidnagar so i rented a studio space for 10 i finally tasted success in 1965 i got a scholarship to study art in paris for two years even then i couldnt afford to pay 800 required as the passage money and had to ask for help being in paris shaped the artist in me but the little boy from faridpur is still alive within he keeps appearing in my recollections or in my paintings hes very much there and i hope he always isas told to ruman ganguly dibyajyoti chaudhuri deblina chakravorty zinia sen madhusree ghosh