The Hindu : Portrait of a 125-year-old

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 23, 2003

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Other States - Rajasthan

Portrait of a 125-year-old

By Sunny Sebastian

JAIPUR SEPT. 22. The `world's oldest man' paused only once while walking to the city's Jawahar Kala Kendra to keep his appointment with the artist. "How far is the place?" the 125-year-old Rahim Khan, also known as Habib Miyan, asked Chuttan Khan, his great grandson, who replied: "We have almost reached there".

Capturing Habib Miyan on canvas for posterity had been the desire of the Kerala-born painter, Eby N. Joseph, ever since he arrived here to hold an exhibition of landscapes of his State.

This was a different subject for the artist, who had already done a portrait of the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot.

"No, there was no problem at all painting him. The moment I saw Habib Miyan for the first time this morning, all my fears vanished. I was expecting an `ancient' looking, wrinkled old man. Now this one's face is without many wrinkles and his earthy skin colour is familiar to me," says Joseph.

Habib Miyan, who claims to have survived 133 desert summers (by official record he is 125 years old) and lives in a nondescript colony near the Ghat Gate area of the city, did not pose the problems a subject usually would to a painter.

For 90 minutes, as the brush stroked canvas, Habib Miyan, blind for the past 55 years, sat as if in a trance, stirring only once or twice to wipe his watering eyes. At times he dozed off but he was awake to the sounds around. t the end of the session, Miyan cheerfully responded to the queries of reporters: "I feel honoured. In the earlier days, portraits of only raja-maharajas were made..." He has seen four kings of the former Jaipur State — Maharaja Ram Singh, Maharaja Madho Singh, Maharaja Man Singh, and the present one, Brigadier Bhawani Singh.

Initially Habib Miyan refused to accompany two officials of the State Bank of India and Chuttan Khan for the assignment. "He thought the artist wanted to make a statue of him. As in Islam the making of idols is not allowed, he refused. When we explained to him that it was going to be only a portrait, he agreed," says Rajesh Nagpal of the SBI.

Habib Miyan's pension papers that are with the Transport Nagar branch of SBI provide proof of his age. The payment order has his date of birth as May 20, 1878. Habib Miyan gets his pension from the State Government delivered every month. The amount, Rs.1.86 in 1938 after his retirement from the Jaipur State's Royal Band, is now Rs.1,700.

Habib Miyan's life's desire to go on the Haj pilgrimage will be fulfilled soon. Learning about him from the newspapers and the BBC news bulletin, Ajaz Ahmed, who is living in London, has deposited Rs. 2.70 lakhs for the pilgrimage. Two great grandsons will accompany him.

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