Sayed Haider Raza, one of India’s greatest painters, remembers his early childhood in and around the beautiful forests of the Narmada river. Raza was born on 22 February 1922 in Babaria, Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh. His father Sayed Mohammed Razi was the Deputy Forest Ranger of the district and his mother was Tahira Begum. Here he tells the story of how his childhood was transformed by one of his teachers and he took to drawing at age 12. In 1943 he arrived in Mumbai to study at Sir JJ School of Arts and later joined the Progressive Arts Group, where he came into contact with artists like MF Hussain, Francis Newton Souza and Krishnaji Howlaji Ara.
This interview was recorded by the veteran journalist Dr Vijay Rana at the Nehru Centre in London in May 2005.
