India, April 7 -- The year was 1960. KP Singh, now chairman emeritus of the real estate giant, DLF, was then an officer of the Indian Army. He was travelling from Secunderabad to Delhi. At the station, there was a mad rush to get into the train. KP, sitting in his first-class coupe, saw a thin, tall, bare-footed, bearded man, with a tin box on his head, desperately trying to get into the train. As a last resort, he pleaded with KP to let him in, and KP agreed. That man was MF Husain.

That chance meeting led to a life-long friendship. Husain was employed by DLF as its art director for a paltry amount of some Rs.3,000, but over time his paintings rose to skyrocketing prices. Many decades later, when KP met Husain in Dubai, where he was in ...