Everlasting love story goes beyond the boundaries of Bollywood

In Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez's epic novel Love in the Time of Cholera, Florentino Ariza waits 51 years, nine months and four days to repeat to Fermina Daza his vow of 'eternal fidelity and everlasting love'.

Worthy of a plot from the pages of this modern classic, Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain flew to Melbourne last month for a tryst with Maria Zourkova, whom the painter describes as the everlasting love of his life, after a break of 45 years.

Like Ariza and Daza, Husain and Zourkova are in the twilight of their lives. He has just turned 91. She is in her mid-70s. Both have children and grandchildren. By the artist's account, he fell madly in love with the Czechoslovakia-born Zourkova in Prague in the summer of 1956. Husain was desperate to marry her even though he was already married. The affair lasted for four years, but Zourkova eventually turned him down. They didn't see each other after 1960, although they kept in touch for another four years.

After that, they severed all ties but Husain says Zourkova remained his eternal muse - the inspiration behind the many female figures he painted in his long career. He also directed two full-length feature films, Gaja Gamini and Meenaxi, casting Indian actresses Madhuri Dixit and Tabu in thinly disguised roles as Zourkova .

The tale of unrequited love and the Marquez-esque rendezvous after 45 years might have remained secret - except that Husain revels in publicity. After meeting his old flame, he told all to journalist-turned-filmmaker Khalid Mohamed, who wrote an article for a Mumbai newspaper.

The white-haired Husain - who is always barefoot - has become a cult figure, living a life as colourful as his works. His paintings fetch record prices in India. Recently, he signed a one billion rupee ($170 million) deal with industrialist G.S. Srivastava for 125 canvases. In September, Husain's Bodies Drift between You and Me sold for US$284,800 at Sotheby's to an Asian collector.