During the last few days I have been remembering Habib Tanvir over the years,ever since we first met in 1954. It's like leafing through an old family albumof faded photographs. I knew Habib through his interaction with three people inmy family who at various times were important in his life. The first was myeccentric uncle Zulfiqar Bokhari who was the director of the Bombay station of AllIndia Radio (AIR). In 1945 Habib left Aligarh without completing his Mastersdegree to join the Bombay film industry as an actor. Zulfiqar mamu asked him towork for AIR as a producer and actor. I don’t know whether he learnt anythingabout radio broadcasting while on the job, but it certainly whetted his appetitefor becoming an actor. And like many who were influenced by Zulfiqar mamu, Habibadopted his style of accentuated dialogue delivery, something he was to retainthroughout his life. For a while Habib copied mamu’s "afro" hairstyle aswell. The radio stint didn’t last too long because Zulfiqar mamu opted forPakistan in 1947 and went back to his hometown, Lahore. Habib then turned todoing odd jobs, writing for films and advertisement shorts, editing variousjournals and "struggling" to become an actor.