Calcutta, March 7  :    Calcutta, March 7 :  A schoolboy's brushwork not only earned him a bearhug from the former President of the United States but also gave him a chance to pursue higher studies in visual arts there. Somnil Saha, a Class VIII student of Don Bosco, Park Circus, had painted a portrait of Bill Clinton. He had gone over to Mother House the evening before and requested one of the Missionaries of Charity sisters to take the painting in and get Clinton to sign it. 'Where is the boy?' Clinton asked, on being given the portrait on Saturday. 'Bring him in,' he told a member of his entourage. Fortune smiled on Somnil as he was led through the strict security cordon. And so did Clinton, who signed the portrait and hugged the boy. Somnil then said he wanted to do a course in visual arts in the US. Perhaps seeing promise in the youngster, Clinton asked one of his assistants to hand him a card with the address of his aide. He asked the boy to contact him later. Standing outside Shishu Bhavan after the big meeting, the boy, who had started painting since he was two-and-a-half under the tutelage of 'drawing sir' Gauranga Brahma, gushed: 'I've seen him on TV so many times. I thought I'd draw his picture and try to get it autographed.' This was not Somnil's first brush with the famous. He had earlier got Mother Teresa, Jyoti Basu and Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to sign portraits painted by him.But this time, Somnil's day was really made. Perhaps, so was his future.