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Bengal craftsman Gopal Nandi’s art-wares, produced out of cast-away material, are selling like hot cakes at Surajkund Crafts Mela, says
C.D. Verma
In this world nothing goes waste. Everything has its value. What is needed is a discerning eye and expert hands to metamorphose the dross into the worth of an artifact. Ugliness is but skin deep. The business of art is to reveal the beauty underlying all things. This fact has been amply proved by Gopal Nandi, a bespectacled 75-year-old-craftsman-artiste, who has arrived from West Bengal, the theme state, for the first time at Surajkund Crafts Mela this year. Gopal Nandi has been drawing huge crowds. In fact, he has become a cynosure of domestic and foreign tourists at the crafts fair. His art-wares, produced out of cast-away material, are not only selling like hot cakes, but patrons, amazed and fascinated, have invariably lauded and relished the artifacts of this phenomenal prodigy. Recognising his unique craft-art, the Central Handicrafts Commissioner honoured him with a national award, and rightly so. The wonder of Gopal's art is that he transmutes the thrown-away coconut (narial), oyster (seep) and wood-apple (fruit of the bel tree) shells into amazing artifacts worth Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000. He has etched out and inscribed the figurines of the divine characters of the Ramayana on coconut shells, and has priced them at Rs 3,000 a piece. He has converted oyster shells, which one sees lying scattered at sea beaches, into conch shells, priced at Rs 3,000 a piece. From oyster shells he has also made comely and alluring artificial ornaments and bangles, priced variously. Telling his penury-to-plenty life tale, Gopal says that he was born in 1932 in a village near Vishnupur in Bankura district of West Bengal. He did not go to any school. Like his ancestors, he caught fish from the sea to make both ends meet. He would invariably see oyster shells, washed ashore by sea currents and lying hither and thither, and would collect them, initially as a plaything. But eventually he started inscribing and embossing various designs on them. With the passage of time, this work became a passion with him, and he perfected the art of moulding and shaping oyster shells into conch shells, pearls, ornaments and other artifacts. Verily, he, who is firm in will, moulds the world to himself. This is what Gopal did. In 1968, the Government of West Bengal recognised his talent and gave him the state award. His artifacts became so popular that the state government honoured him with a national award in 1988. Today, Gopal has mastered the art of transforming oyster shells into pearls, so dazzling and attractive that they resemble the original ones. Cursorily, they do not seem to be artificial pearls, or their imitations. With these oyster-shell-pearls, he has made beautiful bracelets, earrings, bangles and other artificial ornaments. He has also developed the acumen to convert wood-apple (bel) shells into beautiful bangles. His artificial ornaments are attracting ladies, hailing from all strata of society, and he is having a roaring business. The great art is that in which the hand, the head and the heart of man go together. Gopal Nandi, the artist from the theme state, obviously, possesses this quality. With him the old order changeth, yielding place to new.
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