THE KING OF SAND

                A nice sunny Sunday, not much work,12000 km away from from home and importantly alone...Believe me this is the best time to have a look at the pictures saved in the laptop. It really refreshed all my sweet memories. While watching, I really paused the windows picture slide show to concentrate on a particular picture.I was with a great person in that picture & frankly speaking I am really proud to have that picture with me.  It  is the picture neither with SRK nor with my darling Dia Mirza. He is one of the biggest achievers of the state ODISHA. He is unorthodox in the fashion that he gives shape to sands, supremely successful but extremely down to earth . He is none other than the great sand artist Mr Sudarshan Pattnaik.


                 I always believe that if we can't do anything for our own state/country, we must at least let others know about the achievements of our people. So it gives me immense pleasure to let others know about this great personality from Odisha. This talent was born in a very poor family in  1977 in Puri, the holy land of the Lord Jagannath. He is the first sand artist of India. It is such an art in which one needs to swim in the sea of creativity in order to achieve something. The holy air of puri, blessings of Lord Jagannath & the DNA power-packed with creativity gradually drove this person to the pinnacle of success in a unique field of art. he has been conquering the sands since the age of only seven ! In a state where people are obsessed with turning their children into either doctors or engineers, he has proved that nothing can beat creativity. Interestingly there was nobody to teach him these arts. He was his own teacher, he created & he mastered it.. !!


               Now after almost 25 years of romance with the sands, he is regarded as the numero uno sand artist of the panet. A person who was never taught anything regarding sand art is managing an institute in the name 'Golden Sand art Institute' in Puri which is first of it's nature in whole India. Plenty of students are working under his arm & one of them is Manas kumar Sahoo who was the semi finalist of India's got talent season-2.

Let me put light on some of his remarkable achievements;

- He has participated in more than 40 international sand art competitions & won may awards for the country

- The 15 feet high Santa clause of sand made by him holds the world record for tallest ever Santa clause.

- He won the people's choice award at the 1st International Sand Sculpture Championship held in Moscow,  Russia.

- He brought to life with sand the stirring image of Mahatma Gandhi leading the Dandi march at the commonwealth games opening ceremony in New Delhi.

- He had created a 15 feet high hindu God Ganesh to create awareness among the people on the potential dangers of global warming at the international sand championship. The top of the sculpture depicted the melting the glaciers of the Himalayas & in the flowing water Lord Ganesh travelling on a boat with a sign 'Divine concern on global warming' !!

- His other  amazing sand creations were the  'Black Taj mahal' , Obama, Lord Jagannath, Buddha etc

                            The above achievements are like a drop from an ocean. He is just 35 years old so plenty of artistic wonders are on the cards  & I can't use the phrase ''Rest is history''. You are really a star & we the Indians and Odias are really proud of your achievements & we pray for your success in future endeavors.