From kabaddi courts to Ravana’s world: The extraordinary journey of Tejinder Chauhan

This time, the Ravana effigy in Sector 5 Shalimar ground has cost Rs 18 lakh, which is being paid by a charitable trust.

As for less height of the present Ravana effigy, a boundary wall has come up around the ground which allows only this much height safe enough for the crowd that will come to witness Dussehra.

Tallest effigy of Ravana of triciy installed at a ground in Sector 5 Panchkula ahead of dussehra festival on Thursday. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)

The kabaddi player has made five entries in the Limca Book of Records for making the tallest Ravana — in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and then a 210-ft-high in 2016. In Chandigarh in 2019, Chauhan made a 221-ft-high effigy but didn’t register anywhere for the making record.

Details of the tallest effigy

While the crown on which he has worked is 35-ft-long weighing 200 kg, the face of the effigy is made up of fibre glass and weighs 150 kilograms.

From forehead to the shoulder, the face of the Ravana is 20-foot-long.

The face has cost about Rs 1.25 lakh even after using the flex meant for display and hoardings.

Chauhan has himself painted the moustache and skin with dark brown and black colour.

From 3,000 metres of special velvet cloth this time to 2,000 kilograms of bamboo, to about 150 kgs of rope and 25 quintals of iron frame — a lot goes into the making of the Ravana. The special velvet cloth is for Rs 3 lakh.

“The body alone is 80-ft-high. We have used stapler pins as well to tuck the cloth. It is not the normal stapler; it is the gun tracker stapler. We require almost 20 boxes only of the stapler pins. You see the wires for remote connection. We have used 15 bundles of it,” he told The Indian Express.

The effigy alone is 4,000 kilograms heavy. One shoe weighs 50 kilograms and is 20-ft-long. And all of it is waterproof. To give base to the effigy, they have used iron frames of 25 quintals. For jewellery, three rolls of 150 metres have been used.

The welders have been paid Rs 18,000. For about two and a half months, the workers stayed at the site and even slept inside the evil man.

Eco-friendly crackers costing Rs 2.5 lakh have been purchased from Sivakasi and fixed in the effigy at various points. The effigy will be set to flames through a remote control.

What is it that brings him joy ?

Making the effigy that brings smiles to the faces of thousands of people who see it going up in flames must be gladdening the heart of his late father as well, Chauhan believes.

“Just the cheer I bring to everyone is something that I am sure must be bringing joy to my dad as well who must be looking at me from the heaven. My dad was a headmaster in a government school. There was a time, when I was beaten up a lot to make me study. That developed a phobia in me about studies and a hatred for my father too,” Chauhan said.

He added, “After my Class X exams got over, I threw all the books at my father and said ‘You do whatever you want to now. I won’t touch any book.’ I wish I could have seen dad’s intention behind beating me to study. I wouldn’t have been just a matriculate then. The only thing I became after Class X was a goon of the village, thrashing anyone who, according to me, did anything bad.”

Later, Chauhan represented Haryana in kabaddi tournaments. Complaints from villagers to his father were a routine which made people see his family in a bad light and that drained out entire reputation his father had earned all these years.

On a weekday in September 1987, Chauhan returned from the kabaddi tournament when he found his father crying bitterly.

“My dad was a strong man. He never cried but I saw him weeping badly and murmuring about me looking up in the sky. He was asking God as to why I was born. I never saw dad like this and I decided to shun everything for him. I went up to him and said ‘give me some work with which I can bring back your happiness’,” Chauhan said, wiping tears rolling down his cheeks.

After no response from his father for two days over this, when Chauhan pressed him again for an answer, the father came up with a task.

“Those were festive days and Dussehra was yet to come. He thought I wasn’t serious and told me to revive the Ramleela which had stopped taking place in their village so that we inculcate those good learnings and traditions in people and it could even improve the image of our family in the village. I along with five friends got some artistes and got the Ramleela staged and it was a huge success that year,” Chauhan said.

Since two days were left for Dussehra, the group of friends also decided to make a Ravana effigy.

Subsequently, Chauhan launched his own Ramleela club which not only organised Ramleelas but also made effigies. In 1987, the effigy was just 20-ft-high and today there is no looking back.

“That happiness which I could see on my father’s face can’t be expressed. I too started drawing immense satisfaction from getting Ramleela staged and making an effigy every year with an increased height. But the most important thing was there were smiles not just on the people’s faces but on my dad’s too. Since then every year I have been working for my dad’s happiness even if he is no more with us,” Chauhan said, adding that his father died in 2005.

Chauhan has made one effigy in Dehradun and one in Ambala too.

“The Dehradun effigy is around 131 feet and the Ambala one is 125 feet. Since all my money is finished, I just make effigies on orders now,” he added.

Chauhan’s daughter is married in the US while son is a professional bodybuilder. He claims his family has supported him through thick and thin.