Dharmpal Surve (53),a bus painter working with BEST undertaking,squats for long while poking closely at the photograph of a Narendra Dabholkar to reproduce the expressions of the anti-superstition activist. Dabholkar was murdered at Pune in August.
Surve along with 11 others will work at the conference room of BEST headquarters,Colaba,till October 11,to create portraits of personalities,including yesteryear actor Pran and Bal Thackeray,as part of the Rangoli competition organised by the undertaking every year to mark Dussehra.
For this years contest,I decided to depict Dabholkar and his fight against superstition. While I have his face on one side,the other half of the rangoli shows the rituals he was against and how he died fighting those superstitions, he said.
Surve,who joined BEST in 1985,has won the competition thrice. Participants,including bus drivers,conductors and staff,will spend the next two days in Colaba and at the BEST office in Dadar to make the rangolis.
We have accommodated male participants at our Colaba office and women in Dadar,since they will have to stay through the night to finish their work. The exhibition will begin on October 11. Several cultural programmes have also been planned, said one of the organising committee members.
Though none of our employees have any formal training,they have been able to master the art of creating portrait rangolis. Every year they learn from each others work. Some of the rangolis made in the past have been exceptional pieces of art, a BEST spokesperson said.
priyal.dave@expressindia.com
