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Journalism of Courage
“My ‘art’ is not a mere exhibit across a street, I too have a family to feed”, said a lean man in a white linen shirt and tattered trousers who sat near a lamppost with his nephew. He is engrossed in conjuring something which we rarely come across nowadays, especially something on such a portable scale.
SK Khaleel is a forger from Hyderabad city of central India. He takes copper, brass or Aluminium scrap from his customers, melts it, and casts figurines and idols from his personal collection of moulds. His nephew Ramesh helps him with a hand-crank forge blower.
A hollow cuboid, little clay and scrap is all what gives him the source of sustenance. “I respect and devote my complete time only to this job, I don’t know how I would survive otherwise,” said the artist.
WATCH VIDEO: How SK Khaleel turns scrap into ‘gold’
Khaleel moves his hands deftly, making the whole work seem more artistic. So much so that the awe-inspiring process makes the people mob around him to marvel at the way he mixes the clay, fills the molten metal into the mould, and shapes the idol. People give him all sorts of scrap; pressure cooker handles, ceiling-fan wings, aluminium cranks and door hinges, all that has metal in it. And he turns it into ‘gold’!
“I have migrated to many states in India; Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala. I have also been to Nepal,” said Khaleel. He used to work at Sunauli Indo-Nepal border, calling it the most ‘economically viable’ belt. He recollected how Nepalese showed interest in his art and work, “they (Nepalese) value art and people there, unlike in India.”
Khaleel’s grandfather was a tinkerer but the forging of idols only started from his father’s generation. Since then all his cousins, friends and siblings, about 300, were split across the cross-sections of Indian sub-continent fending themselves with the ‘little’ of what they could make from the idol sales.
“No one likes to buy this stuff. I am giving the idols for Rs 80 (Aluminium) and Rs 160 (Brass) per piece, but people are still inclined to get this same stuff from fancy stores in markets where they charge Rs 700 or 1000 per idol. I only manage a margin of Rs 20 per piece,” said Khaleel with a long face. But he was generous in answering everyone’s queries and even explaining bits and piece of how the forge works.
Khaleel stays in perpetual state of turmoil. “This is not a permanent source of employment, I don’t know where I will go next and I came to this city after 18 years. Sometimes weeks pass-by without any work,” he said.
One favorable thing this modern world has given to this traditional survivor is that he has a mobile phone to take calls for orders and he does ‘at-home’ service. He also provides casts with customized moulds that people have.
STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS
It’s magic: How scrap takes the form of a figurine
* Khaleel would let the people gather before starting the breathtaking process. The touch of the clay lightens his face as his hands quickly and artfully kneads the soil.
* He then spreads the clay in the cuboid, pressing it hard at the top to get the perfect impression of the moulds placed in the bottom. Khaleel has the coal ready, he puts it in a make-shift hearth and lets the fire do the magic.
* The next step is the charm of the winter, the metal melting in the fire-pot dissolving all that was solid into a pure viscous liquid.
* Finally, the molten liquid is sieved off dust or unwanted materials. A bright brass or a magnificent mercury is ready for a celestial idol.
* The liquid is then poured into a hole made in the clay which connects the impressions. In no time, the impression vanishes, and an idol emerges.
* His nephew Ramesh has noticeably grown a muscle from the constant spin of the hand crank of the blower. The creators rhythmic sync adds to the beauty of the creation.
E-mail author: kalvapudi.krisna@expressindia.com
Follow on Twitter: @kris1290
