Rain god plays hide & seek with Nagpur sculptors

It's a classic case of one hand taking away what the other has given. The deluge in Mumbai ensured that sculptors in Nashik get a flood of orders for making the deity of Lord Ganesha. The irony is that they can't deliver on the orders as the rains have resulted in a drought of raw materials required for making the deities.

Orders are pouring in from Mumbai, Pune, and Nasik, but artisans are helpless. "Mumbai rains are the reason why we are getting these orders. Unfortunately, they are also the reason why we cannot accept them," said Vijay Baburao Suryawanshi, a well-known sculptor at Chittar Oli - the place where idols of various deities are made.

"We get enough black soil and husk here, but we buy good quality clay, white ink, gum, special paints and different kinds of water soluble colours from Kala Bazaar and mandis in Andheri and VT in Mumbai," explained Suryawanshi.

"God hasn't been happy with Mumbai, so we too will have to suffer this year," he said. With the collapse of both rail and road connectivity - artisans here feel that they won't be able to meet the demands of the local market, let alone the demand from other parts of the state. Ganesh Chaturthi is a mere two weeks away.

The situation is so bad that over 1,000 orders had to be cancelled by these 100 odd sculptors at Chittar Oli. "Bookings usually start a month before the festival but this time we have stopped accepting orders as raw material is scarce, time even scarcer," an artisan said.

These artisans are only fulfilling the requirements of their regular customers who had booked the idols two months ago. Every sculptor generally knows the amount of business he would be undertaking in a season and starts collecting raw material from early July. Many of these sculptors had some paint or gum left over from the previous season and augmented their stock with one visit to Mumbai.

"The rest of the stock would have been purchased after orders firmed up. We were denied that chance this year," said Suryawanshi.

The existing stock with majority of the sculptors has been exhausted by now. "To fulfill our requirements we had to purchase some items from local traders paying 40 to 50 per cent more than the normal rates," said Suryawanshi, who is also an active member of the Vidarbha Chitramurtikar Vikas Sanstha, formed a few years ago.

Another problem that the artisans are facing is the huge amount of moisture in the local climate. High moisture levels affect the quality of idols. Paint tends to develop cracks and even runs.

"Imagine an eye flaking or the forehead cracking up. Everything depends on how good the deity appears. It has to be majestic and awe-inspiring," said Suryawanshi.

Sculptors are trying to deal with this by either lighting small 'chullas' or using a blow torch to dry the idols.

"Even then it is difficult. Excess heat spoils the idol and the exterior chaffs away," said a sculptor.Suryawanshi said, orders from Mumbai, Pune and Nasik could not be accepted as local customers take priority over those from other places.

"We were given an opportunity to earn some money this year, but we have had to accept that local customers are more important to us," said Suryawanshi.