There are times when simple bare facts look like hilarious imagination, and here is one of those times.
Velu, who was born in a family of sculptors in Chittoor, studied sculpture at Tirupati under masters like Ganapati Sthapati (sculptor of the Buddha statue which now stands in the center of the Hussain Sagar) and T Ramamurthy Sthapati.
Velu works in the Endowments Department as an Assistant Sthapati now, and his new passion is to paint with medicine syrups. A freak accident at home and the color of syrups have inspired Velu to vie for a name in the Guinness Book of World Records. He is planning to complete 100 paintings in one go, and will start work on his first painting on Wednesday (16.01.2002) at the City Central Library.
He first experimented with the colors he had prepared after mixing various kinds of medicines, syrups, tonics, tablets of Gelusil, Gentian violet and other chemical-based products such as mosquito coils and soft drink concentrates. He uses coconut water and gum for mixing all these ingredients. His paintings are sponsored by some pharmacies and by the Traditional Artists Organization.
Velu's paintings will be on display today in the presence of the Ajeya Kallam, Commissioner Endowments P R Raju - national awardee and adjudicator of the work - and A Prabhakara Chary, surgeon in the Osmania General Hospital. We suppose the former will ascertain the artistic value of the paintings, and the latter, the medicinal value.
Please contact 763-7632/763-8249 for further details.
Sai Kumar
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