Puri: Women hold fort at sand art fest

BHUBANESWAR: Though Covid has taken a toll on artists around the world, they are trying to think of new ways to keep their art alive.
For 20-year-old Nivedita Mishra from Puri, shapingsandsculptures on Chandrabhaga Beach at the 9th International Sand Art Festival amid the virus fear was like experiencing pure joy. Nivedita had felt that the festival would eventually get cancelled. Coronavirus restrictions on big events had forced many to rethink their plans.
So when she got a chance to showcase her talent, her happiness knew no bounds.“This year’s experience was different. Girls worked and walked around with masks for seven hours. We had to go through a sanitisation tunnel before entering the site,” she said.
For her teammate, Subhashree Mishra (22), this was her second tryst with sand art at Chandrabhaga. Subhashree had taken part in the Puri Beach Festival last year.
While Nivedita is a Plus III final year student at SCS College in Puri, Subhashree completed her graduation in English honours from Government Women’s College this year.
Despite the physical labour involved in making massive sculptures, the girls go about the job with great enthusiasm. They use wet sand and often spray the sculptures with water to make them last long. As there is a new theme everyday, the surprise element keeps them on their toes. This year, the themes revolved around coronavirus and saving the environment and wildlife, among others.
Altogether 20 women from Puri participated in the group event. It consisted of five women each in four groups. There were 71 participants, including two men each from West Bengal and Rajasthan, one each from Tamil Nadu and Bihar and the rest from Kalahandi, Koraput, Nayagarh, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts.
Last year, there were more than 100 participants both from India and abroad. Of them, 40 were women.
The duo from Rajasthan — Kuldeep Tak (23), a PG final year student, and Ajay Rawat (30), a railway employee — represented the theme through popular cartoon characters ‘motu and patlu’ to attract children. With coronavirus-wary viewers staying away, the festival was low-key. The number of stalls were reduced to 25 from 40.
“This year, we issued tokens and allowed people to move in a queue by following social distancing norms. Volunteers were instructed not to allow them to stop at any stall,” ace sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik said. He is the brand ambassador of the event.