Skyrocketing gold prices do not worry Ganesh Subramaniyam, who has dared to build a ‘Taj Mahal’ using the yellow metal. Those eager to get a glimpse of the monument in gold can peep through the magnifying lens and the five-millimetre-tall miniature Taj weighing 40 milligrams would become visible.
The man who indulges in the interesting vocation of creating ‘nano crafts’- as he calls it - in gold has displayed his miniature creations at VJT Hall here.
The expense towards the making of the works starts from Rs 3 onwards, according to the sculptor.
The model of a cricket world cup trophy which could be placed on top of a paper pin, a dinosaur so tiny that it’s smaller than a sesame, a deer that could be balanced on the tip of a matchstick; his works suit the adage, ‘small is beautiful’, yet are intricate.
For the benefit of the visitors, Ganesh has wisely arranged all the sculptures inside magnifying lens-mounted frames and placed display boards. “Some of my friends asked me why you need such a big hall to display these tiny items. Once they came here, they understood,” Ganesh smiles.
Among the displays, the working model of a number lock is what he calls his magnum opus. The lock, weighing one milligram and three millimetres tall, hangs down through the eye of a needle, and can be unlocked, provided you succeed in putting the numbers 5 6 7 right.
Aiming for a world record, Ganesh is now eagerly looking forward to his work getting approved by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Ganesh had also gifted a nano sculpture of ‘Ananthasayanam’ of Padmanabha Swamy Temple to Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, head of the Travancore royal family, in a magnifying lens-fitted ring. Another such ring containing a ‘Nataraja vigraha’ was gifted to actor Mohanlal and a cannon fitted in a lens-mounted structure was given to former President A P J Abdul Kalam.
Since 2005, Ganesh, a goldsmith by profession residing at Poojappura in the city, has been in love with the making of lilliputian sculptures. “I had been dreaming over the ways to be different in my profession. Then, I somehow got fascinated watching a small photograph of a huge building in a magazine. And I thought, it would be nice to make miniature forms using gold,” says Ganesh.
Next, his efforts were to find a way to realise the dream. He designed and developed special metallic tools to make the mini forms. Through experimentation, he arrived at a style of his own. An oarsman in a canoe was his first creation.
He admits that there is many a slip twixt cup and lip and only by keeping utmost patience from beginning to end shall one become successful in the dexterous crafting. Time, passion and dedication ought to go hand in hand throughout. Hence, he has not given a commercial perspective to the work so far. Ganesh, who deals with things that are small, has a big dream too, to take his works to an international venue.
The exhibition in the city will conclude on Sunday.
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