Subhechcha Ganguly 
Amidst the gushing of sea shores and the crowd , in Puri something caught my attention. There was a small crowd gathering in a nearby place to observe something. I moved ahead to see what the thing was . It was very faintly visible from a distance . It was during the time of ” Fesitival of Lights ” Diwali and there was a beautiful sandart of Goddess Kali ,made in the Puri sea beach.
The beautiful sand art was crafted byTarani Nayak . He is from Odisha itself .Tarani Nayak has been taking part in several festival like Puri Beach Festival, Konark Festival etc.He also added that ” Sand Art” is not an easy work. Also it is very unpredictable that till what time will their creation stay as constant waves can increase at any point completely disrupting the work. The best part of Sand Art is that is unique . Each individual artist has their own way of creating the art.
It takes minimum three hours to complete a sand art and also takes several attempts. For practising this kind of art firm one needs to be very patient and keep trying until they see results.
Sand Art has been given a lot of importance. Sudarshan Pattanaik was one of the most eminent personalities who had increased the level of Sand Art in National forums. Sand Art is also represented widely in festivals like Puri Sea Festival, Konark Beach Festival and many more.
When we talked about career and way of living he told earning in these crafts are very difficult. This is because artists always struggle with getting jobs and collaborations. Tarani Nayak also hopes to work with OTDC (Odisha Tourism Development Corporation) someday so that he gets recognition. He also wishes to use his skills can not be used to serve the state by uplifting Odisha’s culture infront of national audience.
