Ravinder Sharma, fondly called Guruji, the founder of Adilabad's Kala Ashram died at his house early on Sunday at the age of 65 years. He leaves behind his wife, a son and daughter. Guruji was suffering from cancer since the last three years and died in his sleep. The cremation will take place on Monday morning.
A trained artist, Guruji had been awarded with Kala Ratna by the Andhra Pradesh State government in 2014. After bifurcation of the State, the Telangana government awarded him the Ugadi Puraskaram in 2015. Guruji was also conferred the D. Litt (Honoris Causa) by the SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana the same year. He had won many an other minor awards during his life time. The death was condoled by Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna, Boath MLA Rathod Bapu Rao and others from Adilabad and elsewhere. Ravinder Sharma leaves behind a vacuum for his friends and followers of whom there are hundreds.
Born in a migrant Punjabi family, Ravinder Sharma studied in a local school and showed inclination towards understanding art and also the life of the artisan communities. This quest took him to villages and localities in a radius of 20 km and during the 20 year long journeys, he explored and studied the intricacies of rural life and local technologies.
During the two decade long journey he also collected artefacts and other material from rural areas. His collection includes a lot of material used by tribal people as part of their culture. Guruji emerged a treasure-trove of knowledge about rural economy and technologies, local practices and folk arts. His original and simplistic style of narration of the same infused with interesting insights and anecdotes and stories was easy to comprehend and often had a lasting impact on people who came to Kala Ashram from far and wide to hear him.
The artist-philosopher had lectured at many important fora across the country including the IITs.
