S. Anand Rao of Berhampur in Odisha took to creating scale models of planes, rockets, missiles and warships in order to defy ageing and stress. In just three years his concentrated efforts have won him accolades: five of his miniatures, including that of a machine gun, helicopter, PSLV and some planes, find mention in India Book of Records .
Rao says his new passion has made him feel younger. “I now claim to be 26,” says the 66-year-old, who is a gas welder by profession and owns a workshop in the city.
When he was in his teens, he had learnt silver modelling from his father. The father was a trained artisan of silver but worked mostly with tin. “After several decades I remembered all that I had learnt from my father and used it for my miniature craftsmanship,” says Rao, emphasising that brass is hard to work with in comparison to softer metals like gold or silver.
Brass modelling, according to him, is time-consuming and needs much higher concentration. “Sometimes a model takes more than a month to be created. For me the entire exercise is an experience of meditative calmness. For a 26-inch tall model of Trishul missile, I worked for eight hours every day for 35 days,” says Rao, who took up scale modelling to spend time in a productive manner after his two daughters got married.
Through his experiments in brass, he wants to keep the traditional brass craftsmanship of Berhampur alive. “By adding modern, contemporary elements to the craftsmanship I want to get the new generation interested in this traditional skill,” he says.
Rao, who had to read up information and examine pictures of aircraft and rockets in detail, likes to name all his models after the popular kings and dynasties of Odisha. Some of his creations carry labels such as King Puri Airlines, King Jarada Airlines, Gajapati Railways, and King Chikiti MIG 16. When asked why, he says that these kings understood art and were great patrons of artisans. Our present-day rulers do not have this quality, he laments.
