When there is no dearth of waste material, then creativity abounds. Sounds strange? Not for T Muppidathi (46), who creates artefacts from recycled material. A civil engineer by profession, Muppidathi is originally from Tirunelveli and has made Bengaluru his home.
He works with anything he finds — from peanuts, fallen leaves, binding wire, chalk pieces, match sticks, crumpled paper or torn pieces of clothes. Till date he has made miniature idols out of chalk, waste bricks, egg shells, thermocol, used straws and toothpicks. His most challenging task, he states was creating the Eiffel Tower from grains of rice. “I used 2,332 rice grains and it took me 46 hours to complete.”
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Muppidathi says he started creating artefacts from waste when he was in class five. “I failed in my very first drawing competition and was disappointed. That day, I decided that I had to learn to draw. I would place a tracing paper on drawings and practise. Gradually, my drawing skills improved. On the other hand, we had teachers who would throw chalk pieces at us when we were naughty. I started collecting them and slowly carved out the images of deities on them. The art was alive and I was hooked!”
“I am a civil engineer, so come across a lot of broken brick pieces and waste material, in varied shapes, which go as raw material into my craft. Till date, I have used 20 types of recycled material for my work. I work during the day and the nights are reserved for my craft.”
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While Muppidathi gives away some of his creations as gifts, he also had an exhibition at the Rotary Club. “I plan to have another exhibition and also teach crafting once the situation improves.”
Muppidathi can be contacted on 9036215647/ at.muppedathi@gmail.com