Vijay Khaatu the first sculptor who sculpted the Eco-Friendly Ganesh Idol!!!

                                      

Vijay Khaatu, one of the well known sculptors of Mumbai and the first man who sculpted the eco-friendly Ganesh idol. Well, most of us wonder what this eco-friendly Ganesha is, here is the answer to it, most of the Ganesh Idols are made from POP (Plaster-Of-Paris) but the eco-friendly Ganesha is made from black mud which melts immediately in the water after immersion, while the regular Ganesha that are made from POP floats on water and takes some time to melt into water.

Well, let us know something more about Vijay Khaatu, this 56 year old man has seen lot of struggle in his life, he completed his class 7 education from R.M. Bhatt School, and due to unstable financial conditions he later completed his S.S.C. from a night School in Lalbaug, Saraswati Vidhya Mandir, as he used to work during day time. While he was completing his education, he took a keen interest in drawing so much so that he cleared his Elementary and Intermediate Drawing Examination.

     

                                               

Soon after clearing his examination he applied for a sculpting course in Sir J.J. Arts College, and in 1975 he cleared this course of sculpting. Ever since then, he started designing idols of various other Gods, while Ganesha was his favorite right from the beginning. 

Currently Vijay Khaatu, makes the Ganesha idols at the Railway Work Shop Ground,Parel, where you will get to see the variety of Ganesha’s on one side of the ground. On the other side you will find that there are many Ganesha Idols that looked similar to each other. I asked Mr. Khaatu why they all looked same, he said that, “Lot of people have made it a business, while none of them know how to actually design the Ganesha Idol, they make the idols that look similar to each other because they make the idols from the Dye, whereas, we make the idols with different designs and we really work hard on every individual idol and we take a lot of time to make even a single Idol of Lord Ganesha.”

           A Seventh Passed Self trained Computer Expert

Have you ever heard of this? a seventh passed man who is an expert in computers, well versed with the skills of both Hardware and Software. Well, this is not a story it’s the true life story of Mr. Mahesh Yellapa Kunchikorve, age 36, and a resident of Dharavi, one of the biggest slums of Asia. 

Mahesh Kunchikorve, could not continue with his studies due many family and personal issues with one of the major reason being the financial issues. Due to uncertain death of his father, he had to take over the responsibilities of his family at a very tender age, he has 7 brothers he being the eldest one. 

Mahesh Kunchikorve, had joined a cable television job, later he was asked to learn all the technicalities related to the cable television network, while learning the technical work Mahesh took keen interest to learn all the computer related terms and now he also knows the various computer languages like Java, Oracle, C++ etc and many software’s like Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Flash, Movie Maker, Audio-Video Editing. About hardware he knows how to install the computer hard disc, RAM, Processor, Mother Board, CD+DVD RAM. He also knows to assemble the computer as per one’s requirement and also he knows to convert a 2GB RAM to 4 GB RAM.

When I asked him, if he has so much knowledge about hardware and software why doesn’t he apply for a good job, to this he laughed and said,” I would have but the well known companies prefer certificates as well the qualification and not experience, many technicians from these renowned companies call me up and take guidance from me to solve any hardware or software related issues.” It was the best feeling, I felt that I met some-one who is really a genius.

Extra-Ordinary People

How Far would one travel for a stable Job?

Would you travel 125 Kilometers to and from Pune to Mumbai daily for a stable Job? There is this extra-Ordinary man who does that for the survival of his family as he is the only bread winner.That's true dear friends, This man, Mr. Anil Balodra, age - 45 years, a resident of Pune, has been travelling all the way from Pune to Mumbai everyday since last 24 years, just because he has a stable job here in Mumbai. 

He works as an Assistant to the Public Relation Officer, Mr. Vijay Patil Khabhale, BMC, Head Office Opposite to the CST station. When I further inquired, Mr. Anil Balodra said that he gets a monthly salary of Rs. 24000/- for which he leaves the house early in the morning at 5:30 so that he can reach his office on time by 10, he leaves for home at around  6 - 6:30 pm and reaches home not before 11. I was very much surprised at this so I thought of asking him some more questions, he told me he has been working at BMC for the last 24 years, and it is only based on this job that  his daughter is studying Law and both his son are getting education in an English Medium School.  One can Imagine how difficult it would be to travel to and from Pune to Mumbai even for a day. How many of us know of such people who look very ordinary while we are traveling with them in the bus or train, there are so many such people who look ordinary just like us but with the extra-ordinary life. I salute this extra-ordinary spirit of Mr. Anil Balodra.