31 July,2016 11:20 AM IST | | Anju Maskeri
Inside Lower Parel's sprawling Western Railway’s carriage repair workshop, a section of the wall is done up with a painting of miniature elephants
Inside Lower Parel's sprawling Western Railway's carriage repair workshop, a section of the wall is done up with a painting of miniature elephants. Created with shades of black and red in watercolours, the minimalist design is a handiwork of coach painter, Satish Parab. "I try to come up with a new pattern to decorate the walls every year around Ganesh Chaturthi," says Parab, 45.
Satish Parab paints Ganpatis at his Sion workshop after wrapping up his day job. Pic/Sayed Sameer Abedi
Parab works in the coach department of the workshop that undertakes the periodic overhauling of main line passenger coaches.
After clocking in the required hours from 7 am to 4 pm, he takes on a new role - that of a Ganpati idol maker. At his Sion workshop, Parab and his three assistants have created about 25 Ganesh idols - each 2.5 feet long - in various colours and designs meant for households. "I paint according to the specifications given by my customers, such as the size of the idol or the colour of the pitambar (dhoti)," says Parab, who enjoys painting Ganpati's almond eyes the most. Each idol is then sold for anywhere between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,500.
Satish Parab paints coaches at Lower Parel's Railway workshop from 7 am to 4 pm. Pic/Sneha Kharabe
Apart from smaller-sized Ganesh idols, Parab also paints the 18-feet-high Ganesh idol at Matunga's Amrut Mohan Mitra Mandal, which takes a month to finish, and is currently being constructed. "My late father, Laxman Parab, was a professionl artist and he would create the most breathtaking Ganesh idols at our home. So I grew up learning the art from him," says this father of an 11-year-old daughter. When the season of making Ganesh idols is over, Parab makes paintings on canvas and dabbles in wall art during the rest of the year.
Since 1992, Parab has been juggling the two jobs every year around this time. Each year, Parab makes 30 Ganesh idols. "Most of us who work as railway painters are artists. But this job of painting coaches does not require much creativity. It needs some technical knowledge, for which you're given training once you're hired. So, to fulfil my creative side, I make these Ganpatis," says Parab, who has done a year-long course in technical drawing from the Industrial Training Institute at Lower Parel.
Along with Parab, railway artist Tanaji Tandel, who works in the lettering department, also dabbles in Ganpati painting. "My son is an art teacher at a school. He and I have been making Ganpatis at a workshop in Mahim for the last five years," says Tandel, who creates idols out of clay. It takes the 56-year-old two days to create one idol as the procedure to carve it out of clay is more time-consuming than plaster of Paris.
Interestingly, Tandel comes with no formal training in art. "It's just God's gift. My job at the Railways involves painting the text on coaches. You have to be very careful while doing it as there's no scope for error," says Tandel, who also enjoys making rangolis on occasion at the Railway workshop. "While one job sustains me, the other satisfies my creative needs," smiles Tandel.
