BICHOLIM: “Serving God through art gives satisfaction and the happiness of serving Lord Ganesha is beyond description,” says Uday Hari Manerikar, a clay idol artist from Bicholim.
He lamented that due to increasing cost of raw materials, making of traditional idols is really expensive these days and stated that the subsidy given by the government is the only profit an artist earns.
Uday disclosed that he was attracted to idols since childhood, and began making them after he passed his SSC exam. His father and grandfather have been serving the elephant god by making idols for decades together. The satisfaction and experience of purity derived while making an idol is heavenly and just cannot be expalined, says Uday.
Fetching natural and traditional clay is difficult today and the increase in prices of raw materials has forced us to hike the rates of idols. Finding skilled workers is another uphill task, says Uday who has managed to employ 8-10 labourers in order to deliver promptly to the clients. Prices of idols vary from Rs 1,500 to Rs 10,000 according to its size.
