Creating life out of junk

KOLKATA: Twenty-eight-yearold Mamata Shah knows the pain of loss all to well.
For the last two decades, she has battled through the loss of her legs and financial trouble with only two things keeping her spirit alive — her willpower and the magic she creates with her hands.
Mamata delights in experimenting with materials — in crafting idols and painting — but her passion is making Kali idols.
Her latest creation, made of pencil shavings and pencil lead, is an entrant in the state-level competition at Handicrafts Mela.
Having won the Indian Society of Oriental Art Academy award for the best painting in 1998, the state award for idol making would be another milestone in an inspiring career.
She used black lead dust for the base figure of the Kali idol and pencil shavings for the crown and the dress.
It took Mamata 20 days to complete the idol.
"I love experimenting with things like betelnut bark, gem-clips, jute rag, dhan and fish scales but making an idol for a competition is completely different. I had to revise the model many times until I hit upon the thing I was drawing the sketches with — my pencil," said the part-time Montessori art teacher.
But making it to the competition wasn''t easy.
From walking stairs to get her registration, to collecting different kinds of pencils and making the glass box to submit her creation, Mamata was alone against the odds.
"Sometimes it all gets very depressing. But then, appreciation is what matters to me at the end of it all," said Mamata.