By: Violet Pereira for Team Mangalorean
India is a land of great diversity in its physical features, people, languages and culture. India has a rich heritage in science, architecture and literature. It is a unique country with many talented personalities and is also famous for artisans and crafts.
Karnataka is a beautiful state of India. It is like a heaven on earth filled with greenery. Amidst the beauty of this heaven on earth Mr. Janardhan Kottari and Mrs. Bhavani, a couple from a village called Kalladka, gave birth to a baby boy and named him Chandrashekar. He was born on 5th May in the year 1964. Chandrasehekar grew up to be multi-talented and used all his dreams to capture this heaven’s beauty through art. Later, Chandrashekar’s family moved to Mangalore to a place called Nagori.
Chandrashekar completed his primary education in ‘Guardian Angel’s Primary School’, Nagori, and then he moved to ‘Rosario High School’ where he completed his matriculation. He was very good in art and therefore he discontinued his education and took up art as his main occupation.
By God’s grace and the support of his parents, Chandrashekar joined Mr. Ganesh Somayaji Bantwal to learn more about art. Under his guidance he learned all the different aspects and kinds of art and stepped forward to gain success. This talent not only satisfied his artistic inclinations but also helped him to earn his daily bread.
In 1979 the ‘Karnataka State Art Academy’ organized a ‘lower grade and higher grade art competition’. Chandrashekar participated in that competition and received the first place. Through this he had got a feather to his talent of art. In 1980, he started ‘Kalanidhi Mangalore Institution’ and he achieved great success by developing this institution and by teaching children the true meaning of art. Through the institution he also conducted drawing camps and drawing competitions. He trained many students and introduced their talents to the world. In 1982, Chandrashekar built his own ‘Art School’ to train students in art. He became an idol to many children who joined his school to learn art. This was his greatest achievement.
Chandrashekar himself took part in various art competitions and bagged many prizes. Many institutions witnessed his talent and started to honor him one by one. These honors gave him a strong hope to continue with his art.
He started his own business under the banner of ‘Chandra Arts’ and was appreciated by Mangaloreans. Through his hard work he became a well-known artist in Mangalore. Today we can say that he is not only a proud son of Mangalore, but he has trained more than 100 students and developed their artistic talent.
As a young talented and energetic man, the fact that he gave full importance to art is really appreciable. Apart from art, Chandrashekar is a body builder too. Continuously for two years he has won the "Mr. Kottari" award in 1992 – 1993. In 1996 he won the Karnataka State award for bodybuilding.
Chandrashekar is a good social worker too. He has helped many poor families especially art lovers to learn art. Through this, he has won over the hearts of these people. He has rendered his services to many institutions, helping the poor people and encouraging them through teaching art. He has printed his art on the walls of temples, holy places and won the hearts of the holy guru’s too.
Chandrashekar married Tarashree in 1992. After their marriage, his wife encouraged him wholeheartedly in his artistic pursuits. Chandrashekar says,"Today if I am a well-known artist and have continued my artistic skills then it is all due to my wife, Tarashree."
He himself helped his friends and relatives financially by thinking that all are his own people but the bitter experience in his life was, when he fell sick and was hospitalized no one came forward to offer him a helping hand. He was fully helpless as financially he lost everything. He says he went through a very hard time to treat himself. This incident made him think deeply and it resulted in him taking an adverse decision in his life. He lost all interest in social service and strictly decided to stay away from his friends and relatives. Finally, he found a solution to go abroad and his decision showed him the way to United Arab Emirates.
Chandrashekar is very experienced in oil painting, water painting, scenery designing, spot painting, one-minute art, models, signboard and block designing. He joined a famous company in UAE called ‘The Paris Group’, which appointed him as an artist. With his talent, he started to shine at the international level. At present, he is designing the models in huge shopping malls, giving shape to the manacles and building huge entrances by using thermocol in exhibition centers. For the past four years he has been working for this company and is recognized as a multi-talented artist. Yet the monetary remuneration that he received in this company is far below than what he deserves for his talent. Chandrashekar himself is well aware of this fact and is not very happy with his present earning, but nevertheless his company has honored him with ‘The Best Artist’ award.
As Kannadigas, we should all be really proud of Chadrashekar for his achievements. He has done himself and his state proud by getting a best artist award from an international company in UAE.
Mangalorean.com wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.
Author: Violet Pereira- Mangalore