House of Hobbies - 6 -- Arun Gulhane: Marvelous memoirs

Crazy and creative, passionate and positive, influential and introverted, happy and hopeful – the hobbyists find their pleasure within. They select and collect; craft and create; preserve and protect, and enjoy in their own mysterious world. ‘House of Hobbies’ was my effort to peep into the world of hobbyists in Nagpur. This series was published in The Hitavada in September-October 2010. Take a look...

Arun Gulhane: Marvelous memoirs

As a schoolboy, models of buildings and other projects kept in the office of his neighbor, an architect, used to fascinate Arun Gulhane. “I used to spend hours watching those models with eyes and mouth wide open,” says he, whose fascination towards replicas of buildings not only gave him a leisure pursuit of a lifetime but also, after thirty-five years, a reason and strength to live life to its fullest, without complaining to destiny for the tough times.


“Like any other boy, I began with making cardboard models of houses and theatres. However, my replicas started looking more real when I used the Japanese Art Board, which is now out of Indian market,” recalls Gulhane, whose art works -- replicas of famous temples and monuments in India made up of ivory paper, century paper, cardboards, and art boards and lacquered with oil paint -- look even better than the original.

It was some three decades ago, when Gulhane joined IGGMC as technician, and found the unique set of tools he uses for cutting the paper with rare artistry –surgical equipment.

“Yes, the delicate cutting needs surgical equipment,” he says, while showing the instruments.

Gulhane, a science, law and management graduate, has no formal education in engineering or architecture. Still, he uses the graph paper, measurement instruments proficiently and follows geometry with such excellence that no replica loses its proportion even slightly. “It need months, sometime years, to complete one piece. Concentration and lots of patience are must to acquire this skill. But today’s youths don’t like to wait,” -- Gulhane’s reason as to why he has not been able to pass on the skill to some youngster.

His only son Vaibhav, an engineer, is working in Tatanagar. “He always supports me silently. He knows, this art is the only life tonic for me, particularly, since I was left alone five years ago by the untimely demise of my wife, Dr Saroj,” Gulhane expresses. “She was a great support,” he pauses, and switches over to another topic.

Born and brought up in the city, Gulhane wants to live and love Nagpur for his lifetime. “That was why I donated two of my masterpieces to the Central Museum,” says he, showing the photographs of replicas of Maharaja Bakhtarsingh’s memorial in Alwar, and Maharaja Jaswant Singh’s memorial in Jodhpur. These photographs leave one just awe-stricken. But the artworks are no more available in the museum.

“Careless, they literally ruined my hard work. When I asked them to return them back, the curator did not even respond properly,” he laments. But this irresponsible act of the Central Museum authorities failed to dampen his spirit. “After retirement, I find lots of time and solitude. I have the graph papers and sketches of those pieces. I will re-create them,” the man says with a confident smile, brought on by his rare hobby.