Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh): A 70-year-old man from Gwalior, who practises a unique art of engraving words on glass items, has engraved 'Namokar Mantra' on electric bulbs using a hammer and chisel.
Speaking to the news agency, Vimal Chandra Jain, the bulb artist, said that his family owned a shop where they used to engrave names on utensils. "I used to sit at the shop and watch my uncle carving words closely. That's how I learnt this art," he stated.
"I started with engraving a letter or two on the utensils. It took me some time to get used to it. After this, I started engraving words on medals, shields and on gift items like watches. I even engraved names on the plastic part of mobile phones and my skills improved," he added.
Speaking about how he got the idea to engrave words on bulbs, Jain said that after he practised his art on various items, he wanted to try engraving on glass also. "Initially, I could not engrave on the glass as my regular tools would slip on it," he stated.
"Then I got special tools from Jaipur that would work on glass. It was difficult working with them as well. But slowly I could master the art. I started with a mirror and then worked on different glass items," he added.
Jain informed that it was after engraving words on different glass items that he wanted to try this art on a bulb. "Bulb has a very fragile glass. So, I broke a couple of bulbs in the beginning. I had to be very careful while carving letters on it," he said.
"I started with a few letters, then wrote the God's name and finally, I decided to write complete 'Namokar Mantra' on it," he added.
The bulb artist further said that he has been carving words on glass for 10-12 years and it takes him two to three hours to carve this mantra on a bulb now.
