Keshav Chandra Paul gives shape to an idol. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Oct. 2: For more than four decades Keshav Chandra Paul has been drawing the eyes of Durga but the goddess has not been kind enough. She robbed him of his eyesight when his career was at its prime.

Paul has been making idols for the past 43 years now and he claims his loss of vision has not come in the way of his profession.

“I can make two idols a day. My employers underestimate me and question my productivity. People wonder how I make idols and I tell them I do not need to see to make it. Before I start making idols, I remember my teacher at Kumartuli,” he said.

Paul came to the steel city from Agarpara in Calcutta. He has been an artisan in Kumartuli but after his marriage he started frequenting Jamshedpur, where his in-laws stayed. And in few years he migrated to the city.

“I was working at Kumartuli but I was got married. When I came here a couple of times in the 1970s, I thought I can earn better here as an artisan. Competition was less at that time and I migrated to the city in 1977,” said Paul.

In 1984 the artisan, who makes idol for Puja pandals in Govindpur, Mango and Sakchi, developed an eye problem. After visit to Jamshedpur Eye Hospital for three years, his brother-in-law took him to Calcutta for eye check up.

“The doctor who treated me here said I have to have his medicine but did not tell me my ailment. When I went to Calcutta, the doctor said I was suffering from glaucoma and had to be operated immediately. But as Basant Pachami was round the corner, I could not go in for the operation then,” Paul said. Though the operation took place after three months, it was unsuccessful.

After running from pillar to post, Paul did not get his handicap certificate which he had applied for in 1988. He also needs a red card to feed his family. He has a small workshop at his house and earns around Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 a month.

Till some years ago, his daughter used to spray paint the idols but after her marriage his wife Renubala is the only helping hand apart from two workers.