CRAFTING HISTORY: Some of Sunil Pal?s fibreglass statues that are ready to adorn the Parliament Museum. Picture by Prodosh Pal

At 64, Sunil Pal is all set to see his dreams come true.

Forty statues crafted by him are to be installed in the Parliament Museum, to be inaugurated this August.

Inheriting his craft from his father and uncle, who were well-known idol-makers and had made Durgas for many Calcutta households, Sunil Pal is leaving for posterity the life-size images of national leaders like Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and many others.

According to Amit Sarkar (who along with Debabrata Basu is designing the Parliament Museum), ?Pal has a rare ability to produce likenesses from photographs and drawings.?

Currently, artists at the Kolkata Panorama, the hi-tech narrative museum in Calcutta Town Hall, are giving finishing touches to his statues.

The 1,515 sq m Parliament Museum conceived by Saroj Ghosh (who had earlier conceptualised Science City) will offer visitors a chance to relive historical moments and discover the roots of Indian self-governance from evidences in the Mahabharata, Arthashastra and the chronicles of Megasthenes.

The museum will use computerised displays, 3D walk-through exhibits, multi-screen panoramic projections, visitor-operated computer facility and animatronics. But Pal?s life-like statues will play a big role in this historic presentation.

One can peep into Akbar?s Deewan-e-Aam, watch stone-carvers chipping away at the Ashokan edict, or a young girl getting her goat treated by the ayurvedic medics in ancient Magadha. The Central Hall of Parliament, being recreated for this museum, will allow visitors to take a seat beside the life-size statues of national leaders as they were on January 24, 1950, with Rajendra Prasad occupying the President?s chair and Nehru on the rostrum, declaring that India will be a republic.

Poverty had forced Pal?s mother to send him to his uncle Sudhir Pal from Krishnagar, an expert at fashioning little clay dolls. ?So at seven, I was busy picking up the idol-making skills at my uncle?s little workshop on Abinash Kabiraj Street,? recalled Pal.

?The demand grew from small clay statues to statues of four to six feet. Initially, people wanted them done in cement, but now everyone goes for fibreglass,? Pal said.

Many people came to Pal with photographs of their dear ones, whom they have lost. ?All I need are two photographs, a front and a side view. But most of the time, people can?t even supply me the photographs, so I have to use my judgment,? said Pal.

Before the Parliament assignment, Pal had done several busts of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and many others, but making models of national leaders has always been his cherished dream.

His favourites from the Parliament collection are Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Subhas Bose and Rabindranath Tagore.

?By the end of this month, two-thirds of all our exhibits will have been sent to Delhi. Installation will begin in May. We are planning something big for the opening on August 15,? said Saroj Ghosh.