Losing right hand in explosion did not stop Sasidharan; 2000 pictures drawn with left hand

KOLLAM: Sasidharan was injured at the age of 16 when the firework exploded in his hand while he was filling the kathina with black powder at the Kottarakkara Ganapathy Temple. His right palm was shattered. Half of the thumb of his left hand was severed. Sasidharan, who had been drawing since childhood, did not give up. He tamed his left hand, which had a severed thumb. He painted more than two thousand beautiful paintings with that hand.

A. Sasidharan, a native of Avannoor, Kottarakkara, continues to paint at the age of 60, overcoming difficulties. He also has an institution called 'Shashikala Arts'. Sasidharan, the youngest of the three children of Ayyappan and Pankajakshi, was studying painting at Ravi Varma College in Kottarakkara after completing the 10th standard when the accident occurred.

Sasidharan's father was in charge of the fireworks offering at the Kottarakkara Ganapathi Temple. In 1983, on the fifth day of the Meda Thiruvathira festival at the temple, Sasidharan was filling black powder when the firework in his hand exploded, and he was seriously injured. He spent a long time in the hospital. As the pain subsided, Sasidharan gripped the brush tightly in his left hand. He dipped it in paint and touched the canvas. He defeated fate and signed his signature in the world of painting.

Painting that crossed the seas

Sasidharan draws under the pseudonym 'Shashikala'. His paintings have attracted attention in London, Muscat and Dubai. A native of Puthoor Pangod paid Rs. 1.5 lakh to have a single-frame portrait of his parents painted. Sasidharan has painted paintings of E.K. Nayanar, Kalpana Chawla, M.P. Appan, Vaikom Chandrasekharan, Jagathy Sreekumar and others.

30 paintings in the Kerala Sahitya Akademi were done by Sasidharan. His paintings have been featured in places like Ernakulam, Kozhikode Town Hall, Kottarakkara Ganapathi Temple. Sukumar Azhikode, who saw his painting in the Sahitya Akademi, had come to Kottarakkara and praised Sasidharan. Sasidharan's wife Ambili, who does fashion tailoring, and his son Gokul Sasidhar, who has completed B.Tech, are with him in support.

"It takes two weeks to draw a good picture. Drawing is my joy, my life." -A. Sasidharan