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G-20 summit: Foreign delegates to get unique ‘Kamalam’ made in Mahoba
The memento has been crafted by Manmohan Saini,a metal craftsman and a national award winner from Mahoba. The UP handicrafts development and marketing corporation asked him to prepare 50 brass lotuses eight months ago.
Kanpur: State heads and foreign dignitaries at the G-20 summit in New Delhi, which begins on September 9, would get a unique memento from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This memento would be a hand-made artefact of brass in the shape of a lotus, named ‘Kamalam’, from Mahoba in Bundelkhand.
The memento has been crafted by Manmohan Saini,a metal craftsman and a national award winner from Mahoba. The UP handicrafts development and marketing corporation asked him to prepare 50 brass lotuses eight months ago. “All the artefacts have been sent to Delhi in advance with spare pieces. I am elated that my work will be seen at such a high level and I am sure the brass work will get a new lease of life after this,” said Saini in Mahoba.
The artefact is five inches tall with 16 petals-- eight big and eight small. “Once it is opened the artefact resembles a lotus in full bloom, and when it is closed all the petals are closed inside and a lotus bud is visible. It took three months to make 50 lotuses,” said Saini. The corporation experts regularly monitored the making for quality control and design.
Saini’s ‘Kamalam’ hogged the headlines in 2016 when BJP MP Kunwar Pushpendra Chandel gifted it to Prime minister Narendra Modi at the Parivartan rally. The latter praised the artefact a lot.
Soni said he learnt this craft from his father Gyasi Soni who used make decorative pieces of brass in Kulpahad. “My family has been helping me in this work. My two brothers Azad Soni and Shiv Kumar Soni have also won state awards,” he said.
District magistrate Mridul Chowdhary said the handicraft development corporation contacted Soni directly and had taken the delivery of all artefacts. “It is a matter of pride for Mahoba district and Bundelkhand that such a unique memento made in Mahoba will be given to the sate heads and foreign dignitaries at the G-20 summit.”
Among his many prizes, Soni won national award in 2012 and organised an exhibition of his craft in Moscow the same year. “At one time, Mahoba was known because of its brass work in the country but no longer. I hope this will revive the traditional brass work in Mahoba and around,” he said.
