Accustomed to art: Decoding a bureaucrat’s creative side

Shankar Prasad Sarma, a 2009 batch IRS officer who is currently posted at Delhi’s IGI Airport is passionate about painting, and how! Here’s the other side to this customs officer’s persona.

Ever thought what peculiar thing would a custom’s officer bag would comprise? Well, you’re sure to find a sketchbook if the luggage belongs to Shankar Prasad Sarma, a 2009 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer.

Mythological figures and episodes inspire artist Shankar Prasad Sarma to visualise narratives from a different perspective.

Currently posted at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport as Additional Commissioner of Customs, this multi-faceted personality is a vigilant officer by the day and a creative soul by the evening. Looking back at the recent years where he has diligently returned to his “first love — painting”, Sarma says, “It’s meditative for me... Being in a workspace where we see a lot of enforcement, it calms my mind when I let my thoughts flow on the canvas. Then, when I return to work the next day, I’m able to do so with more passion and focus.”

A painter at heart since his childhood, Sarma was born in Assam and currently lives in Gurugram. He fondly recounts how he won almost every competition in art when in school: “I grew up in a tea estate; where my father was a manager. Since the space was quite secluded and I would spend a lot of time alone, I took to painting. It came to me naturally and my parents also encouraged me to pursue it. But after I came to Delhi for my higher studies, there came a pause in my passion.”

“During my initial days in the private sector and later while preparing for the civil services, I would miss it (painting) a lot,” shares Sarma, who still watches videos on the internet, to learn more about art. He continues, “Then in 2011, I was once randomly asked ‘What’s your hobby?’ Though I said at that time ‘I paint’ but knew in my heart what was missing from my life. Soon, I bought new colours, paints, canvases, and returned to my first love. But this time, I found my calling in oil and acrylic instead of watercolours that I usually used earlier.”

Today, a father of a doting daughter who is learning Odissi and a son who is trying to pick up painting, this self-taught artist’s works have already been displayed in a few group exhibitions at different cities. “I’m keen to organise a solo exhibition of my works in Delhi, but do not have enough number of artworks as I paint only when time permits me after my duty hours,” he says with a smile, revealing, “I also write poetry and practise photography.” Need we say: a truly talented individual!

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