In search of rural handicraft talent, 54 yr ‘Young’ man to travel 50,000 km on bike across India, Nepal & Bhutan

Pune, 7th October 2015: Prashant Padve (54), a handicraft artist from Pune, on Wednesday began his tour from the historic Shaniwarwada fort, to search rural handicraft talent and make available platform and market to their art.

Rajendra Naik, president of the Kumawat Kshatriya community organisation, flagged of Padve’s India tour, ‘Mission India 2015-16‘. Padve left for Dahanu via Thane. He will visit over 650 districts in India, Nepal and Bhutan. He will alone travel on motor cycle on an average 300 KMs a day, for six days a week for 217 days i.e. seven months and will return to Pune on 12th May 2016 traveling total distance of 50,000 KMs.

During his tour he will search for talent in rural handicraft in villages, will take pictures of handicraft art pieces, collect information about the art and the artisan and will also buy some handicraft pieces.

“I will try to reach maximum number of handicraft artists from several parts of India. Along with meeting these artists, I will be collecting information about them. To appreciate their work, I will buy some articles from them, which I am planning to exhibit in metro cities for the upliftment of those artists,” explained Padve.

He further added, “India is a rich country in culture & art. Thousands of artists in rural areas work hard to glorify Indian handicraft art and to keep this art alive. But, they do not get proper remuneration and recognition that they deserve. They cannot market their products. To do that it is necessary to approach them. But, I realized that it is not possible to contact those people without meeting them, so decided to meet them personally. Hence, I planned the mission.”

After completing the mission and getting the information about the artists, Padve is planning to organise exhibitions in large cities for one month, around 4 exhibitions a year, which will help the handicraft artists to receive a good income for their survival.

Padve believes that it is necessary to market those products as thousands of artists work to glorify Indian art which makes the country rich in culture and art. India has different regions and people from those regions have their traditional arts, which are still in existence. To keep this art alive, artists work hard. In rural parts of India, many artists create different types of articles, which are loved by all, worldwide.

 “After travelling to different parts of India, I have seen that those artists do not get proper remuneration and recognition that they deserve. They cannot market their products directly to the people. There are several middlemen and agents who exploit these artists, and sell their handicrafts in the market at fantastic prices. The artists do not even earn enough for their survival. Being a handicraft artist myself, I started thinking of some way to bring these artists out of their financial dependency, and give them a platform to get what they deserve. Furthermore, I realized that it is not possible to contact those people without meeting them. So, I decided to meet them personally,” Padve stated the reason of his Mission India 2015-16.

He will be traveling on a two-wheeler and the total expenditure of traveling will be about Rs 4.5 lakh to 5 lakh which he is contributing personally. “I will need a valuable contribution from you to buy the articles from the artists. Considering one artist from each district there will be around 650 artists from whom I will buy articles of approximately Rs 5000 each, the total of which will be around Rs 32.5 lakhs, which is out of my budget. For this reason, your contribution will be very helpful, and appreciated. I hereby appeal to all well-wishers to contribute to appreciate the handicraft artists of India for their upliftment,” Padve appealed to the people.

Those willing to contribute may send cheques in favour of Prashant Padve to his address – J-17, Omega Paradise Society,Wakad,Pune 411057 or can transfer on Account No.20025556493, MICR Code:411014109, IFSC Code :MAHB0001444, Bank of Maharashtra, Pune