Davanagere :

Inculcating the spirit of patriotism in young minds is his objective. Painting portraits of freedom fighters is his passion. GJMehandale who has been working for 30 years as drawing teacher at AdityaBirla Public School, Kumarapatnam, in Renebennurtaluk ofHaveri has been pursuing his passion with an objective.

He has made the portraits of over 100 Indian freedom fighters using water proof  ink on khadi cloth of 4×5 feet size. His works include the portraits of Mahatma Gandhi , Motilal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Lokamanya Balagangadhara Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopalakrishna Gokhale, Bipinchandra Pal, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Dadabai Naoroji, Mangal Pande, Rajaram Mohan Roy, Sangolli Rayanna, Jhansi Lakshmi Bai and Kittur Rani Channamma. Mehandale also enjoys collecting the biographies of freedom fighters and has published a handbook of over 100 freedom fighters in Kannada.

Mehandale has organized over 95 exhibitions in schools, colleges, as well as at literary events and other socio-cultural platforms. His paintings have drawn the attention of students and general public  across the state, besides other Indian cities. “I conduct exhibitions with the support of Rashtra Gourava Samrakshana Parishat, a Bangalore-based NGO. Thousands of students and others have so far come to see my paintings,” he says with pride.

Mehandale also displays paintings to commemorate the birth anniversaries of freedom fighters as well as days of historical importance like the Quit India movement day.

Harihar’s DRM school headmaster H Chandrappa said such exhibitions are helpful in developing the spirit of patriotism among youngsters. “They encourage the students to know more about the nation’s history as present school curriculum gives them very less information on the same,” said Bhuvaneshwari, an English teacher.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubli / by S A Gangaraju, TNN / August 15th, 2013