DIBRUGARH, Oct 11: Furniture making earns him his livelihood but Jiten Kumar Borah’s heart lies in wood craft. His passion has brought him recognition recently after he won the National Award for his craft this year.
In a function held at New Delhi on August 28, this resident of Kiran Nagar in Moran received a medal, certificate and twenty-five thousand rupees from the Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Dinesh Patel. He was one among the five persons from the State and the only wood craftsman among the 225 awardees from across the country to be thus felicitated by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission this year.
Life has been a long journey of struggle for this 48-year old father of four. After losing his father, Jagat Chandra Borah, when he was just one-and-a-half year old baby, his maternal uncle looked after him and his brother. When he had just been promoted to the tenth standard, the young student was forced to leave studies and take on the responsibility of looking after his ill mother as well as eke out his living. In 1980, Borah left his uncle’s home at Dehingmukh in Sivasagar and moved to Nagaon. He took up furniture making without any prior apprenticeship or training. Meanwhile, the young boy was initiated into carving inadvertently. He started carving figures on bamboo during his free moments between taking care of his mother and furniture making. The talent of the budding craftsman was soon recognized and his products became much sought after among neighbours and other people. Sensing the economic viability in his craft, he began to sell them.
The second turning point came when Borah visited an exhibition at Nagaon in 1981. Recalling his encounter with a wood carving of Jatindranath Saikia there, he says that he was enthralled after viewing the carved out figure of Lord Shiva carrying the dead body of his wife, Sati. The young boy decided to concentrate on wood craft and was soon winning awards at the district-level. In 1991, he shifted base to Moran, where he opened a furniture making shop, Master Craft Centre. Talking about wood carving, Borah said that it is a constant tug-of-war for him to balance livelihood with pursuit of passion as he has two college going daughters and two school going sons. Speaking in more details, he said that his products have a market chiefly outside the State and are always a sell-out in exhibitions held in other parts of the country. Each product takes up considerable amount of time and skill but people here fail to appreciate that and are unwilling to pay the price it deserves, the master craftsman added. However, Borah acknowledges that there is a demand for his carvings of Dr Bhupen Hazarika, Bishnu Rabha, Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla and other renowned figures but he is unable to meet it. Given a choice, the wood craftsman would devote all his time to making masterpieces out of wood blocks or dried trunks of tea bushes. THE SENTINEL
In a function held at New Delhi on August 28, this resident of Kiran Nagar in Moran received a medal, certificate and twenty-five thousand rupees from the Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Dinesh Patel. He was one among the five persons from the State and the only wood craftsman among the 225 awardees from across the country to be thus felicitated by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission this year.
Life has been a long journey of struggle for this 48-year old father of four. After losing his father, Jagat Chandra Borah, when he was just one-and-a-half year old baby, his maternal uncle looked after him and his brother. When he had just been promoted to the tenth standard, the young student was forced to leave studies and take on the responsibility of looking after his ill mother as well as eke out his living. In 1980, Borah left his uncle’s home at Dehingmukh in Sivasagar and moved to Nagaon. He took up furniture making without any prior apprenticeship or training. Meanwhile, the young boy was initiated into carving inadvertently. He started carving figures on bamboo during his free moments between taking care of his mother and furniture making. The talent of the budding craftsman was soon recognized and his products became much sought after among neighbours and other people. Sensing the economic viability in his craft, he began to sell them.
The second turning point came when Borah visited an exhibition at Nagaon in 1981. Recalling his encounter with a wood carving of Jatindranath Saikia there, he says that he was enthralled after viewing the carved out figure of Lord Shiva carrying the dead body of his wife, Sati. The young boy decided to concentrate on wood craft and was soon winning awards at the district-level. In 1991, he shifted base to Moran, where he opened a furniture making shop, Master Craft Centre. Talking about wood carving, Borah said that it is a constant tug-of-war for him to balance livelihood with pursuit of passion as he has two college going daughters and two school going sons. Speaking in more details, he said that his products have a market chiefly outside the State and are always a sell-out in exhibitions held in other parts of the country. Each product takes up considerable amount of time and skill but people here fail to appreciate that and are unwilling to pay the price it deserves, the master craftsman added. However, Borah acknowledges that there is a demand for his carvings of Dr Bhupen Hazarika, Bishnu Rabha, Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla and other renowned figures but he is unable to meet it. Given a choice, the wood craftsman would devote all his time to making masterpieces out of wood blocks or dried trunks of tea bushes. THE SENTINEL
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