Bhubaneswar
Trapped in the tangles of life, Chhokendra Hembrom (36), a Santhal by tribe in Baripada (the district headquarters of Mayurbhanj in Odisha), ruptured his rapport with art. But he could not rest and rust. He heaved out of hibernation to resume his love affair with art. Finally, he walked tall, awash with awards.
Born to a labourer couple in Ranisahi of Purnapani village in Mayurbhanj, eight years old Chhokendra had his tryst with art inspired by epics like ‘Mahabharata’. He drew out characters like Arjun and Krishna on paper pieces to slake the thirst of a child artist in him. The more he drew, the stronger his romance with art became.
He spent hours with his drawings before and after school much to the consternation of his parents who feared that he would prove a dud in studies as well as in life. He was dissuaded and dressed down. Yet he battled on and batted along. “Whenever I had pocket money, I saved it to buy colours after I learned the art of synchronizing light and shade in my creations,” the Santhal artist shares with The Indian Tribal.
However, captious outbursts against his love affair grew louder to beat him out of his track. Embattled and embittered at antagonistic blasts and bursts inside and outside his family, he bottled up his creative urge, and all but snapped his ties with art. He could not smother the silent syllables of the artist’s voice that was churning his core.
Chhokendra passed matriculation in 2002 from Gitilata High School in Gitilata of neighbouring Jharkhand. He joined Tata Steel Family Initiative Foundation in 2006 in Jamshedpur, as a monitoring and supervising officer. But the void inside went on tormenting him to eject the shackled artist in him out free for resuming the innings of art that he had left in the midstream.
Finally, he chucked his job, and returned home. He was still feeling the pangs of a painter’s rebirth. His life turned around in 2008 when he walked the aisle with Saro Tudu, who discerned his talent decaying and dying slowly and silently. “I egged him on to stoke his art for resurrection,” says Saro, a junior engineer of Panchayat Raj Department in Baripada.
Chhokendra resumed his studies and passed Intermediate in 2015 from Sir JJ Gandhi M Inter College in Jharkhand. He took part in the 7th State-level exhibition held in Baripada by Creative School of Art and Crafts in 2016, but it proved a washout. Yet he stuck on. He completed post-graduation in visual art from Balasore Art and Crafts College in 2021.
Finally, the 8th district-level painting competition organized by Alumni Kalakhetra in 2017 fetched the Santhal artist the initial flush of laurels.
Goaded on, he galloped in top gear. Awards and appreciations poured in at online and offline competitions in places like Delhi, Odisha and Haryana. Awards he bagged included cash prize from Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi, silver award at an online international art competition in Haryana, Bibhuti Kanungo Memorial Award at an annual art competition in Balasore, and Gold Medal-BAF Kala Ratan Award and Excellence Award at the international online art competitions in Delhi among others.
Yet the humble Santhal artist, who has excelled at 85 contests till now, says: “I am a still fledgling and dream to fly high. And I am sure I will one day scale new heights not only at the national, but also at the international level.
“Yes he will one day carve out a niche for himself in the international art map, because he has regained his confidence,” chips in Saro .
