‘I always make a sand sculpture for Lata Didi on her birthday’

Legendary singer and Bharat Ratna recipient Lata Mangeshkar turned 91 today. And to celebrate the occasion, Odisha-based sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a beautiful sand sculpture dedicated to her on Puri Beach. Talking about this in telephonic chat with Bombay Times, he says, “I made the sand sculpture last evening, a day before Lata Didi’s birthday. It took about four hours to make as it was a large sculpture - around five feet in height.The weather was clear, thankfully, so it came out well.”
He must be a fan of the singer, who is known as the Nightingale of India, we ask? “Obviously,” he returns. “I have the entire series of her songs at home. Actually, I always make a sand sculpture for Lata Didi on her birthday and have been doing so for the last eight years. I have rarely missed making it, except for an instance where I was travelling. But whenever I am in India, .”
He also has a fave song of hers. “It’s so tough to decide on any single one, but if I have to choose it would be ‘Naam Gum Jayega Chehra Yeh Badal Jayega’. I have used that song in the video where I am making the sculpture,” he informs.
Sudarsan hopes to meet the songstress someday in person. “I have never met her but sometimes she does return my birthday message that I send via Twitter. She also has seen the sand sculptures that I posted and shared a message of thanks. In the current situation, meeting is not possible, but she is a living legend and will always be so,” he adds.