At the break of dawn, Sanath Kumar began working on a heap of sand and well before noon, an imposing sand sculpture greeted visitors to the picturesque Eruru beach, near Chillakuru in Nellore District.
The bond of friendship is lacking as the world is ripped apart by the scourge of terrorism, says the artist giving finishing touches to the sand sculpture on the eve of Friendship Day against the backdrop of the Bay of Bengal.
''I used about six tonnes of sand to welcome the Friendship Day as the spirit of give and take among friends is the need of the hour for a healthy society'', says the self-styled artist who took to the art form drawing inspiration from none other than acclaimed artist Sudarsan Pattnaik.
He had inspired a group of students from Gurukula Patasala at Singarayakonda on an earlier occasion to create a sand sculpture at Pakala beach in Prakasam district to condemn the 2016 terror attack in Nice, France, which left 84 people dead.
''I cherish the giant image of Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu created on the banks of river Krishna in 2015 to create a record of sorts the most'', says Sanath Kumar who takes care of it from peeling off, layer by layer, in the wake of winds.
He nurses an ambition to become a noted artist at the national and international level with encouragement from Municipal Administration Minister P.Narayana, on whose suggestion he made wonderful sand sculptures of B.R. Amebdkar, Babu Jagjeevan Ram, NTR and Chandrababu Naidu at the ruling Telugu Desam Party's Dalita Tejam meeting in Nellore .
He dedicated the artwork to his father M.Dinakar Babu, a local postmaster who encourages him to practice it on the beach, day in and day out.
The artist with a strong penchant for the art form has been roped in by the State-run Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions’ Society Secretary Col. V.Ramulu to teach their students.
''I want to kindle interest among students for sand art'', adds the artist who uses the medium to campaign against, among other things, global warming and severe biodiversity loss.