Journey from gangman to artist
Sunil completes the art within a span of 5-10 minutes.
Chennai: “I was surprised when I heard that the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu appreciated me when I drew his portrait that was used by the ministry for the Republic Day greetings,” said a jubilant 32-year Sunil Kumar, who joined as a gangman at Lalgudi station, but now the official ‘Railway painter’ in most stations of Tiruchi division.
His works, mostly illustrations on safety and security, portraits of noted personalities, station buildings and sketches of daily commuters have made him the cynosure of not just railway circles, but the general public too.
The highlight of his talent is that all the sketches, be it a pencil drawing or in paintbrush, he completes the work in a span of 5-10 minutes, a time-span even professional artists strive to complete.
Sunil Kumar’s journey in Southern railway began three years ago as a railway gangman in Tiruchirappalli station in Group-D grade.
“I found that the job of maintenance of tracks doesn’t suit my taste or talent in any way and that is where I started drawing in A4 sheets whatever I observe around me. I always carried a small bag which contains a few pencils, a gel pen, thirty to forty A4 sheets,” he told Deccan Chronicle.
However, destiny took a positive lap when he cleared a departmental test in 2015, October, when he was assigned the job of a painter at Lalgudi station.
“I was astonished to observe his drawings which he used to do at the railway office during free time. He had an inbuilt talent in coral and pencil drawing during his college days that he utilised and which got him accolades from a lot of people. Initially, he started with painting the boards and names in stations,” said K. Gopinath, currently PRO at Palakkad division.
Currently, Tiruchi division officials have decided to assign paintings and drawings on the walls of different stations to Sunil Kumar – a way they believe will envy passengers and also attract more such talent.
His artistic works can be viewed in the twitter link https://twitter.com/indianrlyinfo/status/6917972 58996727809