KOLLAM: Nine-year-old Anavadya is on cloud nine. Starting at the age of two, this Kollam girl has completed over 4,500 line drawings to set an Asian record as the young prodigy in this category. Born as the younger daughter of S. Resmi and Deepak Mayyanad, an artist hailing from Kottiyam, Anavadya is a self-taught artist. “I started drawing whatever I wished. My father, though an artist by profession, never intervened,” she told DC.
“She started pursuing her passion once she was strong enough to hold a pencil,” adds her dad. “During her younger age, she had to experience solitude which might have led her turn towards drawing pictures.” Ms Resmi is a nature photographer. The couple has a son, Adhidev, studying in Plus Two. Anavadya has already conducted ten solo exhibitions of paintings and caricatures. “She has also got the privilege to inaugurate several school arts programmes and art galleries,” says U. Suresh, her teacher at Siddhartha Central School in Pallimon, where she is in Class IV.
Her first solo was while in Class II. She is now on her mission to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. Before the official announcement of her Asian record, she will conduct a live caricature drawing event on Kollam Beach on Thursday, to raise funds for cancer patients through Pallium India, an NGO. On Saturday at the Kadappakkada Sports Club, the Universal Records forum chief editor and jury head Dr Sunil Joseph will declare her as the youngest artist to have the highest number of drawings in Asia.
