Most doctors are adept at wielding scalpels, clamps and a host of medical equipment with a finesse that borders on the miraculous. But Dr A.K. Mahato is a little different. A dedicated medical practitioner and the head of Department of Medicine at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Dr Mahato wields the paintbrush with the same dexterity as his medications chase-off illness. A simple, cheerful man with a polite demeanour, Mahato’s passion for his occupation as well as his hobby imbues him with immense energy that hard to find in many people of a similar age.
The twinkle in his eyes is apparent as he recounts how he discovered his talent for painting back in his school days. “My hobby started during my school life. I started with sketching. When I was in Standard-IX at North Block Multipurpose Zila School in Darbhanga, I drew a portrait of Rabindranath Thakur (Tagore) with my pen, and it looked very nice. That was when I realised I could draw well and thus, I started as an artist,” Mahato recalls, a faint smile dancing on his lips.
“Then I started to make sketches of famous personalities, gods, deities, etc., and as my skills improved, I began with water colour. By now, I could depict my ideas exactly as I imagined them. As I got admitted into medical college, I tried my hands at oil painting,” he added.
Since then, oil painting is Mahato’s favoured medium of artistic expression. Apart from this, he draws sketches as well. In college, he was popular as a doctor who could paint. He even put up individual exhibitions of his works of art at both his colleges, CM Science College and Darbhanga Medical College. His skills at painting were so good that he even received a cash reward of Rs 251from the then Vice-Chancellor for his exhibited canvases.
Despite prepared canvasses being expensive at that time, Mahato’s dedication to his art was unwavering, and he made his canvases right from scratch.
“In early years of my hobby, I made my canvases myself. Firstly I used to build a frame and then stretch a thin white ‘markin’ cloth over it. Then I used to make a mixture of zinc oxide, linseed oil and turpentine oil and coat it all over the stretched white cloth. This was left to dry till it became stiff as paper. This usually took more than a month in the hottest weather and longer in the rainy season.”
A self-taught artist, Mahato has never undergone any proper training in art and painting. His only formal training has a story behind it too. “In my medical college, there was an artist in the Anatomy department who used to draw diagrams of human body. He had a book on such diagrams which I borrowed once. Though, that book never taught me anything new about anatomy, it helped me to understand the structure of a human body,” he stated.
The paintings Mahato creates are strongly influenced by his career as a doctor and the tribal lifestyle in Jharkhand, two things which are with him even now. And no painting in his collection is without a story of its own. For instance, “I made a sketch titled ‘Safar’ which showed the journey of a man from his birth to his pyre. Another one is a painting showing an eagle hunting a pigeon, the eagle being time and the pigeon, us. These paintings show the reality of life, that death comes to everyone and spares no one, something I learned from my job as a doctor,” explains Mahato. Then there is his painting titled ‘Old Man Smoking Hookah’, which a mischievous Mahato made way back during his college days to tease his father who was a smoker too!
“Some of my paintings show the daily life of the natives of Jharkhand. I spent most of my life here, have seen so much how locals here live and that is what I try to depict in my works,” he said.
Besides the strokes of his paintbrush, Mahato is also well-versed with stokes of the sporting variety. An avid player of badminton and tennis, he even trains his medical students in the nuances of badminton and lawn tennis from time to time. Coming from a family of sportspersons, he too developed interest in sports. He represented his college and school in shot put and discus throw and even won several laurels.
Now, Mahato plans to devote more time to painting and also write a book aimed at sensitizing the common man towards several maladies and medical terms. “Medical science for laymen,” Mahato likes to call it. With all these diverse activities, one cannot but wonder what force keeps him going. Mahato answers this with a serene, tranquil smile. “I dedicate myself completely to whatever I do, and this dedication is my power. I never neglected anything in my life, be it studies, painting or sports, because I love them. I was a brilliant student. After completing studies for the day, I used to paint till midnight. But then, I used to wake up at 4:00 every day and go to play football. My love for all of these gives me the energy to continue with them efficiently.”