Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik today created five sand sculptures of A P J Abdul Kalam on Puri beach to pay tribute to the former President on his second death anniversary.
The globally acclaimed artist said he created the sculptures with messages portraying Dr Kalam as the "Common Man, Missile Man, Bharat Ratna, People's President, Student's Icon".
Six tons of sand were used to create the five faces of Dr Kalam with these five messages, he said.
Pattnaik recalled that Dr Kalam had invited him for the first time to Rastrapati Bhawan in 2005 when sand art was not so popular in the country and encouraged him a lot.
"It was a great honour for me when he (Kalam) gave me a cheque of Rs 3,000 from his personal account. Today we have lost the nation's Missile Man, People's President with a simple heart and beautiful mind and soul who was an inspiration to the youth," he said.
Pattnaik has participated in more than 50 international sand art championships and festivals around the world and won many prizes for the country.
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