Artists, writers, or anybody who makes a living by means of his hand, generally, use one hand to do their work. Only Leonardo da Vinci was an exception, because he could paint simultaneously with his both hands with equal felicity. It is an exception, because, according to medical science, the function of the brain loses its rhythm when it has to direct the limbs to do two things at a time. But, then, the human brain has a limitless capacity and so it is capable to doing what may at first seem unnatural, like, for instance, an artist being able to paint simultaneously with his both hands.

It took me by surprise when the other day I saw on a local TV channel a Guwahati-based artist making sketches of famous Indian personalities, simultaneously using, not only his both hands, but also his both legs. Watching the programme, I thought this was not an artist giving vent to his imaginations but a wunderkind doing a feat, proving his ingenuity.

There are artists who can paint with their hands and legs and I have known some who can paint the image of Lord Ganesh on a grain of rice, but somebody being able to do four different sketches using simultaneously his hands and legs took my breath away. The artist was doing sketches, which were as good as portraits, of people like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Bishnu Rabha whose photographic images are etched in our minds. It was an act most uncommon. I do not know whether there is a precedent of the same anywhere in the world. But so far as I know, there is none in India, and definitely not in Assam or anywhere in the Northeast. And what I found to be most endearing as well as surprising was that he worked on the sketches with ease and dexterity and without fuss and showmanship.

There was another surprise in store for me when I found out that he was actually a businessman by profession and not a professional artist. His name is Ashok Sarma, an unassuming young man in his thirties. An electrical engineer, he said he had no formal training in the field of art but learned the basics of painting from his elder brother who, like him, also has a natural gift for painting, even though he, too, was not a professional artist.

"Painting is actually my hobby and I developed it ever since I was a child. Instead of taking part in outdoor games, I spent most of my free time indoors, drawing whatever had taken my fancy," Sarma says.

Has he been drawing pictures with both hands and legs since he was a child? "No, like a normal boy, I began by using my right hand. Just for the heck of it, one day I tried to draw pictures using my left hand, and when I found out that it was not very difficult to do so, I started practising it till I could draw with ease," he reveals.

"It was during my student days in Assam Engineering College, Guwahati that I wanted to test myself whether I could concentrate while painting with both hands at a time. Today, it is my hobby," Sarma says with a smile. "I started using my legs too much later. In fact, it was only the last year that I started practising it and it was again to test my level of concentration. I did portraits before the TV camera only in order to prove my bonafides so that the viewers would not take my accomplishment to be a stunt, which they might have, had I done landscapes or abstract paintings," Sarma, who has written a number screenplays for TV serials and himself directed some, explains.

There should not be an iota of doubt that Sarma's level of concentration is much above the normal. This he amply proved by giving a live presentation on the TV screen. He is definitely a wunderkind.

* Jivraj Burman