‘Matchstick’ Tribute For Martyrs With Guinness Record Attempt

Santipur, Aug. 8: Come August 15, Anupam Sarkar of Santipur would pay tribute to the Martyrs of the Nation on the 74^th Independence Day by creating the largest wooden matchstick logo of ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ while attempting entry to the Guinness Book of World Records simultaneously.

Amar Jawan Jyoti

Nadia district administration has come up to support Anupam’s endeavor as he would try to break the existing Guinness record of the largest matchstick logo made by Meysam Rahamani of Qazvin province of Iran. On June 11, 2013, Rahamani made the largest ‘UNESCO’ logo, using 136951 wooden matchsticks to secure entry to the coveted record book.

But, Anupam, a mimicry artiste by profession, has already used 2.20 lakh wooden match sticks in his proposed logo named as ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti – Matchstick mosaic’ which is almost in the final stage for display at the Kashyap Para Chakfera temple premises in Santipur town on August 15 in presence of senior Government officials as witnesses.

The ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ is a memorial constructed as a tribute to the soldiers of the Indian armed forces who were martyred in the India-Pakistan war in 1971. Located at the landmark India Gate, the memorial was unveiled by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1972

Since any public gathering is prohibited due to Covid pandemic situation, the Nadia district administration would extend support to Anupam to display his creation and to organize his attempt for the Guinness record book entry.

Santipur block development officer Suman Debnath said, “It is a great effort by Anupam. Since there are certain restrictions on public events due to Covid situation and many areas identified as containment zones, we would manage everything in connection with the display which includes ferrying the canvas, managing people’s access to the temple premise, and other logistic requirements”. ‘At the same time, we would also bear a part of the expenses to be incurred to organize the event”, the BDO added.

Anupam claimed that an irresistible passion for paying tribute to the martyrs of the nation led him to take up the work during the unending leisure due to the ongoing lockdown.

“The L1A1 self-loading rifle that stands on the barrel with a helmet of a soldier on top displays the bravery and gallantry of our soldiers. I had an unfulfilled plan to pay tribute to these immortal soldiers through my work which I tried this time and I am lucky that Guinness authority has approved my plan”, Anupam said.

From May 15 Anupam had begun his work on a 6 ft x 4 ft plywood board. So far he has used over 2.20 lakh wooden match sticks that he bought as 15000 matchboxes. “I drew an outline of the Amar Jyoti Jawan on the plywood board and later slowly pasted the wooden matchsticks one by one using fevicol marine to figure out the image…For the past three months, I have been working for about fifteen hours a day to materialize my dream project”, Anupam said.