The energy in the place is electric ! -- capable of engulfing even the most disinterested (or morose) into its corona ! Children mill around all excited -- animatedly talking about their drawing sheets and brushes and paints and ideas ! Be careful -- you may just trip over when an eight-year-old suddenly rises from his sprawl on the floor bent over his painting! In thick of this feverish artistic activity is a sage-like man -- tall and lean and handsome in his own way -- acting like the patron saint to those seekers of inner expression pouring out onto drawing sheets ! He -- celebrated art teacher and painter Chandrakant Channe -- is the heart and soul of this activity called ‘Basoli’ -- that was launched exactly fifty years ago -- in Nagpur.

 

No doubt, the activity got started in Nagpur, but its influence and effect appear to have spread the world over -- wherever the followers or members the group went in pursuit of life’s later goals. With them, they carried the message of creativity of Basoli -- which they got at home in Nagpur. For full fifty years, Basoli has been acting as a nursery of artistic creativity for children. For full fifty years -- that means several generations of little ones -- have realised that art is not just drawing or painting or sketching, but is embedded in life itself and is eager to be expressed through creative minds and eyes and hands. For full fifty years, Chandrakant Channe has been doing hand-holding for thousands of kids from every possible socio-economic background. Under his care, under the Basoli umbrella, every child is an independent human vertical eager to express inner emotion through art. In Basoli, every child has every reason to be thinking without bondage. Thought by itself has no language of its own, but art has the unique attribute of providing one. In Basoli, the little ones find that language. That is Basoli’s uniqueness ! Having been spurred by the thought that he has to bring out the artist dormant within every child, Chandrakant Channe launched Basoli -- statedly inspired by a North Indian town named Basholi with a unique style and approach to art. Initial days were unique in every which the way, so to say. Groups of young people would be called together to express themselves.

 

That activity instantaneously created altogether different ripples in the little minds and their families. Almost every child that started taking part in Basoli activity started behaving differently at home -- more responsibly, more maturedly, more accommodatively. In a way, it was kind of a notable social change (if not a revolution). Annual summer camps soon became a signature activity of Basoli -- where kids from every possible socio-economic layer would converge in countless numbers. And among those kids were also the ones with some or the other physical or emotional challenge. But no kid was rejected. Everybody got a warm hug, and a full acceptance no matter the personal difficulty. In the process, Basoli also saw many a medical miracle of sorts when challenged children overcame their obstacles and emerged as front-line artists of the Basoli group.

 

The special dimension of Balosi is still different; it did not keep the cghildren’s artistic expression only to painting or drawing. It expanded the activity into music, dance pottery, theatre and puppetry. In each of these domains, every child is encouraged to take part, no matter the personal limitations that include even physical challenge. In subsequent years, many of those challenged youngsters became successful individuals in their own way. Some of them even went to occupy very important positions in different organisations -- making everybody wonder how their seemingly unsurmountable difficulties got sorted out in Basoli. This has been happening for fifty years -- under the patronage of Chandrakant Channe. Of course, many others, too, joined him to make the activity more meaningful and useful. Yet, Chandrakant Channe continued to be the heart and soul of the Basoli movement. There were moments that tested his tenacity, his leadership, his integrity, even his dignity. No matter all those challenges, Channe Sir has continued to guide this unique movement the like of which may not be found anywhere in the world. Of course, for one person to sustain such a deep and intense movement has been a real and tough challenge. Channe Sir has, of course, continued on and on. Basoli as a movement may have its life and limitations. But the thought Channe Sir planted fifty years ago has blossomed into a fine social edifice of artistic creativity. It is sheer pleasure to see little fingers holding brush or pencil and giving their inner emotion a physical, on-paper expression. On many occasions, different art forms, too, pop up from the creative tumult in the children’s minds. But each time a child picks up his/her crush, immense possibilities arise from the ground. The works of art created by those thousands of children have found place and space in countless homes.

 

They also form private and personal collections of many men and women who themselves were the artists who created immensely intense art from their childhood thought-process. Channe Sir often is in awe of the work of his own “children” whose exact number he actually may not know. But as creative father to generations of youngsters, he has led a movement whose social, emotional and artistic value cannot be calibrated in any material measures. Basoli may or may not continue in the present form -- but the seed Chandrakant Channe Sir has sowed will never perish. For, what he has given to the society is not just a place where the kids express themselves through art. In spiritual terms, he has taught every child -- no matter the personal issues -- that there is an artist hidden inside you, and you must ensure that it emerges from your inner sanctum. In other words, that is your Nirvana !