Passion turned in to the art of pottery: elderly man from Silchar going vocal for local

Tapas Dhar, an innate resident of Dum Dum Kolkata, since the last two years is doing the work of giving shapes and thus a new meaning to otherwise unambiguous materials at the entrance of his Silchar residence.

The 65-years-old potter, still recalls how he felt obligated to end his dream of completing higher education in agriculture and how it all came to an end with him being alleged as a terrorist. 

Explore Valley, thus vowed to shed light on this remarkable entrepreneurial journey of this tenacious innovator by covering all it has to it and more...

After independence, his family lost all their property in Kolkata and their struggles for survival began. 

Mr. Dhar became familiar with pottery in his childhood days. During the art & craft classes in his school, he used to make lots of clay craft items. At the same time, he had a fascination with agricultural work too, but unfortunately, our education system doesn't have any subject related to agriculture in school.

He completed his college education and holds a diploma in electrical work. Earlier in his days, Tapas worked as a professional electrician.

But the cruel fate had something else stored for him. Tapas Dhar remembers the 18 years he has spent behind the bars for a crime he did not commit. While talking Explore Valley Mr. Dhar said, “I was alleged as a terrorist for raising voice against the government about the unemployment issue of the Barak Valley Youths."

"Even after holding an Engineering degree, I was unable to find any job.", he added.

In his prison life, he kept himself immersed in agricultural work in the Silchar Central Jail.

But luck was never in his favour, as soon after he was released from prison, he came to know that; he is diagnosed with lung cancer and is being treated by Doctor Ravi Kannan.

Now that he is a little stable, he started his own concrete pot manufacturing at the entrance of his house in Ambicapatty, Silchar near Fast and Fitness Gym. 

He solely runs the work as he doesn't have any profit to pay his employees. He is trying to live his dream of pottery and agricultural work every single day. "My elder brother also helps me in this financially.", He added.

It's an unfeigned request to all the netizens as well as citizens of Barak Valley to come forward and help this potter.

The beautifully coloured pots crafted by Tapas are very affordable and durable, available at prices starting from as low as ₹50 up to ₹2000.

UPDATE

Tapas Dhar is a patient suffering from schizophrenia for the last 40 years. The team of exploring valley came to know about the whole truth behind Tapas's story only after the featured article was published online and when Pallab Dhar reached out to us through Facebook.

The time period that Dhar spent in jail, as mentioned by his elder brother Pallab Dhar, was because in the early days of his disease Dhar was extremely violent and caused quite some ruckus back then.
As at that time in lack of Residential facility for Schizophrenia patients in the Civil Hospital, he had to be kept in Police Custody for his safety and others too.

Pallab Dhar is Tapas Dhar's elder brother, who lives in Siliguri, and professionally he is a retired (2013) general manager of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company.

Pallab Dhar says, Tapas Dhar was a student of Silchar Polytechnic (1986) and that he's a college drop out, as he had to stop his study in the final year after being diagnosed with Schizophrenia”.

 Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that is usually diagnosed in late adolescence or early adulthood. It has an impact on speech, thinking abilities, emotional intelligence, and other areas of life;
and can affect a person’s social interactions and day-to-day activities.

After Tapas's diagnosis, Pallab Dhar and his family took him to Siliguri and other places hoping to find a cure for him. But with time eventually, they had to admit this Schizophrenia is a lifelong condition and with therapy, it could be moderated, but ultimately it cannot be cured.

In August 1994, Tapas's family sent him to Silchar. His treatment started here in 1986.

In the year 2015, Tapas Dhar being unfortunate that he was then diagnosed with Laryngeal cancer.
Tapas got treated for his cancer in Silchar Cancer Hospital and Research Center.

 Presently he is a cancer patient with a mental disorder, Schizophrenia. 

And Tapas has never been in Dumdum, Kolkata. 
But they have their uncle's house in Dumdum park, and in his early childhood days he might have visited Dumdum but Pallab Dhar is not exactly sure about that.

 As a consequence of his mental illness, he makes up imaginary stories that have no significance in real life. From his childhood to adulthood, all his expenses including study expenses, even all the medicine and treatment expenses have been bored by the Dhar family.

  He started pottery after his condition stabilized, to keep his mind engaged and from his early childhood he has a special interest in gardening. 
He even used to give away vegetables from his own garden to the people in the neighbourhood, without taking any money in return. 

According to Pallab Dhar, Tapas injured his hand in September 2009.

To sum it up Tapas couldn't complete his studies because of his illness, he never had a job, and he is well off even without the pottery work, and that pottery is purely his passion not a means for livelihood.