Decorating the head is his passion

Rajkot, Mar 11 (UNI) Satishkumar Madanlal Sharma, a 72-year-old retired railway employee, has been pursuing a ''heady'' profession of tying turbans on the heads of dignitaries since over a decade.

Give Sharma a long piece of cloth and in a matter of seconds it evolves into a majestic headgear, sitting pretty on your head. This skill of his, has earned Sharma the epithet of ''safawalla''.

Whenever any function is organised, Sharma is invariably invited to weave his magic on the 'pate' of the dignitaries. His turbans have adorned the likes of President A P J Abdul Kalam, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.

''Safawalla'' has tied ''safas'' on the heads of four lakh people so far, he claimed and wistfully expresseed a desire to be entered in the Limca Book of Records as well as the Guinness for the feat.

His another wish is to tie ''safas'' on the heads of Indian Olympic team members which has, so far, remained unfulfilled. ''I am planning to correspond with the Sports Authority of India in this regard,'' he told UNI.

Though Sharma has been practising the profession for the last 12 years after his retirement from the railways, he had much before pursued it as hobby since his childhood.

Hailing from the colourful land of Rajasthan, famed for the majestic headgears, Sharma said he was hooked to the hobby as a child while watching experts teach the art to the sons of ''Thakurs''.

''I can tie turbans in various styles,'' he said, adding he has perfected the art of tying turbans in 10 famed Rajasthani styles and the chief 'Saurashtra' style.

Turbans have always been an important part of Indian lifestyle and many traditional sayings, like ''Pagri Sambhal Jatta'', revolve around that headgear, he pointed out.

UNI