Come Sunday and a young artist in Pune will try his hand at achieving a feat and adding a flavour to the ongoing Ganesh festival. This young man, aged 34, has set a target of creating 1,000 Ganesh idols of different types in three days without a break.

The purpose of the 72-hour task, which will begin on Sunday morning and end on Wednesday morning — to raise funds through the sale of these idols, which will be sent to the flood-affected people of Bihar. Anil S Kamble, a senior faculty member with Sumeru Academy of Digital Arts, Dhole-Patil Road, who will be carrying out this activity, is busy making preparations and collecting the necessary material.

Sumeru Academy general manager Srinivas Yerra said, “We embarked on the idea of creating 1,000 idols at one go, after watching people suffering in Bihar due to the floods. We felt that we needed to contribute in some way for them and, therefore, decided to raise money through this unique activity.”

“I have set the target of making 1,000 idols of Lord Ganesh without taking my hands off work for three days. I will be using different material for creating these idols. While the main material will be chemically prepared clay, other items like stones, pieces of tiles, wood, seashells, coconuts, sand, rangoli will also be used,” said Kamble.

“Not a single idol will be mould-cast and I will craft Ganesh in different forms, including the abstract. They will also be in different sizes in the range of 1 inch to 10 inches,” added Kamble.

Kamble is equally adept at painting, sculptures and murals, and also has experience of creating sets for Ganesh mandals during the Ganpati celebrations for many years.

“With the target of making a thousand idols, I will have to be very brisk and make an idol with an average speed of four minutes. During this task, I will avoid sleep, as I am accustomed to working for days during special assignments. The more time I spend on creating idols, the better,” the artist said.