That promise comes from 53-year-old artist Harish Panchal, who has been etching tattoos and dabbing in some colourful face-painting and body-painting for 20 years now.

So, whether it's the birthday party of a superstar or a bash for an average Mumbaiite or any grand political event, Panchal needs to be given nothing more than the theme or the cause for the celebration and his hands start to create unlimited designs that he has in his mind. “I take one minute making a tattoo, three minutes making a face-painting or five minute for a body-painting,” says Panchal.

In 1975, Panchal completed a diploma in commercial art from JJ School of Art in Mumbai, where he also studied photography and interior decoration. Panchal began his career as a textile artist but after the closure of the textile mills, ended up losing his job like thousands of others.

“But if you are an artist, it always works. I started freelance work, making hoardings, advertisements and logo designs. But for 20 years now, I've been attached with event organisers, as a tattoo and face-paintings artist.”

On Western Railway’s completion of 75 years of electrification, Panchal drew pictures of trains on the faces of 200 children. Interestingly, the train-tattoos were painted in the tricolour.

From Bollywood stars to little kids, his clientele has grown in numbers and variety.

One Bollywood star threw a birthday party for his son where the theme was horror — and Panchal’s designs for the children's faces were also all based on horror. Panchal is also famous for drawing different types of dragons and mermaids. He recalls a little girl in Dadar who always wanted dragons painted on her arms. “When she broke her hand in an accident, she called me and asked me to paint a dragon on the plaster,” he laughs. “I did it.”

“At a ghazal night organised at the Royal Palms at Goregaon, there were lots of politicians-- and I put my designs on all their faces.”

Panchal also believes strongly in charity. He used to regularly visit the Tata Memorial Hospital and other hospitals to etch designs on the faces of children suffering from cancer. He also offers his services free at programmes organised for the less privileged children or for physically challenged children. “The smile on their faces gives me a lot of happiness,” he says emotionally.

When the Kucchi Samaj organised a programme to stop the killing of cows, he not only attended and offered his designs to those who were visiting, but also quietly placed a donation box there. “People happily donated money,” he says.

A deeply religious man, Panchal has named his agency after his family goddess—Chaher Kuldevi. He says his ancestral house had been usurped by somebody and he got it back after a long period. “My wish is to paint this 1,000 square metre house with cowdung and give it my designs.”