“I have presented these sketches to my colleagues on birthdays, promotions and transfers. It takes approximately an hour and a half to complete one drawing,” he said.
Bhide, 77, is a retired employee of Union Bank of India. “I was a good worker so I was given one of the new Halda typewriters to type. One day my boss asked me to compile intercom numbers, and I typed them in the shape of a telephone. This was how I discovered my talent. I had been keen to enrol in JJ School of Art but could not do so. I realised my calling in this manner.”
An encouraging bank chairman Paneerselvam presented this typewriter to him for a nominal one rupee at retirement in 1996.
Bhide sketched RK Laxman’s ‘Common Man’ on his machine and showed it to him in ‘The Times of India’ which left the cartoonist most impressed. He has held 12 solo exhibitions that were inaugurated by Mario Miranda, Behram Contractor, Dr Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar and Sudhir Gadgil. His typewriter art has drawn praise from Lata Mangeshkar, Balasaheb Thackeray, Sachin Tendulkar, actors and political leaders.
