COIMBATORE: Ahead of 75th Independence Day celebration, a Coimbatore-based miniature artist sketched the national flag at the sclera of his eye to raise awareness about the freedom movement. UMT Raja used a mixture of wax and egg white and paint Tricolour in the eye.
Raja said he did the painting by himself by looking at a mirror. It took hours of concentration for the 52-year-old artist in Kuniyamuthur to complete the design. Raja said found it difficult to have his gaze fixed at the mirror and after 16 attempts finished the painting.
The painting lasted for 20 minutes. The artist, however, warned people against trying to follow him. Dr A Sasikala Elizabeth, medical consultant, Aravind eye hospital, echoed him. “Such acts would definitely harm the eye. The substances he used to draw the Tricolour could cause allergies and itching of the eye.
Any foreign body in the eye is a source of infection and risk. Recently a youth lost vision after he tattooed one of his eyes,” she said. A goldsmith by profession, Raja has come up with miniatures on several occasions.