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Bengaluru artist tributes Wingco Abhinandan with a typewriter portrait

Bengaluru artist pay tribute to Wing Commander Abhinandan

The post-Pulwama operation gave India a huge inspiration in the form of Wing Commander Abhinandan. To pay tribute to the IAF pilot, an artist from Bengaluru has created a typewriter portrait of Abhinandan.

The artist AC Gurumurthy has typed out letters, symbols, numbers and special characters on the keyboard to flesh out a black and white portrait that closely resembles Varthaman, his swashbuckling mustache intact. The artist said he took two hours over a period of two days to finish the portrait.

“Unlike heroes in film, Abhinandan is a real hero. He bought real laurels to the country, I appreciate his bravery and the night he returned to India, I made this attempt” said Gurumurthy.

Incidentally, Gurumurthy has attempted portraits of other leaders and famous personalities in the past using his typewriter. He has also created sketches of Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Former US President Barrack Obama, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha.

Formerly an employee of the Bank of Baroda, he took voluntary retirement to pursue his dream of making portraits with his typewriter. As the artist begins his portraits, initially his work resembles a jumble of lines and dots but wait a bit further and a work of art emerges.

“He hopes to enter the Limca Book of Records and Guinness World Records with his feats,” said Gurumurthy.

Varthaman was flying a MIg-21 as a part of a sortie that was scrambled to intercept an intrusion by Pakistan aircraft into Jammu and Kashmir. He crossed into Pakistan territory where he was struck by a missile. He ejected safely and was taken into custody by the Pakistan Army when his parachute drifted and fell inside PoK.

He was released on March 1 and reached India via Attari-Wagah border after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, on February 28, announced the release of Abhinandan, calling it a “peace gesture“.