The man who carved his way into Guinness World Records with vegetables and fruits

Ilanjchezhian was born and brought up in Theni district in rural Tamil Nadu. He grew up thinking of himself as an average student with no special set of skills to make him stand apart. But things changed after he completed schooling and started pursuing hotel management.

The course demanded that he learn everything on a practical basis with no need for memorisation. That boosted his confidence and made him take great interest in the course. As a result, in the second year of the course, he decided to take part in a competition. He said,

 “I realised that over time, I had got better at cooking. That made me want to take part in the cooking competition.”

But Ilanchezhian was not aware that it was a vegetable carving competition and not one for cooking until after registration. However, to his surprise, he came second.

He was elated as he had never before participated in a competition, let alone won any prizes. Now keen to learn more about the art form, he started carving simple things in his free time. Eventually, he started carving animals and national leaders from vegetables.

He owes all this to his professor who was determined to make Ilanchezhian excel at vegetable carving. The professor counted on him to establish vegetable carving as an art form in India like it is in other countries. In an interview with YourStory, he said,

“When I started carving, I did not even own a camera. So I would take the carvings to photo studios and take photographs of them. My friends in the media would then take them up and publish them where they worked."

One major hurdle that he still faces is constant criticism and ridicule as people do not understand or appreciate ‘wasting’ vegetables for the sake of art.

But, after years of practice and patience, all major flower exhibitions in Tamil Nadu now invariably have Ilanchezhian’s carvings on display.

Ilanchezhian has successfully carved with closed eyes, using just his mouth, to demonstrate that the physically challenged can also try their hand at this art. This attempt brought him recognition from all over the world.

In an attempt to create awareness about world peace, he carved the Guinness logo on vegetables and fruits that weighed about 8,500 kg, thereby entering Guinness World Records. He now runs a training institute to train young students in the art of carving.

Read this in Tamil.

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