Turning Negative Emotions Into Positive Outcomes - Sai Shankar

“When I was in college, the jealousy in me, seeing the artwork of my seniors, turned out quite productive for me. It pushed me to better my game and polish my passion for art. During an art competition in college, we were asked to draw the portrait of Swami Vivekananda. While others carried numerous instruments, I was holding only a pencil in my hand. I got intimidated initially, but went in to do my job later.

When the results came out, I had stood first. My comrades thought there was some mistake as the portrait made by others looked colorful, hence, prettier. Seeing their reaction, I felt rejected. But, later, Sir came and said, ‘’Its not about the color, its about perfection; the perfect reflection of Swami Vivekananda’s actual face onto a piece of paper”. His words made others and myself believe in my art.

I was quite distant from art before lockdown because my busy schedule didn’t allow me to invest time in it. But, during this lockdown, when we all had time to scroll through the Gram, I came across some art pages. One of my seniors had opened an account and her sketches blew my mind away. I asked her how she had done it, with the sole motive of learning. But, somehow, she misunderstood me and thought I was trying to steal her work. Later, when I tried visiting her page, I realized that I was blocked!

My ego was hurt. But, I tried using it productively. I decided to work even harder so that one day, I will be in a position to gift her a portrait, while saying, ‘’Thank you for blocking me. It only made me better”.

Since this incident, I have not stopped pursuing art with all I got. I kept making portraits and also started my business with it. Once, I made a portrait of a Mirzapur actor. Miraculously, the actor came across his portrait, applauded me, liked all my other works and even followed me! My eyes couldn’t believe it.

I am grateful that I used negative traits, like jealousy and ego, for my growth and not vengeance. If a color blind like me can come this far in a field that is mostly about colors, then what’s stopping you from chasing your dreams?” – Sai Shankar.