GUWAHATI, July 22 � The Guinness Book of World Records authorities have described the art form of Apuraj Barooah, who recently got his name entered in the Guinness Book for the longest scratch art, that his art form was an innovative one. Apuraj has been practising scratch art on bromide papers, generally used for printing photographs, with the help of razor blades, for the past about 18 years, since 1993.
To get his name etched in the Guinness Book, Apuraj, a former accountant of the State�s DRDA, sailed to London with his friend Milan Sonowal in April last. He could finally get his name inscribed on July 9 as a record holder, after drawing the folk dance forms of 40 countries at a stretch for 12 hours on a piece of bromide paper that was 20 metres and 30 centimeters long and 1 metre and 4 centimeters wide in size.
Apuraj told newspersons here today that he has been recognised by the Guinness Book authorities as the first man to have achieved this feat for scratch art.
Apuraj tried on one previous occasion too to get his name included in the Guinness Book in 2009. Then he drew in the city a scratch art on a piece of bromide paper that was 120-metre in length and 6 inches in width.
Though the Limca Book of Records authorities accepted him that time to be an artist of calibre in scratch art, the Guinness Book authorities refused to accept him as an achiever., because the Guinness Book norms call for scratch art work on a piece that is 20-metre in length and 1- metre in width, for the purpose, Apuraj said.
To get the record of the longest scratch art written in his name, Apuraj drew the scratch work between 8pm of July 8 and 8am of July 9, according to the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). His painting included Bihu of Assam and Bhangra from the Punjab as the two Indian folk dance forms, besides the folk dances of 39 other countries, including Japan, the UK, France, Italy, Spain etc.
Today, he drew the portrait of Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rava on a piece of bromide paper at the Guwahati Press Club here as a on-the-spot demonstration of his artistic calibre.
Apuraj thanked Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters� India chapter secretary general Bidyananda Barkakoty, who introduced him to the London-based NRIs of Assam origin, Milan Sonowal and his own parents for the inspiration and cooperation they provided him with to attain this rare achievement.
Sonowal, the Chief Executive Member of the Sonowal Kachari Autonomous Council, spent about three months with Apuraj extending full cooperation to the artist in his venture to enter his name in the Guinness Book, Apuraj said.
