At 85, Madhusudan Chobe is passionate about printing 150 ft x12 ft Saree, weighing 45 kg
29 January 2021: At 85, Madhusudan S. Chobe, founder of Print Screen, Nagpur, is always looking for the challenge in screen printing industry. He prints every year Marbat (Devi) Saree, measuring 150 ft x12 ft, weighing around 42-45 kg. He has published 2 books on screen printing and a few articles in 3-books on screen printing education.
Meanwhile, he is tirelessly and cheerfully trains the underprivileged and needy youth. Once one batch of training is over, he eagerly awaits for his next assignment. He was recently invited to educate at Adivasi Ashram Shala (School) at Shegaon in Buldhana.
Born in 1936 in a farmer’s family at village Panchgaon near Nagpur, the veteran completed his basic education from Nagpur. Later he completed G.D.Art from J. J.School of Arts, Mumbai. He gained insight into screen printing training from Prof. Kailash Takle at J. J. School of Arts. He also served as a Lecturer for Printing and Packaging at Printing Technology Institute.
He was the first Screen Printing Training Centre in 1975 in Nagpur to conduct free screen printing workshops for the people who hailed from lower income backgrounds. His students hailed from Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, etc and some from abroad as well. “In my journey of 45 years of screen printing, though it is difficult to put into numbers, but I have managed to have trained over 12000 students and adults from all over the country including various printing institutes, NGOs, organizations, corporations, etc. My students’ age group comprises 8-10 year kids to 85-year old veterans,” says the veteran in screen printing.
Down memory lane, he says, “Initially, I vouched for screen printing jobs and later I focused on supply of materials in Central India. However, my professional life was mostly focused on imparting training to people along with my business, where both were heading hand in hand. I helped students who were physically challenged and leprosy diagnosed patients at Baba Amte’s Anandwan. I was also invited to train a Women’s group for about 8 days. Apart from that I had chance to guide students who suffered from mental illnesses & visual impairing.”
The veteran was invited to train students at Government Kala Niketan, Jabalpur as Guest Lecturer at Printing Technology Institute, Nagpur; Deaf and Dumb School, Nagpur; Blind School ,Nagpur. He also organised a workshop for Disabled students, Government Polytechnic, Nagpur. He has conducted Workshops at Government Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya, Nagpur; CISFA Arts College, Nagpur; Ideas Architecture College. He was also asked to address a Workshop by Railway Employees’ Wives Association, Nagpur and Air Force Employee’s Wives Association, Nagpur.
The veteran has collected numerous accolades. He was presented with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by Raja Shanmugam, then Chairman of NIFT-TEA College in 2011 in Tirupur. A Marathi Daily conferred me with title of “Pita Maha”. He was awarded by Vijai Kapoor, the then Lt. Governor of Delhi. Besides many printing honours from national associations, another Lifetime Achievement Award from Vidarbha Printers Guild& Technova Imaging systems was received.
“Usually, wherever I go to head the training, workshops, guest lectures, I receive a token of appreciation, but I choose to share the same with NGOs as my service to society is voluntary. I keep myself busy with new technologies (YouTube video tutorials!), create new ideas. I think of newness and this is my lifestyle which keeps me young at this age,” he concludes.
chobescreen@gmail.com
