Sandman Sudarsan Pattnaik Creates New Record With Santa Claus Installation

Bhubaneswar: Internationally-acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik could not have hoped for a better New Year gift with his Santa Claus installation on sand with plastic bottles finding a place in Best of India records.

Sudarsan broke the news on Twitter: “My World’s biggest Installation of santa clause on sand with plastic bottles set a record in Best of India Record.”

In an attempt to create another world record, Sudarsan sculpted a Santa Claus on Puri sea beach on December 25, on the occasion of Christmas. He has used 10,000 plastic bottles to create the 30 feet high and 100 feet width sand sculptor.

Assisted by 40 of his students, he completed the sculpture in two days using nearly 800 tonnes of sand.  He had also created two Christmas trees.

It sent out a message to save the environment and curb plastic pollution. The sculpture has been on display from December 25 to January 1.

Sudarsan had earlier created Guinness World Records for building the world’s tallest sand castle in 2017. The award-winning artist had built a 48.08ft structure on a beach in Puri. He had 45 students come over from Sudarsan Sand Art Institute in Puri, and, along with 500 labourers, completed the structure.

The noted sand artist was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 2014 for his contribution to sand art. He has also bagged various national award like National Youth award, National Tourism award, People of the year award by Limca Book in 2009 and Young Indian leadership award by CNN IBN.

He had made it to Limca Book Of records several times in the past.