How Covid forced this artist to the street for survival

Fondly called bearded grandfather, Dalal Gupta, a sketcher lives on the sidewalk where he draws and showcases his work hoping someone would buy his art. But, in the world of online posters and portraits, he finds only a few takers. Rarely, someone stops and requests him to make a portrait of theirs.

Mumbai: The coronavirus pandemic has crippled the work culture across the world, rendering several jobless. While several big companies folded under the pressure of COVID-19, it also left many small-time workers in search of jobs.

Dalal Gupta is one among many artists who were left fending for themselves when the pandemic struck.

Gupta, a sketcher who earlier had a small shop in New Delhi now makes pencil portraits outside Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to support himself.

Fondly called bearded grandfather, he lives on the sidewalk itself where he draws and showcases his work, in hopes that someone would buy his art.

But, in the world of online posters and portraits, he finds only a few takers. Rarely, someone stops and requests him to make a portrait of theirs.

Gupta says his paintings were very popular at one time but an unfortunate accident and now the pandemic made him leave his small shop in Delhi.

Unable to survive in the capital, Gupta who has worked with the renowned artist M. F. Husain in his studio in Faridabad for four years made a move to Mumbai.

Gupta who specializes in all kinds of painting, also claims that he is a known name in the art circle of Delhi. But today, he is forced to spend his life on sidewalks of Mumbai.