Molding clay on the Potter’s Wheel may not sound exciting for anybody, but making 18 clay micro pots fit onto a Rupee coin – or even a few less such pots onto a matchstick – and even receiving a Geographical Indication (GI) for his famed “Nizamabad Black Pottery” (NBP) in the bargain seems to be child’s play for clay pottery artisan Shivratan Prajapati, who is displaying these skills at the Mahalaxmi SARAS 2019 Fair, that is being held at the BKC Grounds in Bandra East, Mumbai.

“The exquisite Nizamabad Black Pottery is a GI product and NABARD sponsored the registration for me in this regard,” Prajapati, who hails from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, said while displaying a box containing tiny black kettles and cups, pots, plates, saucers, jugs, bottles, containers and other pottery items at his stall that has been also sponsored by NABARD.

“Making all those pottery items in the box took me one month and many calls used to come in from visitors who had viewed them and asked about its sale, as such tiny articles are not found anywhere in the world. So, for ‘Make In India’, I gave a live pottery demonstration in Delhi at Pragati Maidan in Delhi, the Crafts Museum, the Surajkund Mela and the Delhi Haat Exhibition Centre at the India Habitat Centre, while in 1988 the U.S. Ambassador honored me for my Nizamabad Black Pottery,” he said, adding “I even participated in the Global Villages exhibition in Dubai last year by giving live demos and selling my artistic pottery creations.”

Prajapati said the NBP and other pottery-making has come down through the generations in his family – and his proudest moment was when his father Rajendra Prasad Prajapati and mother Kalpadevi received recognition for their efforts in making Nizamabad Black Pottery  by being presented a national award from President Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1987. His two pottery-skilled brothers too bagged awards later with the elder Ramjatan getting a national merit award following his visit and live demonstration in Britain, and younger brother Sohit — who did a live demonstration in Switzerland — winning a national award from the Central Government

“There are only three families – including ours — in Nizamabad who are making black pottery and our total annual turnover amounts to around Rs one crore,” he said while mentioning that his biggest pottery effort is the six-feet-high urns/vases that take one month to make and earn him between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 for each tall creation.

“I have applied to the Guinness Book of World Records to include my name in their records for recognizing my ‘Potters Touch’ skills in making “16 pots fit on a matchstick” and “40 pots on a One-Rupee-coin”.  The reply will come in three months,” he said while mentioning that he was looking forward excitedly to their answer.

Even as he spoke, two people approached him to teach them how to mold clay into pots on the Potter’s Wheel – to which he happily obliged The first was an elderly woman, whose hands were placed by the potter gently around a lump of clay to successfully  fashion it into a tiny pot. She was followed by a little boy whose hands also created a tiny pot of his own—but with a little bit of help from the master potter Prajapati – who clearly demonstrated his liking for all those seeking to learn pottery-making.