Are you under the impression that nails are a waste? Think again. They can be used as tools to draw fine sketches on drawing sheets.

His fingers work on the intricate maze of veins and arteries running from the heart. They also create magic on paper, the nails crisscrossing its surface and producing beautiful pieces of art.

No wonder, the head of the Cardiovascular Surgery department, MGM Hospital, Warangal, Amaravadi Prabhakara Chary's fetish for nail sketches has earned him the sobriquet `Hridaya Silpi', sculptor of heart!

The nail sketcher has come out with an etching of the nation's map dotted by the tricolour, symbols of its important religions and the Father of the Nation, all this on a thin sheet of gold! "I thought a golden nation like India has to be depicted on the purest of metals, gold," reasoned Dr. Chary.

Beating 3.5 grams of gold into a delicate sheet, Dr. Chary said he got to work on Saturday and three hours later came up with Golden India, as he christened it. Regretting that Indians were forgetting the greatness of their motherland, he said the effort was to infuse a sense of belonging and patriotism among them, particularly the youngsters.

"This is no longer my property. If any national museum wants it, I'm ready to give it away," he said saying his work was now national property.
Here we have one more example..

Chandanapalli Gopala Rao, a native of Pinnintiramunaiduvalasa of Parvathipuram mandal in Vizianagaram district, is one such artist who has sketched some fine masterpieces with his nails.

Inspired by his childhood friend, B. Appa Rao, he took to drawing. He considers the reputed nail artist, Palla Parisi Naidu, as his guru.

Parisi Naidu displayed his paintings at an exhibition held at the Sainik School in Korukonda. The keen enthusiasm evinced by the students in viewing the paintings sent the right signals to Gopala Rao. He decided then and there to become a nail artist. He says that the nail can be used as a pencil to draw sketches, as a pen to draw, as a brush to paint and as a chisel to carve figures.

Nail art has a distinct style of its own. It doesn't need paints, brushes, pencil, pen or canvas. The nail artist needs to acquire the technique of move his nails deftly on paper. The thumb and middle fingers can be used in nail art. The nails have to be grown suitably.

The nail art photographed under the special technique - light and shade - are akin to sculptures. They can be framed and displayed at exhibitions, he says.
Can we say “Gotito poye daniki……”.