Nature & Animals….. - HereNow4U.net

Animal Crusaders • Commemorative Issue • October 2010Team CCTThe Telegraph, Calcutta, IndiaThursday, June 03, 2004APU BANDOPADHYAYDesigned to drive home the pointFrom decrying open slaughter ofanimals and ferrying of poultry birdsin appalling conditions, to a tableaushowcasing the power of e-governance, graphic artist ApuBandopadhyay’s thrilling explorationof new frontiers is boundless. So thestate pollution control board (PCB)green-lighting his anti-pollution visualsfor posters and badges on WorldEnvironment Day have got him allexcited.With an artist father Dilip Banerjee fromthe Government Art College andLondon Slade School, the 33-year-oldgraphic designer grew up with the waftof linseed and turpine oil alongside thepalette and the paintbrush at home.“However, he never really taught meanything hands-on, and I have neverhad any formal training,” Apu declares.The creative urge from his schooldaysat Taki House was stoked further whenhe discovered the genius of SatyajitRay as a graphic artist. Inspired by themaster’s sketches, he got involved indesigning brochures and awarenessstickers for animal welfare NGOCompassionate Crusaders’ Trust (CCT)with themes like sterilisation of straydogs and anti-urban zoo campaign.Visual campaigns for pesticide units inregional publications to raiseawareness in rural belts proceededalongside.July 17, 2001 was a turning point whenGovernor Viren J. Shah inaugurated thewebsite animalcrusader.org, designedand evolved by Apu. “Today, it is amongthe top 10 Google sites in terms of hitsregistered,” he proclaims. The portaltraces the growth of CCT highlightingprogrammes like the rabies-controlinitiative besides fact sheets on theanimal shelter Karuna Kunj.Apu’s poster design for the PCB’s WorldEnvironment Day campaign focuseson vehicular pollution and depicts achild trapped in a choking traffic snarlat a congested junction, with noxiousfumes fading the visage colour. Themessage in Bengali says: “Let us takean oath to bring colour back into thechild's life.”Among other treasured milestones arethe floats he designed for the RepublicDay parade for CCT on the law againstperforming animals in 1999 and forWebel in 2001 on e-governance.“I would love to make an animationfilm using the old and livelier Disneytechnique,” says Apu.50