The lives of bureaucrats are full of stress as every official decision of theirs impacts lives in some way. So, they need to exercise extreme caution while discharging their duties and maintain high standards of integrity as people, especially the youngsters, look up to them as role models. All this pressure is bound to create a lot of stress, which, we all know, can impact health.
So, how do they deal with everyday stress? “Indulge in hobbies,” says IAS officer Saurabh Raj. And no wonder! This brilliant bureaucrat is an avid painter, also! In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, he shared about his love for painting and the relief that it brings to him at the end of a hectic day.
PASSION FOR PAINTING
The 2011-batch officer’s painting journey started when he received his first posting as a Sales Tax Officer with the Government of Uttar Pradesh, after getting selected into the Indian Administrative Service.
The period of around 5 months between getting selected and joining the service gave him ample time to look for things that interested him. He came across painters at The Residency, Lucknow, where he was staying, and fell in love with watercolors as it has lesser paraphernalia and is a more dynamic and transparent medium. However, his painting skills were honed during the first Covid lockdown last year.
“Being a bureaucrat, I couldn’t afford to attend painting workshops being held in cities like Bangalore. Due to lockdown, when the entire world came together on platforms like Zoom, people like me got the opportunities. I attended the weekend online workshops and learnt fine-tuning of colours and the self-tutoring graduated into professional skills,” Mr Raj told Indian Masterminds.
DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM NATURE
Talking about the theme of his paintings, the officer, who is currently posted as the Director of Technical Education in Punjab Government, said, “My paintings dwell into nature’s realms. I draw nature, landscapes, seascapes, snowscapes et al. Nature’s beauty has always attracted me into its folds. The kind of language that can be spoken through watercolours can’t be expressed in any other medium. The dynamism of watercolours gives unspoken momentum to the paintings, making them talk through the colourful grains dipped into brushes.”
MASTER OF WATER COLORS
Mr Raj’s most preferred medium of paint is watercolours. Through them, he tells the stories of nature, love and harmony.
He believes, “Watercolour is the medium of common man, a medium of protest. While the Great Masters of art painted in oil, giving impetus to feudalism, aristocracy and monarchy, the watercolours came out as a medium of protest echoing the thoughts of a common man.”
BALANCING WORK AND PASSION
If you love to do something, you will always find time for it. Similarly, the officer also steals time from his busy schedule to enjoy his passion and de-stress from the pressures and responsibilities of a civil servant.
“I paint at the end of the day as a way of rewinding from my stressful bureaucratic job when I am free. It’s my gift to myself that helps me sail across the stressed life we all are living in.”
He also believes that if you are honest about your hobby, you will always find time for it, no matter how busy you are.
“Many of us pursue hobbies to show other people, which is not a wise decision. Hobbies should be an outlet of emotions and thoughts that can’t otherwise be expressed in work. I feel more energetic and refresh when I make a painting after a hectic day’s work,” he said.
Every working professional should take a leaf out of this bureaucrat’s life and try to strike a balance between work and destressing activities. And indulging in one’s favourite hobbies is the best way to deal with everyday stress arising out of work pressures.
