Pearl Shaped Ganesha

Ajai Kumar Sonkar, a scientist has created pearls in the form of Lord Ganesha.   He started a reasearch project in Andaman and Nicobar Island in 2003  and  said pearls can now be created in various shapes. “    ”I have been experimenting since 2003. However, the Tsunami  destroyed my lab the following year. I had to restart my research and the effort was worth it,” Sonkar told PTI.

The 42 mm lord Ganesha-shaped pearl was created in his farm. “The Ganesha pearl will be worth more than $30,000 (about Rs 12,70,000),” said Sonkar.  Sonkar said he used a special species of pearl oyster — Pteria Penguin — for this experiment. “Earlier no free-cultured pearl had been formed in this particular species because of its features. They are very sensitive to outside element and usually die when any foreign body is implanted,” he said.

Sonkar, who in 2003 had developed the world’s biggest black pearl in Andamans, said the usual 6 mm pearls takes about three years to grow in countries like Japan, but the Ganesha pearl was formed in just six months.

The scientist, who had carried out three surgical operations on the oyster to regulate chemical secretion, which forms the pearl, said the entire process is based on ‘mental activation process’. “The crafted nucleus is implanted in the oyster. Then the mental (part of the body that secretes pearly component) grows and envelops the nucleus. Six months later, a Ganesha shaped pearl is formed,” he said.