Posted 30 Dec 2009

In the spirit of Christmas and eco-friendliness, a sand artist this week gave those on a gap year in India something festive and topical to stop and stare at.

Sudarshan Patnaik hit the beach at Puri, which is in India’s east coast state Orissa, where he sculpted 100 Santa Claus figures in a bid to highlight the problems caused by global warming, reported the BBC.

The display took 1,000 tonnes of sand and 36 hours for the artist to sculpt and so far, the spectacle has attracted hundreds of locals, tourists and gap year travellers.

Mr Patnaik, who has taken part in almost 40 international sand art events, told the BBC: "It is my humble effort to press home the dire need to go green to save the world from the menace of global warming."

According to the news provider, the artist gained a place in the Limca Book of Records by creating the world’s tallest sand Santa Claus last year.

Category: Asia