From ‘riches to rags’ is what sums up his story at 79. But this has not made any difference to this frail old man in Shimla, who happily struggles every day to live with dignity.

For Krishan Kumar Paruthi, the journey from a flourishing wholesale business of packaged foods for trekkers in Nepal to the small time hobby of dry flower art to make both ends meet is nothing but a rich experience.

“The struggle keeps you alive. A decade and a half back, I lost everything and had nothing to turn to. That time, my childhood hobby of drying flowers in books came to my rescue. I started collecting leaves and flowers once again, this time for decoration on candles, lamp shades or even greeting cards artistically and found buyers for them,” Paruthi shared with The Statesman.

Paruthi hails from Shimla and his father had property here. However, once the family moved out other places after the death of his father in childhood, they sold everything.

Making do in a very small room in Shimla, Paruthi is not able to sit properly for serious problems in spine. But his will to stand by self makes him occupied in the art work, which requires sittings of hours together. The hard work that he pours into the dry flower art from the idea to the finished product works speaks for itself.

The non-smoke florescent candles of bee wax, the body chakra candles (seven chakras for love and happiness) for holistic healing, the beautifully decorated mirrors or wooden boxes, whatever is made by Paruthi has buyers in the local market.

The price generally varies from few hundreds to few thousands for art works. It could be higher for exclusive art pieces.

“I do get some orders at home as people now know about my work and sometimes I exhibit in festivals on the Ridge,” the septuagenarian said.

He narrated as to how he had to scale down even the dry flower art work from a group to individual (self) after he suffered losses in this business too in Delhi.

“I had come back from Nepal due to hostile circumstances, leaving everything there. In Delhi, I took to exhibitions and exports of dry flower art. But that too didn’t work ultimately and I packed the bags for Shimla,”he narrated.

The old man is annual visitor to the Department of Language, Art and Culture, where he trains the young artists in dry flower art for some years. Many of his trainees now take care that their ‘guru’ never falls short of the dry leaves or flowers— the raw material for his creativity at home.

Paruthi’s desire now is that the state government should link the dry flower art to the skill development scheme, as it could help the youth take to this art venture for livelihood.