It is a ramshackle house with walls that appear to be coming apart. Attached to it is a small shed giving shade to C.K. Devan working with his chisel, with small pieces of rosewood scattered around him. As one approaches him, he looks up with a woeful disinterestedness on his face and, as one tries to chat him up on what he does and how he fares in life, the man reacts with a wan smile and replies, “When an art is marginalised, and its beauty not recognised, how will it provide a livelihood and how will the art itself survive?”
Devan is one among the inheritors of a craft that is facing an existential challenge. A woodcarver who set out in the vocation when he was 24, Devan is a sad man today. Like scores of others like him in the capital city, Devan struggling, both to keep his family going and to help a few who had joined him as workers at his workshop.
Devan, who lives near Chakka in the city, says that pursuing the business is hard these days and he has half a mind to stop it. Craftsmen of his time have become aged and since many of have not got themselves registered with the welfare schemes of the government, there is only little possibility of their getting pension or other support. The payment for the artefacts and statuettes they make, particularly for the government-run outlets, comes late. “It is better to work as a daily wage labourer than pursue such work,” he said.
“People like us work for more than 12 hours to get Rs.100-150,” says Babu from Manacaud. Unni from Sreekaryam points that the State-run handicrafts development corporation does not pay them until the items they supply are sold, which takes 5-6 months. With the advent of Chinese products, which have found wide acceptance among the people, it has become all the more difficult to pull on, he says.
Manikandan from Thazhasseri is one of the worst hit by the poor run of the craftspeople of the capital city. He had sculpted a large wooden Siva idol investing all his money in the hope of selling it and earning enough to give his daughter in marriage. It had taken him eight years to carve the piece. It is still with him, unsold.
