An ostiary's story

पोथी पढ़ पढ़ मुआ,पंडित भयो न कोए

ढाई आखर प्रेम के,जो  पढ़े सो पंडित होए ….. 

Reading books everyone died, none became very wise.

One who reads the words of love, only becomes wise….

                    (doha or couplets by sant kabir)

A couplet taught to most school children came to mind when we decided to write about an exceptional man from Kolkata. A working man of  no education, he is currently earning a living as a chowkidaar(gatekeeper). A chance meeting at a friend’s place lead to the discovery of Manohar ‘kaku’ and his love for making wire figurines. This is how it all came about……

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and after a meal of ‘panta bhaat’, ‘maacher jhol’ and ‘alu shiddho’ (mouth watering Bengali food) at Anurag’s place we sat chatting over ‘masala chai’ and like many in Bengal, the topic of discussion was a need for some quality art. I argued with my friend Anurag, declaring my displeasure about how art is degenerating into mediocrity. The need for perfection has surely been lost. I would not delve into the irrelevance of that argument anymore for my perception was reversed when I met Manohar ‘kaku’. Anurag took the two of us downstairs to a small little musty room at the outhouse.  There stood ‘kaku’ looking quite comical in his dirty ‘khakhis’ with few odd strands of greys shyly standing on his bare head, gay eyes and a toothless beetel nut smeared smile. While Anurag and my friend were happily interacting with ‘kaku’ I wasn't amused. I looked at Anurag in disbelief, wondering if he is going to pull an all poor emotional angle to prove his point. Oh come on! I am a little uptight I agree but only for the right reason.

Anurag cajoled ‘kaku’ into showing what he had made. ‘Kaku’ all shy giggling like a child showing off his toys came out with most curious little items made of wires. My jaw dropped! Regardless of propriety I took a step forward to take a peek inside his little dark room. As soon as my eyes could adjust to the light, I saw small little things made of wires lined against the wall- a cycle, Gandhi’s Charkha, a cobra, the snake charmer and so on.

Wires… ?! How did he come up with this idea? What was his inspiration? How could his mind possibly think of making such things? With a meager salary of INR 1500 per month and nothing but house pliers at his disposal he created these little things. A security guard of a high rise building in India is not a regular trained personnel but usually an individual from a village, who is hired to stay on guard all night and day, permitted to take short naps in between when no one is looking , and expected to be happy working on a meager salary. He should be ready to act as an electrician, a plumber, and coolie (Man Friday), be good company to catch up on neighbor’s gossip and also the one who takes care of your children while they are playing downstairs. Such multi-skills are a pre-requisite for such a job. But ‘kaku’ is exceptional. Yes, he might not be very skilled at wire-art but with whatever little he has at his disposal and a beautiful imagination at work he creates these curious items within minutes. I forgot all about mediocrity and felt ashamed at my vanity. There is perhaps no mediocrity in true art for it is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.

   

We at kriya kalash wish to help Manohar 'kaku' continue his craft and are displaying his works on this blog, if you want to buy any of these pieces kindly email us on kriyakalash@gmail.com Your contributions will be forwarded to him along with your best wishes.