| Paramban Ittaman, Valiyora, near Vengara, Malappuram |
He climbs coconut trees till noon for a living. And he works with coconut parts till midnight for pleasure. Out of Paramban Ittaman’s labour of love are born different forms of birds, ships and lamps, flowers, caps, slippers, spiders, beehive, cup-and-saucer etc. that are kept in his modest room which could be considered a coconut museum of sorts.
All items are made of coconut parts and he does not use any tool other than his sickle. After plucking coconuts for his clients, he takes home waste products and shapes them into curios that earn him popularity and stature.
Ittaman’s artistic curiosity surfaced about a year ago when he laid his hands on a coconut that looked like a bird. “Why not try it out with other parts?” he thought. And that has seen the creation of many figures.
Except for the embellishment of colour, no other foreign element is found in his coconut museum. No part of the coconut tree is considered by this artist as a waste. He moulds them into different shapes. “I don’t discard any part of the coconut, be it the shell or husk or palm leaves or any single part that you can imagine,” he says.
He had given part of his art works for exhibition during the last school science mela. Now with his room nearly full, he is planning to conduct an exhibition on his own.
Courtesy:
Abdul Latheef Naha (text), The Hindu, July 13, 2006
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