The Flip Side

For more than three months now, I have been conveying to you my abiding passion—the Anglo-Indian community. I have also put forward the idea that the Anglo-Indian is, for better or for worse, a human being. I have not come to the end of that saga, but, for the sake of variety, I want to introduce you to my other passion—wood-working. I didn’t know I had some skill in carpentry until about my 30th year, when I did some repair work at home and then took up wood-carving. My first materials were discarded cricket bats and, to satisfy my ego (I guess), I produced a self-portrait. I will let you, dear Reader, be the judge of my (then) nascent skills.

After that initial burst, the affairs of the world captured my attention and this continued till I retired. Then the travel bug hit me and trips to Old Blighty one year, and Down Under the next, kept me busy. But after that, at the end of 2014, I didn’t have too much to do. That’s when I took up wood-craft. Even today my base materials are pieces of scrap, wood or metal or plastic. The cyclone of that year gave me a lot of wood to work with, and my “owl” came from a broken branch of a mango tree.

My next piece, a rhino, was designed using scraps of teak. There’s a story behind those teak pieces and I wanted something to remember them by. Back in the day when electric irons did not have a cut-off switch (I’m talking of the time when I was in my early teens), I plugged the box in and promptly forgot about it. No one was at home and it must have been on for a few hours, at least, when I returned to find that part of the table on which the iron was kept was smoldering, even reduced to cinders. The embers were doused and the damaged table followed me, much later, to my home. When I finally decided to replace the burnt-out plank, I was left with enough wood to fashion my Rhino. I think it came out pretty well. What do you think? And as they say, thereby hangs a tale.

I rustled together a few more pieces of teak and put them together as a giraffe, a companion for the rhino. I’m sure you will agree that it stands tall and graceful.

I don’t know if I have a fetish for rhinos, but my second, called Ranga (after his original habitat in Assam), has a story too. I brought Ranga to life only last week, but his tusk came from a rooster’s claw that I had stored for a long time in my workshop. As you may have correctly guessed, everyone’s garbage often comes in handy; for me, especially, and where I live quite a few people summon me to take what I want of their throw-aways before getting rid of the rest.

It was late 2014 when I really started my menagerie. It was election time, in India as well as in America, and Tom Hanks was also quite the rage. I found the appropriate pieces of wood and strung together a donkey, promptly naming him “Don T. Gump”. He’s back again, in 2024 and thereby hangs another tale. Whoever said history (or herstory, or itstory) doesn’t repeat itself?

Many years back I got the opportunity to showcase my talents at a fancy-fete which doubled up as an exhibition-cum-sale. Everyone was queueing up at the food-stalls, but many were curious enough to take a look at my wares. In fact, I made quite a profit selling my scrap (crap?) art and that encouraged me to continue down that path.

If you haven’t yet discovered that creative spark in yourself, it’s because you haven’t given it much thought. But because we are all human, there is always some talent hidden away. I encourage you, dear Reader, to look within and very soon you will have a hobby, or a pass-time, or even a welcome distraction, something that will give you so much pleasure that you may even want to share it with the people around you.

So, good luck and happy hunting.