Tale of the Coconut Shell

VIJAYDATTA Lotlikar has been designing durable household articles of every day use--dainty showpieces, exquisite jewelry and even electrical articles--from the humble Goan coconut shell, which is generally discarded after extracting the kernel. Lotlikar has been consistently exploring the various possibilities and transferring the knowledge gained by him to youngsters, less privileged folk and others.

Two years ago, one of his colleagues offered Vijaydatta Lotlikar an exceptionally large coconut. Vijaydatta hesitated a bit before breaking it. He wondered whether he could put the large shell to better use. This triggered a novel idea based on which he shaped the shell into a dainty, useful container, and gifted it to his colleague.

Everyone admired his eco-friendly ingenuity as well as smart design sense. Vijaydatta had created something lovely from a lowly shell, which Goans cast away or use for burning after extracting the kernel for consumption. Of course, there was a time when the labourer would receive his evening drink in the koddtti (coconut shell). It was also used to make a ladle for rice cooked in a buddkulo (clay pot) and curry in a kunddlem.

With the admiration from his colleagues, Vijaydatta was fired with the zeal to further his quest and explore every fine quality of the coconut shell. In the process, he crafted one useful article after another. Being a goldsmith by origin, his dexterous hands designed delicate coconut jewelry-bangles, ear-rings, broaches, hair-clips, pendants, etc. Soon various dainty showpieces of daily use also poured out from his creative flow. His emphasis, however, dwelt on utility items like containers, crockery, lamp shades, pen-stands, spectacle frames, and the like.

Says Vijaydatta, "Latching on to my experience of lamps from the coconut shell, I can now design electrical items like switches, door bells, etc. of coconut shell. Though lately I have concentrated on carving figures on the coconut shell, my latest creation is a 1.25-metre lamp, wrought totally of coconut shell." It ain't a plain show piece but has utility value like other metal lamps.

People enter the handicrafts field either to satisfy their creative urge or to benefit from its profits. Vijaydatta's quest, almost irrepressible now, differs from that of others in that he is not enamoured by commercial aspirations. He creates items from a coconut shell but not to sell. "Having realised that there is plenty of raw material, available almost free, I have been creating awareness among other Goans, specially the youth, about the coconut shell, from the experience gained by me. People can definitely make a living by learning the art, which is easy and costs very little," Vijaydatta says.

Vijaydatta has conducted more than 30 training programmes so far, on behalf of several organisations, to teach small groups to put the coconut discards to proper and profitable use. He says, "Recently I held a training programme through the Rural Development Agency at Kansarpal for a below-poverty-line group, where 20 students took the training. Another programme was at Usgao-Nanuz, organised by the Mahila Mandal and sponsored by the Central Board of Women's Education in July. There was a camp at the Goa Shipyard in Vasco on September 3 under the Kripa Foundation for a social welfare group. In Tivim, the FAJ Housing Board Colony arranged another programme."

He has been holding exhibitions of his work and had a show recently at the Tourism seminar at Porvorim's Catering College. The forthcoming programmes include a training programme for Polytechnic students of textile designing at the Government Polytechnic in Panjim.

The master craftsman says, "Several of the groups, are already producing artistic articles on their own. Marketting is no problem because people related to Goa's tourism industry come to fetch these items, which are the only ethnic Goan handicrafts because only the Goan coconut is sufficiently hard and renders itself beautifully to produce dainty articles. The Kerala variety of coconut may have a better shell but it is not good enough for this work."

Several people have been contacting him for conducting training programmes, particularly NGOs working for children. The Handicrafts department has regular requests for the popular training programmes. Even the Chairman of the Mumbai Municipal Schools has approached Vijaydatta for organizing training programmes for their 300-odd municipal schools.

Much as he would love to impart training to a larger number of youngsters, he is at a disadvantage due to his job. Vijaydatta works as a Lab Assistant at St Xavier's High School, Moira. He has, however, already approached Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, to see if his services could be transferred to a more relevant department. He certainly deserves a better deal for the dedication he has put in the nascent art.

Experimenting consistently, Lotlikar has also been studying other aspects like the durability of the coconut shell under adverse conditions of heat, moisture, etc. His endeavour has resulted into a new project, which he will submit to the National Innovation Foundation of India for their Second National Annual Competition for Scouting Grassroots Unaided Technological Innovations. The project is meant to show how the use of the coconut shell can be maximised to replace harmful material like plastic and thermocol, for various purposes.

Fame shadows Vijaydatta by virtue of his unique enterprise. He has been featured extensively in several publications in Goa besides Door Darshan and Zee TV. He has kept on improving his art and at every new exhibition the number of the lovely items keep on increasing. He has created nearly 175 items since the last two years ago. Among the several awards he has bagged so far, the latest is by US-based NGO, Goa Sudharop.

Anyone interested in the coconut products, they can contact Lotlikar via Goa DESC (goadesc@goatelecom.com) or GoaNOW (goanow@goatelecom.com).

Joel D'Souza