Th last 2 decades! they were not even called to preside over or to distribute prizes .!!
Yes . That is a tragic part of the lives of such veterans . Something we saw and recorded with the likes of Manakkal , Somu's Widow , Kalpagam Mami , Tanjore Sankara Iyer , DKP , GS Mani....
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The OLD AND The NEW
There is a world of difference between working with new lumber and wood that has seen years of service to man.
New lumber has the smell of oak moss , leaf mold and sometimes violets. Its smooth uniform surfaces speak of gang saws ripping through the knots and gnarls of a thick log.
Old wood has a woody smell only when it is sawed. Then the heavy fragrance of rotting timber fallen long ago blend with the acrid odour from the finish singed by the saw. There are also hints of the room once inhabited , of a subterranean dampness , or a wine spill.
New lumber has not forgotten the green growth of the forest. It has sticky resin – sometimes a pocket , sometimes a sheen . And juices which make it expand and contract , curl and cup .Bow and warp.
Old lumber is resigned to a life of service to man, and it submits to his will and whim .It hardly moves it hardly changes.It is stable and mature accepting of the time and space found .But occasionally an old board lets out a sigh that sounds like a long forgotten whimper , or a bullet’s report.
New wood looks like a topographical map .
Old wood depicts history as well .Coronations , civil strife and invasions. The ubiquitous nail holes have crowns , halos and lances that can be metallic , russet or black. Discoloured streaks and patches reveal where pictures once hung , the sunlight fell or the molding was.There are bruises and gashes , charred traces of cigarettes stamped out too late and tiny particles of ghostly chalk that seeped through from plaster boards into two-by-fours.
Used lumber is an inheritance that usually goes unclaimed .It becomes one’s own , when it is turned into needless objects. The rehabilitation project is an adjustment .
The start is where others left off.
Charles Fenyvesi in Washington Post
