Palakkad: The forgotten men behind Yakshi'

PALAKKAD: Kanayi Kunhiraman's stunning 'Yakshi' at the Malampuzha gardens hides in its belly many delightful stories of its formation which only the renowned sculptor and the workers who helped him create it know. Two of the workers, Pazhaniswami, 83, a mason, and Velaudhan,71, who fixed the steel to set up the sculpture, live in small houses near the Malampuzha gardens. However, they have no place during the 12-day events being held from February 26 to March 9 by the Kerala Lalitakala Akademi and the district administration to celebrate the 50th anniversary of 'Yakshi' and the 81st birthday of its sculptor.

The organisers have rejected the request of cultural organisations to honour the duo by offering them at least 'ponnada' at the cultural and art programme named 'Yakshiyanam' being held at the gardens by spending Rs 50 lakh.

The organisers say that the event was conceived to honour Kanayi and no one else.

"Kanayi had met both the workers, the two out of the six, who helped him during the making of Yakshi, at their homes. The Akademi does not intend to invite them to the event," M.S. Das, PRO of 'Yakshiyanam,' said.

However, the activists of Samskara Sahithi, a cultural organisation of Congress party, criticised the organisers for focusing only on Kanayi.

"The duo told us interesting anecdotes of the two years of making the sculpture. As it was a big sculpture of a nude woman, the visitors to the garden were a bit shy while watching the artwork. Kanayi used to say that he would give a clothing to the sculpture after its completion, the duo told us. All these need to be recorded for the future. We will conduct a parallel event to honour the workers on the concluding day of 'Yakshiyanam' on March 9," Boban Mattumantha, a functionary of Samskara Sahithi here said.