KOLLAM: Ponmana is a village that exists only in paintings now, drawn by R. Jayakrishnan, 42, a former resident. The coastal village in Karunagappally has disappeared from the map because of mining by the Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML). Till then, it was a picturesque land where over 1,000 families lived enjoying its serenity. Spanning across 600 acres, the village's boundaries were the Arabian sea on the one side and the Thiruvananthapuram-Shornur canal on the other. The rowing boats at the Kannitta kadavu connected the villagers to the nearby places which otherwise remained cut off from the fast changing world.
The village is now a ghost land abandoned by the residents due to the sea erosion caused by the mining. The sea has gnawed out a major portion of the place. However, Jayakrishnan, a junior health inspector in the Karunagappally municipality, has recreated the lost glory of the village in his paintings using water colour. "I was born and brought up at Ponmana that lies between the TS Kanal and the Arabian sea. I still relish the memories of my village - the school, the temples, the grand old mango tree and even a pan shop near my house. Years after we left the place, I could recollect the scenes, which have vanished," says Jayakrishnan, who joined government service in 2003.
The KMML first notified the land to be acquired during 1985. But the villagers resisted the move as they were making a living by doing menial jobs linked to the sea. They also did not want to enter a job sector with which they were not familiar. But gradually, they started leaving the village by 2000 as the authorities had blocked all land transactions, preventing the residents from selling their own land. Several houses were abandoned which the company demolished. By the end of 2007, almost all the natives had left the village and the KMML started mining.
"Our family left Ponmana in 2003 along with many others. Our land was taken over by KMML and we shifted to Sankaramangalam and later to Kuttivattom," he says. Jayakrishnan started painting in 2010 and posted a picture of Kalangara temple on his Facebook page. There was exciting response from the exiled people of the village. "I drew all possible pictures of the village under 'Ponmana 1990 series,' and have so far drawn over 40 pictures bringing back the nostalgic memories," he says. Ponmana is a place not represented much in photographs. "A portion of it might appear in some of the wedding photos, but not fully. Now the villagers can see their old place in the pictures," he adds.
