Drifting his way through the woods as a passion

CHENNAI: Seran could have sold every piece of driftwood he found to make a quick buck. But this Chennai-based driftwood collector holds his prized collection of 81 exhibits collected over 25 years safe at his home cum studio, and claims that they better the record of Raji Punnoose, a collector of driftwood and the curator of the Kerala run driftwood museum in Kumarakom, in the the Limca Book of Records.    The various exhibits lined up outside Seran’s house show onlookers the amount of painstaking hunting that has gone in to finding these pieces of wood that bear striking resemblance to real life objects. Driftwood can best be described as debris of wood washed ashore by waves, winds or man. The eastern coast of India is a place where driftwood in different forms and sizes is found because of the turbulent seas and frequent cyclones. Despite starting out as a painter Seran, who believes that a man’s life will be complete only if he contributes to the field of art, never made it big. During one of his aimless strolls in his village in Cheyyur 25 years ago, he stumbled upon his first piece of driftwood that was shaped like an unclothed woman – he saw it as nature’s art and has been collecting it ever since. The teary-eyed drifwood collector, who works as an Assistant Superintendent at the Chennai Port Trust, emotionally recalls his journey. “I always wanted to be an artist because my father was one. All my doodles on the slate that I used to take to school won me the name ‘Artist’ in my friends group. After many years of trying my hand at art, I realised driftwood would be my area of contribution.”Speaking about his artwork, Seran says, “This is a masterpiece of nature, I do not change the wood pieces at all. I just remove the jagged edges and give it a glossy effect.” This man loves the hobby so much that he has promised himself to never commercialise it, and hopes instead to teach his art to as many villagers near his residence in Perungalathur. All that the interested people need is an investment of `50 – for a chisel and a bottle of varnish.The driftwood exhibits on the verandah of Seran’s house are of different animals in various sizes. Some of the snake exhibits get their life-like burnt colour from mild exposure to fire, while most other animal exhibits remain untouched and free of any form of sculpting. This passion of Seran’s has won him accolades from various artists’ communities across the state. “Breaking the Limca book of World Records will give me the satisfaction of accomplishing what I should have done as an artist. I am looking forward to it,” he says with a smile.