House of Hobbies - 5 -- Vintage Collection

Crazy and creative, passionate and positive, influential and introverted, happy and hopeful – the hobbyists find their pleasure within. They select and collect; craft and create; preserve and protect, and enjoy in their own mysterious world. ‘House of Hobbies’ was my effort to peep into the world of hobbyists in Nagpur. This series was published in The Hitavada in September-October 2010. Take a look...

Diana Hormusji: Vintage Collection 

 (Mrs Diana with her collection)

“I REALLY don’t think it’s worth,” says Mrs Diana, a sexagenarian Parsi woman, welcoming us to her bungalow with a huge front-yard full of lush greenery and flowers – hard to find these days in Nagpur. Tall and strong, the trees around indicate the age of the house and also that it must have many reminiscences to share. But according to its owner, her collection of the precious items, particularly of spoons, is ‘not worth’ as compared to others she had seen or heard about. It may be true, especially for this woman who has travelled widely in India and abroad. But, hundreds of spoons from various countries, based on various themes, rare glassware, souvenirs, Chinese perfume bottles, select antique pieces, and much more leave everyone astonished.

“I have not collected these by my own. Many of these come right from my grandmother, many from my mother, and some are gifted by friends and relatives,” says Diana, whose father used to purchase artistic glassware from Chennai (then Madras) to add to her collection -- that too, for just for Rs 1 or 2 of that time. A born Nagpurian, she was a student of Tata Parsi Girls High School, and Nagpur University’s medalist in Political Science.
After getting married to an Air Force Officer, Diana got a chance to visit and live in many states of India. Everywhere, she collected people – and they added things to her collection. Count from her grand mothers’ time, and her collection is almost three generations old now.

As we enter the drawing hall decorated with antique pieces, statues, pots, and photo frames --everything well-arranged in typical Parsi neatness – she pulls the old black buttons down, and artistic chandeliers start illuminating the hall. British-age ceiling fans, with unusually huge center-lobes, start whirring, she unlocks the glass showcase full of spoons, and the world tour starts. “These are from America; these are from Europe, these from China, these are Indian,” she points out one by one. Each spoon has different design, different value, and different story.
“I do collect spoons, but I don’t like ‘chamchagiri’ at all,” she makes atmosphere lighter. The collection further shows decorative pieces from many parts of the world, including the Chinese perfume-bottles painted from inside. “Foreigners have a great value for antique things, which we lack” she expresses.

“We must learn to value old things,” she says. The ancestral treasure will be traditionally passed on to her daughter, who is a teacher in Bangalore. “She teaches to dyslexia-hit students,” the proud mother says.
Reluctant initially to show the collection, Mrs Diana says, all this was collected and kept only for self-satisfaction and she don’t want any publicity.

However, only the fact that such collection and collector lives in the city, will please a true Nagpurian.

House of Hobbies - 4 -- Shweta Bhattad: Mouth-watering mirage

Crazy and creative, passionate and positive, influential and introverted, happy and hopeful – the hobbyists find their pleasure within. They select and collect; craft and create; preserve and protect, and enjoy in their own mysterious world. ‘House of Hobbies’ was my effort to peep into the world of hobbyists in Nagpur. This series was published in The Hitavada in September-October 2010. Take a look...

Shweta Bhattad: Mouth-watering mirage

(Wax Modeler Shweta Bhattad)

If Shweta Bhattad offers you something to eat, just hold on and check the dish out. This charming, fair girl in her mid-twenties will officially become Master of Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University, (MSU), Baroda, next year; however, she has already earned mastery in creating delicious-looking mirage in the form of wax art. “Kids cry for ice-creams and fruits, pani pooris water youngsters’ mouths, and my friends impulsively eat up the sweets before I can tell them that these are made of wax.” So real are the creations by this wax-modeler.

A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in sculpture from CISFA, Shweta never had a formal training in wax-modeling. “Because no one teaches this,” she says. She developed fascination for wax while studying in ‘crucial’ Class XII. “Initially, I used to make candles -- then colorful ones -- and later of various shapes. There was the all-important HSC exam, but my parents never stopped me,” says Shweta, while crediting every achievement in her flourishing career to her parents, Usha and Purushottam Bhattad.

After winning bagful of awards and critical acclaim over the years for her unique style of sculpture-making, she was selected by prestigious MSU, Baroda last year – a matter of pride for the Orange City. Well, but the reason behind her choosing the Fine Arts lies right here in the wax. “I was trying to make out something from wax. To get proper knowledge of shades, I opted for Fine Arts,” says the scholar, who is expecting to grab a fellowship for foreign studies next year and to visit famous Madame Tussaud’s Museum someday. “It’s a very complicated job to melt wax, mix colours– that too, in the exact quantity, keeping in mind that the wax changes colour as it cools down. It is not possible to paint the piece or to cover a food item with transparent wax to make an art piece. To make it look real, you have to work hard, for hours and days and weeks, without losing concentration, all for one art piece,” Sweta shares her experience.

“Mummy is a master in deciding colour quantity. It will be impossible for me to work without her help. Tins and tins full of wax have gone waste during my initial days. But Papa never said ‘no’ to purchase another tin,” she says even as her father looks on with an indulgent smile. “We just could not stop her after seeing the magical creativity,” he says.

“For making rice, or noodles, she holds hot wax on her palms to shape it. This hurts,” – a mothers’ concern. Shweta dreams of creating a wax museum in Nagpur in which each and every food item will be ‘waxinated.’ Let’s share the dream with the Orange City’s own budding Madame Tussaud.

House of Hobbies - 3 -- Subhash Sharma : Houseful collection

Crazy and creative, passionate and positive, influential and introverted, happy and hopeful – the hobbyists find their pleasure within. They select and collect; craft and create; preserve and protect, and enjoy in their own mysterious world. ‘House of Hobbies’ was my effort to peep into the world of hobbyists in Nagpur. This series was published in The Hitavada in September-October 2010. Take a look...

Subhash Sharma : Houseful collection

SOME thirty-three years back, a school-boy stole a few old coins, kept carelessly in a tool-box of his friend’s radio repair shop. But the very next day, he went back, returned the coins, and confessed to the theft. “The coins had developed a feeling of guilt in my mind,” tells Subhash Sharma, whose friend eventually gifted the same coins to him for his honesty. “He kept silver coins and gifted me the copper ones. That day was a day of ecstasy in my life,” Sharma, whose search for the similar ‘day of ecstasy’ began with that very moment, he says.

Owner of an automobile reconditioning workshop near Shukravar Lake, Sharma has been collecting antique pieces, coins, historical belongings, brassware, watches, dials, locks, gramophones, stamps, stones, vintage equipment, arms, swords, pots, lanterns, knives, sculptures, historical notes, books, and what not – since the last three decades. “I am not bound to a particular theme. I just add, whatever appeals to me,” he said, while showing his collection, very neatly preserved and beautifully displayed in a personal museum on the
second floor of his bungalow in Dhantoli. “It comes from within. Your passion is enough to become your inspiration and motivation and encouragement,” claims Sharma, who speaks excellent Marathi.

Sharma’s collection has silver punch-marked coins of all 16 Janapadas (185 BC), swords probably of Maratha age, centuries-old locks, Tamrapatras (brass plate inscriptions), bhojpatras, and equipment of stone-age brought from excavation sites, he claims.

Other than professional sellers and numismatic societies - the common sources of coin collectors – Sharma has an additional and exciting source. “The Zarekari or Sonzari community people residing near rivers and water bodies dive deep and bring coins. The rivers with old forts around, like Paoni river near Nagpur, are full of such ancient coins. It’s a luck factor. You have to go there and find out,” the ‘lucky man’, who has found hundreds of coins from rivers till date, says.

It was his passion for history which inspired his wife Varsha to complete MA in Ancient History after marriage. She is now pursuing PhD on ‘Copper punch mark coins in India’. They have two school-going daughters, Mili and Sakshi, equally interested in history and collection. “Family support plays vital role,” accepts Sharma, a college drop-out, but an authority on ancient history after reading hundreds of books from all over the world. He can decode ancient scripts like Brahmi and others. However, he laments lack of awareness in India about our rich heritage. “James Prinsep, a British official deciphered Brahmi, the oldest Indian script, once termed ‘meaningless’ by our philologists,” he shares.

It’s a fantastic story of how a kid’s fascination for some old coins took the form of systematic study. Well, much more to come in future, as Subhash Sharma’s search for another ‘day of ecstasy’ continues.