Methodical madness

Unusual hobbies not only keep boredom at bay but also give creativity a whole new dimension. Here’s some inspiration in the form of offbeat pastimes, writes Annam Suresh

T. S. Gopalaswamy, a former Hindustan Unilever executive, loves making boats inside unusually shaped bottles

T. S. Gopalaswamy, a former Hindustan Unilever executive,

loves making boats inside unusually shaped bottles

Hobbies can be far removed from collecting stamps and coins or playing scrabble. The mind can rustle up a boggling range of activities that range from the bizarre to the profitable to plain inexplicable. Yet hobbies bring to their practitioners a sense of peace and relaxation that can certainly help keep boredom off.

Sheepish about phones

Jean-Luc Cornecs, a Frenchman settled in Germany, enjoys taking you on a trip of his sheep farm. If he were visiting you or on your birthday or anniversary, you are likely to receive a sheep as gift, irrespective of whether you live on a farm or not. And surprisingly, you will gladly display the sheep and listen to its unusual bleat. It is not just the bleat that is unusual. The colour is, too — grey. The face is distinct, with numbers and a dial on it, and the hooves, too. On closer look, so is the wool — although curly, it is made of nothing you’ve seen on a regular sheep. And while it has a very long life, you can never hope to eat its meat when dead or its cheese when alive. And they all just have one father (no mother!) — Jean-Luc Cornecs.

Among the people with unusual hobbies is Jean-Luc Cornecs of Germany, who makes sheep from the coiled cables of telephones

Among the people with unusual hobbies is Jean-Luc Cornecs of Germany, who makes sheep from the coiled cables of telephones

Gopalaswamy’s collection of bottles includes one depicting Kerala’s annual Allappuzha Onam boat race

Gopalaswamy’s collection of bottles includes one depicting Kerala’s annual Allappuzha Onam boat race

Shubha’s leisure hours are spent painting exotic pictures and portraits on plain canvas shoes

Shubha’s leisure hours are spent painting exotic pictures and portraits on plain canvas shoes

According to his son Paul, "The idea came from looking at a telephone — it looked like the head of a sheep. Dad wondered how he could give form to his imagination. Cables as wool and if you bend the speaker you get a hoof. That’s how the sheep came to be. But it was only when he realised that he could change the ring into a sheep-like bleat, that he was ready to work on the idea!"

To make one sheep, Jean needs about 400 telephones because the coiled cables cannot be got separately. Since his hobby is so expensive, he decided to make his hobby his livelihood, too.

Boats in bottles, chalk sculpture

The man is surrounded by an assortment of lethal-looking surgical instruments, carving tools, varnish, magnifying glass, brushes — though he is not a doctor, carpenter, painter or mechanic of any sort.

In front of him is an array of bottles, each housing a boat — yes a boat inside each bottle. Intricately carved, meticulously detailed, and mysteriously fitted inside bottles with necks too small to let a pen in!

The display includes some famous vessels like the Black Pearl and the Titanic. There is one depicting the Kerala’s annual Allappuzha Onam boat race, including a double row of boatmen on a background of coastal backwater scenery.

"A boat like this could take about a fortnight since a lot of mathematical precision and layering is involved, says T. S. Gopalaswamy, a former Hindustan Unilever executive. He is delighted every time a friend or relative gifts him an unusually shaped bottle. Gopalaswamy opts for colourless, occasionally pale coloured, crystal-clear bottles with narrow necks and usually a wide torso. "Once in a while, I choose other shapes — like a long narrow tubular perfume bottle in which he made the Onam race boat." He once gulped an entire bottle of feni at one go so he could have the guitar-shaped bottle.

But how does he get the boats into the bottles, considering the necks are so narrow? He points to the array of surgical instruments — long tweezers, bent-tipped scissors over a foot long with narrow blades, pipettes, grips, gravers, fine-tipped needles and brushes.

In fact, so strange is this assortment of instruments, that the salesman at the surgical instruments firm was sure this man was a quack. "What branch of surgery do you practice, doctor sir?" he had once asked, certain that he was dealing with some kind of a quack since the instruments did not form part of any one kind of practice, laughs Gopalaswamy.

He had actually started making small boats in Dettol bottles to impress girls. He also carves figures out of chalk and makes — hands on, not just designs — furniture. In fact, some of the furniture, like his wife’s workstation, are completely his creations. A fun outing for him is to the tiny lanes of Chandni Chowk looking for odd bolts, hinges and other tools!

Shoe painting

While most of her waking hours are consumed by textbooks and projects, Shubha’s leisure hours are more colourful — painting exotic pictures and portraits on plain canvas shoes. So, a pair of black converse shoes comes alive with a receding elephant, Edward Scissorhands, and characters from her favourite movies — Pirates of the Caribbean, the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings. So popular are her asymmetrically paired shoes that there is now a waiting list of over a dozen friends, whose new ‘keds’ await transformation.

Family games

Since Anna worked long hours, she felt compelled to make the most of her time with her children. She was constantly devising games that would keep her children engaged and entertained, keep her connected to them while she juggled cooking dinner, finishing household chores and helping her three children with their school work.

"Actually, without realising the impact, these impromptu hobbies helped us with our school work, and made us develop our creativity. Now, I use these methods in the school I run," says Anna’s daughter.

Anna devised games like using a different language, typical terms from a different subject, or different styles like only third person, only question, only passive voice, etc in different rooms. Or speaking only in mathematical equations and formulae for the next 45 minutes, etc. Mistakes meant a penalty of 25 paise that went into a little box. "Half that money went into sweets for street children and half into a monthly treat for all of us. Years later, I realised, these hobbies had helped my children practice their and other subjects effortlessly," says Anna. Now devising family games is a big hobby with all her children, who have adapted it in their family and work lives, too.

Lakshmi pedas

When Shipra lost her mom before the Puja, she was shattered. Her father decided to keep her occupied by making her shape the pedas and sandesh for the sweetmeat shop he ran. Bored and annoyed, she initially did a shoddy job, but soon decided to make unusual shapes. Shipra started making images of Durga, Ganesh, Lakshmi and other Gods on sweets, which became a rage in her community. She added the rich shades of kesar and other food colours to enhance her creations. In fact, during the Pujas, several families began to install a small image of the Durga-shaped sandesh or peda in the prayer room.

Astronomy

Shriram owes his interest in astronomy to the long stretches of power cuts the family suffered. Those sleepless nights on the terrace, his father would point out various constellations, narrate myths and legends about the various stars and heavenly bodies. At 30, when he got posted to Kolkata, he joined an amateur star gazing course at the Birla Planetarium. Even now, every time there is a celestial event, he goes to the terrace with his family to watch the skies. Whenever the skies promise a spectacle, he and his family have a picnic under the skies in the wee hours, waiting for a celestial shower or a glimpse of a fleeting comet. Even if the clouds sometimes play spoilsport, his unusual hobby ensures some memorable times with his family, since his high-pressure touring job leaves little time for family outings.

Candid camera

Some hobbies can border on the weird. Like 14-year-old Sylvia’s. She leaves a small camera – usually the one on her phone — in a strategic position and pretends to have a near-death seizure, capturing the expression of all those present. She has so far made about twenty such recordings and plans to complete a hundred before deciding what to do with those priceless candid shots of people weeping, strangers panicking and her grandmother apologising for not lending her a diamond brooch!

Shekhar and Seema Pandit, a couple in the seventies, spend Sunday mornings at auction houses. This is a hobby they developed after Shekhar’s retirement. We rarely buy anything at the auctions, but every Sunday morning you will find them at some auction house or the other, watching people checking out the goods on sale, trying to out bid one another.

Sandeep Pillai has been an ardent mail-order and online shopper for 45-day free trial items. He started his hobby way back as a student at Delhi in the 1980s. "Pictures of muscular men holding bullworkers and fist strengtheners were very tempting. Most of the stuff was advertised in magazines like Filmfare and Illustrated Weekly with 45-day free home trials and money-back guarantees. "I used to order every one of these – and return them after trying out for a few days short of the free-trial period and wait for the money. Sometimes, the manufacturers would find excuses to not return the money, but I would threaten to file a complaint against them and then the money would come, less postage." Sandeep has tried a wide range of equipment through such free trials – bullworkers, tummy trimmers, arm muscle developers, wrist strengtheners, chest developers, stamina builders, wrinkle removers, spondilitis cure belts and vision improvers. He had even ordered a bust developer for his friend’s girlfriend, but since she didn’t return it within the mandatory 45 days, she was forced to keep it.

Sandeep continues to order stuff that has a free trial period – even weird stuff like dental whiteners, hair growth serums for his bald pate, various type of exercise equipment, massagers, kitchen and household gadgets. He has even ordered stuff he does not use — like car dent removers, teach-yourself synthesisers and harmonicas. What he does not use, his friends try out. And he returns them all after trying them out for a couple of weeks.

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Methodical Madness