The delight of White Wash, theCoir Brush and Tom Sawyers wit!

I remember my childhood days in Trivandrum living in a tiled house with small rooms, wooden cross railings that were painted in blue and walls that were white washed. Painting was not a costly affair in those days but it required some expertise to prepare the white wash- prepared from quicklime. I remember smoke coming out when water is poured over it.

Once they made the mixture, they cleaned the walls spraying water and scrubb it clean with coir pith not the stones or sand paper used now.

There were no brushes with fancy wooden handles and bristles but only brushes made with coir that were used to paint the fences.  It was a delight to see the painters do their job, to reach the top of the building or the room, they used small and big ladders made of bamboo.  It seemed so easy when they deftly moved their coir brushes along the walls. This process was done only once in two or three years and it was nice to see our house after this and it was favored because of its antibacterial properties.


In tiled houses, both interiors and exteriors were white washed, the contrast was given to the building by tiles, doors and windows that used to be painted either blue or with wooden varnish.

I was fond of painting thinking it was an easy job any way! But the problem was I was not good in the strokes so brush marks would be visible on the walls. But with some practice I could do it without anyone else seeing it, except my brother and a few neighbourhood friends.  I was afraid my father wouldn’t like my study time to be occupied with whitewash!

At school, it was fun to learn the English text which had the story of Tom Sawyer who cleverly white washed the walls while he munched the apples and flew the kites his friends gave in return for allowing them  to do the whitewashing.

It required the literary genius of Mark Twain to pen those lines-Tom Sawyer surveyed the fence, 30 yards nine feet high to be white washed. On a cheerful Saturday morning when locusts were in full bloom, there was happiness all round, Tom felt his life was hollow and existence a burden!

But he did it reluctantly and by the time his dreaded friend Ben arrived he was busy moving the brush with gentle strokes. He surveyed the last touch with the eye of an artist.

In my childhood days, enamel paints weren’t that popular – the only colors we could get was black, white and blue. Sometimes, when the painter failed to turn up as promised, my mother would ask me to try my hand at painting the metal gate with two colors black and white. Again preparing the surface was the most difficult thing to do. There should not be any rust or unevenness which had to be smoothened with sand paper. Turpentine or sometimes kerosene was used as a thinner to make it easier to paint.

When our old house was extended and renovated, the paint market had more offerings by way of cement paint (the famous brand was Snowcem) which used to be sold in sacks with choice of colors. It was also better at warding off fungus growth, algae growth in exterior walls and gave a modern look. Enamel paint with different color choices began to be used in wooden doors and windows too.

Distemper and emulsion paint came much later and initially only the rich could afford to distemper their walls. The advantage was that stains or dirt could be wiped away and keeping the surface looking new for a longer time.

Three years ago when we build our home Mercury in Palarivattom in Kochi – the paint industry had seen through many technological changes-  now we have textured walls, exterior paints that can withstand algae and fungus and thousands of shades to choose from the color palette.

As I observed recently in my friend Beena Katticaran’s paint shop -when there is the color drum to mix, any shade is created within a matter of minutes. The paint majors Dulux and Asian Paints are providing complete painting solutions from choosing colors, providing services of specialists painters and textured walls. Now kids rooms have all the cartoon characters, living rooms can have Arabian desert or nature themes to choose from. Tools have also changed, the brush is no longer the symbol but the paint rollers which give a uniform finish to the surface.

Paints have protected our houses and given a character to it whether it was the whitewashed walls of Tom Sawyer era or the emulsified exteriors of today!

India votes 2014: Can the electorate call for change from 'Pseudo-secular to 'secular'?

It is indeed interesting to watch the poll scene in India as the electorate gets prepared to cast their vote to send their representatives to the 16th Lok Sabha. Candidates are not running after the Aam Admi but after religious leaders perhaps to get their blessings and to influence a community under them. A welcome relief was Nandan Nilekani who decided to meet the Aam aadmi by travelling in buses and meeting people at their homes.

In the South Indian state of Kerala, Deen Kuriakose, a Youth Congress President and Idukki constituency candidate was virtually snubbed by Bishop Mathew Anikuzhikattil who also criticised outgoing MP PT Thomas and accused youth congress leaders for being arrogant and immature.

Leading comedian, Innocent contesting as CPM independent in Chalakudy constitutency also first went and met Christian religious leaders before beginning his campaign. Even as his name was proposed for LDF candidature, he met Catholic Archbishop of Thrissur Mar Andrews Thazhath and held talks with him. But Times of India said that he declined to divulge details of the talks.

Meanwhile, KPCC President V M Sudheeran sparked a row when he went to Nair Service Society (NSS) headquarters in Changanacherry in Central Kerala (Nairs represent upper class Hindus)- he didn't wait to meet its President Sukumaran Nair but went off in a hurry after paying tributes at Mannam Samadhi. It was considered improper and an insult to NSS.

One may wonder why religious leaders have say in politics when they should be confining themselves to religious and social activities. It was even evident in the case of Kasturi Rangan committee report which suggested several measures for the protection of Western Ghats. Several religious leaders also came out against this report which prima facie doesn't seem to have suggested eviction of existing houses or plantations identified as fragile and hence not permissible for human habitation.



Despite the 42nd Amendemnt of the Constitution declaring India as a secular republic, there is a strange intrusion of politics into religion and religion into politics. As some one jokingly put a Facebook book post: "I will only vote for a secular party but the candidate should be from my caste."

What the framers of Indian Constitution intended was not this kind of a secular India. People have the right to hold on to their religious beliefs and propagate them but State has not religion.

Policy makers at the centre considered minorities as vote banks and hence their appeasement caused Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) and its political outfit, BJP to emerge stronger over the years, according to one theory.

I can't understand why such differences were allowed to crop up once we declared the nation as 'secular', That is where the Aam Admi party is giving hope to the electorate as their major objective is not appeasement or propagation of Hindutva but fight against corruption and bring in good governance.

Readers ar(e requested to air their views on this interesting issue either in comments section or could send their write up to sreekumsree@gmail.com)