MANGALORE: Tiles these days may rarely attract a second glance. If the feel of tiles evokes nostalgic memories in many, it stirs a passion in Abdul Rahiman.
His unending obsession with tiles never ceases to surprise even those who know him. Thus, it comes as no surprise to find his modest tiled-roof house at Panya Guriyadka, about 1 km from Kabaka on Uppinangady-Subrahmanya Road, being surrounded by tiles.
Talking about his 12-year-old passion for collecting tiles, Rahiman recollects taking a close look at an old tile before replacing it with new tiles in his ancestral house. The more he examined the tile, the more his fascination grew - to the extent of becoming a 'tile-addict'. Even after switching jobs from a truck driver to a farmer, his hobby of collecting tiles showed no signs of disappearing.
Today, his impressive collection of 108 tiles boasts of tiles from Rego (used for roofing Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai), Basel Mission (first tile factory in India, 1860), B M D'Souza (1887), Strong Hummer Mahalakshmi (1829), Thimmappa Rai (1891), The Commonwealth, Albuquerque and King George Tiles Company.
He has tiles with interesting names like Lal Bahadur Tiles, Congress Tiles, Alliance Tiles, M M Maadu (Madikeri) and so on. Drawing a comparison between the existing and century-old tiles, he says the older tiles that weighed more than 3 kg were durable, and had unique ridges and grooves to help them anchor firmly on wooden beams.
If old buildings are being pulled down anywhere in the district, Rahiman rushes over to lay his hands on the unbroken tiles after securing necessary permission from the owners.
He had presented a similar request to the management of University College, Hampankatta, and they had agreed to give him a tile when the buildings would be demolished.
Each tile with its logo, name and year of production is a slice of history, considering the fact that many of these tiles are no longer available in the market.
Today, many tile factories may have gone out of business, but their tiles will never be missed as they are sure to be present in Rahiman's impressive collection.