KANNUR: Sitting in his small shed near the old bus stand in Kannur, 56-year-old Kannan, a craftsman from Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, has been making traditional areca palm lice combs for more than three decades.
Day after day, he carefully shapes each comb by hand, continuing a craft that has almost vanished with time. Despite modern trends and the rise of factory-made alternatives, his humble workshop still draws the attention of passersby who stop to admire and buy his handmade creations, keeping his age-old craft alive in the heart of the city.
He came to Kannur with his father 36 years ago. “It was from him that I learnt the art of making traditional combs. Using areca palm, he would craft each lice comb carefully, a process that takes around 15 minutes. Machines cannot achieve the perfection that handmade combs have, as true precision comes only through skilled hands and careful craftsmanship,” Kannan told TNIE.
The small shed stands as a symbol of his unwavering dedication, even as other shops around him have grown into larger establishments. From his modest workspace made of tarpaulin sheets, without doors or any modern setup, he continues to craft combs by hand, holding on to the same simplicity and passion that have defined his work for decades.
His days are unpredictable. Some days, every comb he makes finds a buyer, while on others, only two or three are sold. Yet he continues to carry forward the legacy his father passed down to him.
Kannan recalled that there was a time when several small sheds around his produced combs, creating a lively scene of craftsmen at work. But after the Covid pandemic, almost everyone returned to Kanyakumari, leaving him as one of the few still practising the craft in Kannur. “The biggest challenge now is the lack of a younger generation taking up the tradition, as most of the skilled artisans have grown old. And the art is slowly fading away,” he said.
In the past, Kannan used to make a wide variety of combs, but with the arrival of fibre and plastic alternatives, demand for the traditional ones has sharply declined. “However, handmade lice combs continue to have steady demand, as many still prefer their quality and craftsmanship,” he pointed out.
Kannan lives in a small rented room near the Kannur market and travels to Kanyakumari, where his wife and two children live, occasionally.