KOCHI: A trip to a traditional handicraft store to buy some momentoes for his wife’s retirement function led Sivaprasad K, a professor with the Department of Ship Technology at Cusat, to make an interesting find a model of a sailboat created in wood.
But what pained the professor was the poor condition of the model. The naval architect in him prompted the professor to buy it and restore it. Now the sailboat occupies a prime spot in the department, celebrating the prestigious National Board of Accreditation (NBA), which it received recently.
“While my wife was searching for mementoes inside Kairali, a handicraft shop, my eyes took me to where several old handicraft items were piled up. Under this scrap pile, I spied something that looked like a sailship. Indeed, it was - a wooden one. However, it was in terrible shape. Everything, from its bow, stern, mast, boom, sheets and sails, was destroyed. It was sad,” Sivaprasad says.
He didn’t have to think twice before deciding to rescue the miniature sailship from its pathetic state. “I haggled with the shop manager and bought the miniature sailship at a low price. That was in March, and roughly about the time the department received NBA accreditation for showcasing academic excellence at the international level,” the professor says.
“It was the first time a Ship Technology Department got NBA accreditation in the country. So, I thought, why not turn this dilapidated model into something that celebrated our achievement,” Sivaprasad recalls. And so began the work to turn this scrap into a beautiful sailship model.
The professor roped in model maker Xavier Jackson of the department’s ship model-making workshop and some students for the process. “The workshop was set up in the department using the `25 lakh CSR fund given by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL),” Sivaprasad adds. The process began with the drawing of the ship on paper and then the building of the framework.
“Slowly, the model took re-birth in the experienced hands and got ready on July 27. It was then installed and unveiled in the portico of the department building by Commodore Sreethanu Guru (Head of the training wing of the Indian Navy Southern Naval Command),” the professor says. According to him, it is but one of the many models that have taken shape in the workshop. “There are also warships, barges, sailboats and many other types of ships,” he added.