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A penchant for the past

If you want a preview of what you will see if you ever travel back in time, just step into M.R. Pavanje's house, says SAVITHA SURESH BABU

Stepping into M.R. Pavanje's house is definitely a journey down eras gone by. You will have to try hard to not accidentally step on some piece of history as littered around you will find everything from 100-year-old clocks to wooden boxes used to store masalas before stainless steel came along!

An artist by profession, Pavanje says he has had a penchant for the past since childhood. "My father was a history teacher. He used to collect stamps, coins and antiques, and tell us their significance. I took after him," he recalls.

A quiet man, he would rather show his treasures and share their secrets, than talk about himself. In the showcase of the living room is the sambaru marige. Made from a single piece of wood, this box with compartments was used to store various masalas. A little away is the vyasa peetha on which books were placed and read.

The grandfather clock in the living room immediately draws your attention. Pavanje nonchalantly asks me to notice the way the Roman numeral four is written on the dial. Instead of "IV" as we know it, there are four lines— "IIII". He smiles at the slight bafflement he has caused and explains:

"It was after King William's rule that the roman numeral four was changed because it was inconvenient to have four lines printed on coins. The clock from England is more than a hundred years old. It still works."

In the inner room is pathas, a big wooden box in which valuables were once stored. "The house owner slept on the locked box, to protect the valuables. This box is more than a hundred years old, used when bureaus were unknown." By the side of the pathas is a big jadi. "It is made of a special kind of clay. Jaggery was stored in it, to prevent it from going bad during heavy rains."

On the first floor of the house, his student Vidya and niece Anu are busy preparing for an exhibition. As he shows us around the house, he gives them little suggestions. Pausing to look at a painting she is working on, he tells Vidya to "increase the yellow tinge a bit". A wooden shavige oralu (a press in which shavige or noodles is made traditionally) and kalasige, a vessel used as a measuring device while cooking in large quantities, are placed at the entrance of an inner room here.

Displayed on a stand on the wall is a walking stick made of beeti wood. The handle of the stick is made into a majestic looking lion. The discerning eye of Pavanje points out that one eye of the lion is missing. "Indian beeti wood makes it look so attractive," he says examining the stick closely. An English lamp made of cast iron and several lanterns from Germany also find their place in his collection.

He then carefully unwraps a red cloth bundle and displays palm scripts, explaining how engravings were made on the palm leaf using a sharp instrument. "The blank spaces on the left and right margins of the leaf were used to make corrections, since it was not possible to erase what had been written," he says pointing to a correction on one of the leaves.

Along with antiques, Pavanje is an avid collector of stamps and coins. Coins of the Vijaynagar Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Mughals and several lesser-known kingdoms are part of his collection. "Coins are extremely important in history. They are the only evidence we have for the rule of several kings." His knowledge of the world of numismatics comes through in simple statements such as: "The word annas came into use because many coins in early times had elephant (ane) watermarks on them."

The first British India stamp and letters that were sent through a courier-like system in pre-British times are some of the highlights of his philately collection. "I prefer the old even when it comes to stamps and coins."

As it is time to leave, one wonders how the collector finds his treasures.

Grinning he says: "Those with the same craze manage to find each other and exchange coins or stamps. Some precious coins are found while digging the earth to build houses or wells. As for antiques, when people are about to throw away ancestral things, they think of me."

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