As the world’s attention turned to the centenary anniversary of the tragedy of the Titanic, here in Sri Lanka an entrepreneur has launched a boat business of a different kind.
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| Liyanage Sumedha |
The business of 31-year-old Liyanage Sumedha will not only catch the eye of all those whizzing past his stall at Seeduwa on the Colombo-Katunayake Road but also make them stop, walk around and pick a ship with the sail billowing.
Smooth sailing it has been for Sumedha and his helpers though the days and nights are tiring and hard. For, his finely-crafted ships are being snapped up by many with a strong pull towards Feng Shui to adorn their plush drawing rooms or as gifts for friends and relatives.
Not so long ago, Sumedha was not into ships but fruit, with a stall in Pettah and even owning a lorry. But, he says, by the eighth month (August) of last year, he was without a means of eking out a living for his small family – his wife and 11-year-old daughter at Hokandara. He also had to sell his lorry to make ends meet during those cent-stretching days.
The street-stalls in Pettah were cleared and though compensation was promised not a cent has come his way, he says, adding that “even though I am a member of the Pettah Traders’ Association I have not received anything, while people who didn’t do business there have been given lorries”.
While maintaining his fruit stall, he used to engage in a little side-business, according to him, making Vesak kudu during the season and selling them to shops.
Another craft he tried his hand at was making boats and ships on and off and displaying and selling them near the Bellanwila temple.
“Then it was only about 10-15 pieces,” he says but with a sharp business acumen, as Naththal (Christmas) approached he decided to display his wares at Seeduwa.
That was the turning point for Sumedha, who explains the process from the beginning, when they buy the logs from Moratuwa and get them sawed to the sizes needed.
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| A family affair: Sumedha’s father at work. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara |
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Eye-catching stall along the Colombo-Katunayake Road
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Thereafter, the shape of the boat is drawn and machine cut, with the grinder being held to the piece. Sealer comes next over which varnish is applied to bring about a shine.
The beauty of his craft lies in the fact that Sumedha has gone into the minutest detail to present a “real” ship, with mast, sail, wheel, anchor et al.
These tiny items stacked in boxes cost him a lot of money, he says, citing just one example……the sail being fashioned from stiff cloth generally used in collars or curtain strips. The other main erosion of his earnings is caused by the rent, as much as Rs. 25,000, for the stall.
While it takes him about a day to complete a ship, there were around 600 pieces, ranging in price from Rs. 1,000 for the smallest to Rs. 20,000 for the biggest, in the stall at the time we visited him.
He and his helpers including his father who has retired from the Labour Department work throughout the day from around 8 in the morning and keep up till midnight or even 3 the next morning if sales are thriving.
The biggest ship he is crafting currently is for a Christian family which hopes to use it as an altar in their home. So it will be sans the sail, as they hope to place a statue there, says Sumedha.
His only grouse is that day after day and night after night he spends time at his stall, with hardly any time for his wife and daughter.
“We sleep here, we eat here after buying the food from boutiques and there is no family life,” he says, accepting his fate with stoic resignation for he needs the money for the upkeep of his family.
Sumedha has now set his sights on expanding his business by opening a stall on the Colombo-Kandy Road to tap the booming influx of tourists, feeling the need to meet the ebb and flow of life full steam ahead. |
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