Negombo’s popular ‘Kola Kennda’ roadside vendor becomes craftsman by day
Kola (herbal) Kennda man turns ‘Pol -katu’ hero (coconut shell craftsman) is the story of Mark Anthony Perera from Katunayake.
After school, he started work in a galvanizing factory – B.S.K. Enterprise in 1975 and while working their one day his boss, P.D.B.S. Basnayake found one of the workers scribbling his name on a barrel.
Special saw and bent screw driver
The boss was furious and told the worker ‘Miniho nama eka eka then wala kurutugaanawata wadaa hondai nama thiyanda wedak karapang’ (rather than scribbling your name everywhere, do something to make your name popular).
Since that day the boss’s advice to the worker was constantly in Mr. Perera’s mind. Life went on and Mr. Perera worked at various places until he started a ‘Kola Kennda’ business in his premises in Katunayake in 1987. His main customers were the cyclists who ride in numbers early morning and some of these cyclists congregate at the Kola Kennda spot around 5.30 to 6 in the morning.
Every morning there would be around 25 to 30 cyclists patronising the Kola Kennda unit.
Then one day he was reminded about the advice the boss at BSK had offered about doing something to establish one’s name. As his work at the Kola Kennda spot lasted only in the morning he had ample time during the day and started working on various ornaments and utility items using
Mark Anthony Perera at work.
coconut shells that had been piling up at home.
Coconut shell craftsmanship is an age old one, but in the case of Mr. Perera his is exceptionally different. He started creating things like water containers, cups to be awarded at various functions and huge items like the traditional coconut oil lamps made entirely with coconut shells that needed a tremendous amount of time and meticulous craftsmanship.
Using a wire-brush to smoothen the shells
He has won many accolades for his work of art with coconut shells and the oil lamp made of coconut shells is very popular and hired for weddings and parties. He said whatever he makes could be sold. His worry is that working on coconut shells is time consuming and due to this fact he is unable to find helpers while another problem is that after him there would be no one to carry out this work.
He says he is prepared to train anybody who wishes to learn the coconut shell craft. He is also exploring the possibility of mechanizing coconut shell crafts industry and for that he needs help.
Another innovation he made is etching pictures on wood with the help of sun’s rays through a magnifying glass. He first draws the picture with a pencil and then takes the rays through the glass along those lines.
He has also invented two implements – a special saw to cut coconut shells and a screw driver turned and expanded at the end and used to remove coconut out of the shell when the hole is too small to scrape the coconut out.
He could be reached at 0113122466 and his email address is: pa.dewthilini@yahoo.com
