A two-day exhibition of photographs that concluded at Madhuram Gayati, Puthupperiyaram, on Sunday brought to light the rustic life of people living in the eastern part of Palakkad bordering Tamil Nadu. The 60-odd photographs that Dinesh Kannimari clicked in the last 15 years were uniquely focused on the life of the people along the State border.
The exhibition was titled Kizhakke PokumVeyil to resonate the life in the east. Each photograph that Dinesh displayed had a story to tell. Some of the photographs were clicked with mobile phone cameras. Dinesh said most of the photos were taken from Meenakshipuram, Govindapuram, Gopalapuram, Chemmanampathy and Nadupuni areas.
The tough life of the people with a mixed culture of Tamil and Malayalam was evident in each photograph. Dogs, goats and sheep were the main components of some of the photos. Bulls and bullock carts are still a part of the people of the eastern Palakkad.
“Rarely do people consider the life in the eastern rainshadow regions of the district when they talk about Palakkad. The Valluvanadan culture used to get predominance over the Tamil-Malayalam mixed culture of the eastern region. It’s very interesting,” said writer Rajesh Menon.
The Palmyra trees, their fruit and their palm leaves featured in the photos in different ways. Some photographs reminded the viewers that houses and shops, particularly toddy shops, made of palm leaves were a thing of the past.
The rusticity and ruggedness of the people from the eastern villages of Palakkad were captured in their natural backdrop. Most photos had an earthy shade about them. Things that go perfectly with village life such as straw, haystack, bamboo and palm leaves baskets, blacksmith’s forge, pottery, toddy tapping, and paddy have all found a place in Dinesh’s photographs.
“I had a keen interest in photography from childhood. Later I became passionate about cinematography. But I could not make much progress in it because they were expensive hobbies,” said Dinesh.
