Watch | Meet Coimbatore’s only ‘karlakattai’ maker

A video on Arumugam, a 72-year-old carpenter in Coimbatore, who handcrafts wooden clubbells called karlakattai

Arumugam, a 72-year-old carpenter in Coimbatore, handcrafts wooden clubbells called karlakattai. Karlakattai is a wooden club used for bodybuilding.

 He displays his karlakattai in a small room in his house, and his workshop has a wood turning lathe. When the pandemic hit and left him with no orders for regular furniture, Arumugam decided to focus on karlakattai.

He realized that karlakattai only required wood and his lathe, eliminating the need for additional tools or materials. Using locally sourced neem and vaagai wood, Arumugam crafts karlakattai weighing from 2 to 16 kilograms. 

He began selling karlakattai by displaying them on Race Course Road. Today, Arumugam receives orders predominantly through word of mouth, and most orders come over the phone.  His karlakattai cost ₹850 to ₹4000, depending on their weight.

Arumugam takes pride in being the sole karlakattai maker in the city.

Read the full story here.

Reporting: Akila Kannadasan