Virtually making his home a museum of sorts, a yoga teacher has displayed an array of stone grinders at his residence in the city showcasing their use in the past.

P. Vijaya Kumar, an avid numismatist and philatelist became interested in collecting stone grinders after realising that technology had taken over the kitchen space too. “Ammi kallu is the last stone left in the kitchen. The attukal, ulakkai have left the kitchen and are now dumped outside houses which have no space for them. I go out looking for these and collect them,” he says.

“He does this all the time, even when we are on the way to some place on the bike”, says Chitra, his wife and an advocate. "He'll keep looking at the ground and at all sorts of stones and structures on the sides of the road. Once we spotted a stone grain grinder outside someone’s house and it was being used as a drain cover,” she says.

The stone grinders on display are anywhere between one to three feet tall, most fully stone structures while some have metal inserts. “Nowadays the machines are becoming smaller and the people are becoming bigger. Nobody has the kind of stamina to use these grinders any more. In fact, we find it difficult to transport it from one place to another,” says Mr. Kumar.

Experiments prove that the super-fast whirring in mixers and grinders ruin the taste, says Mr. Kumar. “The slow process of grinding in these stone grinders enhances flavour and ensures that the nutrition stays in. but we can't do much now. Nobody is going back to these so might as well display and showcase them,” he adds.

Mr. Kumar intends to showcase his collections at his residence free of cost. “We will always have our doors open for people who want to learn. I had to explain to my daughter what these things were. Now, I'm willing to explain it to anyone who takes interest in such things,” he says.

Most people, however, sneer and ask Kumar why he is wasting time and space. “When people visit our home, the first question is why I want to conserve fragments of history. Some stone grinders bear inscriptions of the owner's name and address, while others are adorned with some carvings. Keezhadi excavations were initiated after someone found one clay pot fragment. Who can say that these stone grinders will not tell a story someday?” he asks.