Mangalorean Abdul Rauf Set to Bestow Unique Gift to Dubai Ruler

By Shodhan Prasad
Daijiworld Media Network

Dubai, Jun 13 : Abdul Rouf Kotekar, 33, who hails from Mangalore, a multi-talented personality for sure might find a place in the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ very soon once his creations are exposed to the world. A very shy Kotekar is still in the cocoon and needs to be explored and brought into the limelight due to his beautiful creations.

Kotekar owns no ship building yard but yet can help you have your dream ship all for yourself. A BBM pass out, he is a fine artist whose skills are innate and natural. His fascination for ships makes him design wooden ship models of varied sizes and this has bagged him appreciation at various places. These ships are not built with fine and craft materials which are bought, but have been built of abandoned scrap thrown away by the public in various places. He takes time and patience in collecting these from the trash and giving a face to these scraps which otherwise would have gone un-noticed.

So far Kotekar has completed over more than 34 ship models all of which have been purchased by connoisseurs at a good bid. The largest ship designed by him is 16 ft long and took him six months to complete.  Kotekar has gifted this ship to Sheikh Al Qasim, the Ruler of Ras-Al-Khaimah. Kotekar names all of his works after the names of the winning horses like wise ‘Royal Hunter’, ‘Sea Legend’, Pristine Beauty’, Persian Goodness’, and so on.

Next one which ready is Model SI-23-15/8 weighing 160 kgs with length of 13 ft and height of 7 ft from stand and width of around 30 inches named ‘AL NOOR’ is being reserved to be presented to the Ruler of Dubai, H.H.Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.  Rauf excitedly is waiting for the day to receive a call from the Ruler and says it will be a day to be remembered.

Hailing from Someshwar, Kotekar’s closeness to the ocean made him develop fascination for ships as from his childhood he was spending hours watching ships and boats sailing.  This interest made him work on the fantasy and quest for knowledge in gathering ship building techniques until he became confident to build on his own. What is fascinating is that this untrained person’s model is all done by himself without the help of any artisan, mason or carpenter. “I do not ape from any pictures I have seen on TV or movies, but is purely a product of my imagination put into object form and I think this uniqueness of designs make my model stand out,” says Rouf Kotekar.

Having started ship modeling at a tender age, family support reinforced his dreams. This form or art is not an easy one to sustain because of the cost involved. Since the model is done using waste wood, it works out in-expensive with the waste wood coming from his father’s mill which could sustain the art. He says that lots and lots of patience combined with quest for perfection along with money and time is needed to build these kinds of rare ship models.

About seven years ago, Kotekar left to Dubai to work as a construction supervisor and even during his stay in Dubai he continued doing the ship modeling using scrap and wood. He used to go through the rubbish bins in areas like Al Quoz Industrial Area collecting oddments discarded by Dubai residents. He says “If you start looking around garbage, we will be ridiculed at and humiliated.” He used to collect Sheesha pipes, picture frames, wood fragments, boards and pins among others that would take to build scale-model ships that are as intricate as they are magnificent.

For him the entire process takes around 2 months working 10 hours a day dedicatedly.  Rauf models his ships from the 16th century to 19th century and that can be a cruise, passenger or warship from Greece, Persia etc. After meticulous planning he prepares a blue print of the ship before the actual construction. The ship is created piece by piece to be assembled later and one ship can be made of up to 400 such pieces, says Rouf.  These ships are of 2 to 9 feet in length and weigh anywhere between 10 to 400 kgs. The sails are made of cloth, with ships painted, decorated and given a coat of polish and are made to dismantle and assemble in ten minutes time.

In the beginning Rauf’s ships adorn many a hotels and business firms in Mangalore, but he now wishes to expand. In Dubai he had displayed in various places including City Centre and Dubai Festival which gave him many orders with his display of five of his different ships. His largest ship is 3.9 meters tall and weighing 160 Kgs. which is named after Al Noor and is on display at the Jebel Ali Racecourse in Dubai. 

Persian Goddess was presented to a member of the Sharjah Royal Family, Sea Legend is on display at the boss’s office at the IMBA Group, where Kotekar worked as a construction Supervisor.  He wishes the next ship may be displayed in Abu Dhabi.

He says his mother was always a supporter but however he used to collect and create a model ship with the throw away materials in his father’s factory the very next day. His ships have brought good things into his life with one of his boats which was displayed at a restaurant in Mangalore, caught the eyes of a man who would soon become his father-in-law. So impressed he was that he gave his daughter’s hand in marriage to Rauf.

Nilofer, his able wife has brought spice to his life. He could build around 34 ships after his newly married life with the support of his wife. Kotekar is a tall man with a soft voice and artistic hand speckled with scars from his hobby. 

The boat that sits in his former employer’s office can be dismantled like a Lego toy and can be presented to the head of the company. Last summer, he was sent to India because work here in Dubai was drying up. During his six months stay, he trained as a construction site safety officer and built another boat. When he returned to Dubai some time back, he lost his job and is now on a search for one with his limited contact.

Meanwhile, he continuous to do what he knows best, he scavenges for scraps and has prepared a blueprint for a new boat called the Royal Hunter II which will be a warship.

Some of other hobbies include singing, drawing, painting, stamp collection, coin collection, snake catching, calligraphy, carving, ship modeling, fishing, socializing, macho man model and body building among others. He has been awarded as Mr Macho Man by Lions Club Mangalore, Awarded Class Winner in 75 kgs category in the Karnataka State Level Body Building and Best Craftsman Award by Western Institute of Technology, Mangalore, India.

A multi-talented rare personality Rauf says, I will not discontinue this art and will continue invention with karts etc, with the support of all the designers of the Institute concerned. He adds ‘I am proud to be a Mangalorean’.