Thiruvananthapuram:

‘Edakoodam’ is a word familiar to most Malayalis, which means ‘a puzzle which is difficult to solve’. However, not many people know about a curious toy similar to the Rubik’s cube. Made up of six wooden blocks, the ‘edakoodam’, once dismantled, can be assembled to its original position only with proper mathematical skills.

Art director and painter Rajasekharan Parameswaran popularly known as Marthandam Rajasekharan is attempting a world record by making a huge edakoodam. The blocks made of wood and metal frame, which is almost ready at Parasala, will be shifted to Raviz, Kollam, where it will be a permanent exhibit.

Currently, the Guinness record for the largest wood block-puzzle is held by a firm Foffa Conrad in Valchava, Switzerland.

The record winning puzzle is a Devil’s Knot, ( a puzzle similar to edakoodam’) has six pieces, each measuring 6m (19 ft 8 inch) x 40cm(1 feet 3 inch) x40cm (1 feet 3 inch). Rajasekharan said that his ‘edakoodam’ will have six pieces each having size 24 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet. “We have informed Guinness authorities about the plan to break the previous record,” he said.

Breaking a world record is nothing new for Rajasekharan who holds Guinness record for the largest easel painting, with his portrait of EMS Namboodiripad in 2008. The easel was 56.5 feet tall and 31 feet wide and held a 25 feet tall and 50 feet wide portrait of EMS.

Rajashekharan is also the recipient of the state award for art direction for Naalu Pennungal directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan in 2007. The film was his debut work as art director. When asked how he was drawn to ‘edakoodam’, he said that he knew about the toy from his childhood days. “Since I am a mathematics graduate, I know how to reassemble it. The structure is the blow-up version of the small ‘edakoodam’. You can play the game if you know mathematics,” he said.

The 53-year-old artist is from Marthadom in Kanyakumari district.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / TNN / December 19th, 2017