THE DOOR/FOOT MAT Dear friends, Today my posting is aboutdifferent types of foot mats with some nostalgic information.
Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 8-2-2011 Reposted on 8-3-2021 after editing and updating. R.Gopala Krishnan 1. Evitae kitanna chakku evidae (Where is the Gunny piece put here?) My father used to ask the abovequestion very often to my mother. In yester years in most of our homes, in theentrance to the matam and way to open well from kitchen or on the doorstep ofkitchen, it was customaryto put a sized chakku (koni-gunny bag piece) of sufficient thickness. It was the door mat. By pressingthe feet on it, dust from outside adhered on foot used to get cleared almostwell. In the kitchen side it used to absorb the water also from the bottom ofthe foot to avoid slipping when entered from outside. Sometimes instead of gunny bagpiece, thick bed sheet piece was provided. The gunny bag in the entrance wasnever felt badly on those days. It could periodically cleaned to remove thedust. Once in three months or even earlier it wasreplaced with new one. I have never seen a coir mat inany of our homes till late 60’s in my native. It was the period of only coconutbrooms to clean inside, and inside flooring is of cement. Cement flooringitself was a big thing. Lengthy coconut brooms with tiny ends used to removeall inside dusts. It was called nalla chool and the shortened ones by wear and tear with useis called Kutti chool. 2. Coir mat at office entrance I could see foot mat in theentrance to offices by 60’s made of coconut fibre. In Malayalam it was called “Chakiri mettha”Especially in front of banks and government offices. In government offices thereplacement was not frequent like banks. But there used to be one. On thosedays coir foot mats were not freely available in towns and villages. If Irecollect for college coir mat was obtained by ordering from Alleppy. Alleppyis famous for coir products on those days and today also. 3. Coir foot mat in front of Labs. The first time I have seen numberof coir foot mats used was in my college. In the high school there were two, one in front ofHeadmaster’s office, and another in front of Lab. In the college,before all staff rooms, labs and entrance there used to be coir mats. These coir mats on those dayswere just uniformly cut coir fibre inserted on a plane mat mechanically veryclose and new mats it would raise an inch from bottom. By usage these used to becomesomewhat smooth. Dusting from the smooth mat was difficult and replaced. Liketoday, on those days there was no daily dusting of foot mat was not there. Mostlycleaning coir mat was done once in a month 4. M A Jacob and sons at Chennai. When I came to Chennai in 64, Ifound the firm in evening bazaar near central railway station totally dealingwith coir mats. Believe meon my first vacation, one of the items I purchased was coir doormat for theentrance to our home, giving a replacement to thick chakku. Since Ipurchased a quality one, seeing it, two of my relatives too desired to purchaseand send by TVS parcel service to them! The coir mat served a long timein my house. By 1970’ locally different types of foot mats were available inshops and through street merchants etc. The development was so quick in theperiod in the matter of door mats. Also of affordability. Street merchants used to give things on instalments so that more couldpurchase items 5. Chakiri mettha, chakirimettha Once I was on vacation to home in1975’s I found street sellers selling coir foot mats of different designs. Theyused to sell on bargains mostly quoting triple the actual price. It was a fashion to provide coir mat inwalking path by the time in offices. Though dust would be absorbed, cleaningwas a problem of these lengthy mats. I have seen on Saturday’s banks removingand cleaning these dusts with special employees, the dust coming would be toomuch like cloud of dust. Now too in many government offices we can see coirmats provided in walking path. With air conditioning, most of the banks provide mat at door only now adays. 6. Rubberised foot mat The rubberised foot mat was animprovement. But for later mosaic, and tiled floors it created a problem ofslipping. For this the bottom was made rough of the rubberised mat. (Now there is a research section aswell as quality control section in many coir companies for improvement) When marble and granite periodcame it was further improved with air packets at bottom in the design andmoulding of the rubber bottom. (While the doormat is provided in the floor,these air packets give somewhat grip). But with aging, the grip goes just like inthe footwear. 7. Cotton and jute mats. These mats are later developmentsprovided in the bathroom entrance so that water is absorbed well from the footwhile entering from the attached bathroom to the room. The waste cotton from factory toois used to make doormats, but these will curl within weeks and cannot be washedand used. However being cheap many as use and throw doormat use it. Qualitywaste cottom mats with good weaving and side stitching are somewhat good. 9. Door mat thickness and size. As the size and thicknessincrease correspondingly the weight also increase. For houses as such astandard dimension of 1.5’x 2.5 feet will be an ideal one so that every day itcan be taken and dusted outside. It is preferable to provide coir doormats atthe entrance and kitchen area. Update- Now coir door mats come with rubberised bottom giving grip. These areprovided in the entrance of homes. With granite and tiles flooring it has becomecustomary to have doormats before all rooms especially with work area, kitchen,bedrooms etc.(Probably pooja room is exception) It is preferable to have themwith quality thick cotton or rubber mats with cotton mat put over it. Update- Now PVC mats are available for rooms. The dust sucking top issome sort of weaving of PVC. It has provision for grip in the bottom. Shoppeople advice not remove once placed, these mats. Once in a fortnight it can becleaned by taking out. Otherwise grip would be lost. 10 Pure rubber mats. Pure rubber mats are suitable ormost suitable as aninsulator before water heater switches. Most of the switches willgive spark while putting on or off. It is advisable to have rubber mat beforethem. They will remove 50% of dusts from foot. Rubber mats are essentially provided before electric panelin control rooms in EB offices, telecom etc. 11. Itching and rubber mats. I have found the best use of therubber mats as it is very useful to scratch the foot while itching. We do not know at what time itchingwould come in the feet, but by scratching a few times, itching will stop after anenjoyment on the rubber mat. 12. Other uses I conclude this posting withother use of coir mat or rubber mat. One is if coconut broom is not handy, these mats can beused to blow pooran, cockroach etc. Afterwards we can wash it. 13. Fibre mats Fibre mats are available importedand they keep good grip with flooring. But removing dust is slightly less. I have seen the fibre mat in ofmy nearby houses during house warming. It was brought from Singapore by his father in law. One of my friends from Singapore,when I mentioned of it, brought three pieces to me well before my house wascompleted on his way to Kerala as compliment. Now fibre mats of different quality, cotton mats of different quality,coir mats of preferred smoothness etc. are all available in the mat shops inChennai. Only thing allfoot mats are more costly now. Most purchase two times the requirement since transportationcost is more for such items. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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