Out of the woods


The iconic Channapatna toys are again finding their way to urban spaces in chic restaurants, hi-end design stores and living rooms. SHAILAJA TRIPATHI traces its journey

“Welcome to the land of toys, Channapatna” read the massive signboard on Bengaluru-Mysuru road. Some 40 kms and three hours later, we were inGombegala ooru, the toy town of Karnataka, located in Ramnagara district. Ramnagara had become Ramgadh in Sholay, one of our biggest blockbusters ever.

There! I gasp with joy seeing scores of wooden horses displayed outside a showroom on the highway. It is nostalgic. After all, I belong to the generation that grew up on “Lakdi ki kathi, kathi pe ghoda….” A wooden Channapatna horse formed the crux of my favourite childhood number from Masoom.

It vanished from my mind soon after. And decades later, they vanished from our shelves too. As we got besotted by imported toys, the indigenous toys had found a huge clientele in the European market...................Read more

 

Source: The Hindu


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