{"id":75549,"date":"2016-06-20T13:22:04","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T07:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youthkiawaaz.com\/?p=75549"},"modified":"2016-11-25T17:22:52","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T11:52:52","slug":"channapatna-toy-industry-floundering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youthkiawaaz.com\/2016\/06\/channapatna-toy-industry-floundering\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ancient Toy Makers Of Karnataka Are Being Forced To Give Up Their Craft"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Nadeem Ahmed<\/a> and Elizabeth Mani<\/a> for Youth Ki Awaaz:<\/strong><\/p> In a dimly lit room with the ceiling peeling off at many places, Rukamma P is hard at work. A sack of beads lies close by and next to her is a hacksaw with a blade sharp enough to cut and carve wood. The 40-year-old toymaker is busy carving simple symmetrical toy parts from blocks of wood.<\/p> Rukamma has been making toys since she was 15. A quarter century later, she’s an expert, having learnt and mastered the art from her mother. Her earnings are nothing to go to town with but she loves making toys with her hands. “I hardly make Rs 200 a day,”<\/em> says the mother of two.<\/p> She belongs to one of the dwindling tribes of toy-makers of Channapatna, a town 60 kilometers from Bengaluru on the Bengaluru-Mysore highway. Also known as ‘Gombegala Ooru’<\/em> or the ‘Land of Toys’, till not a few years ago, Channapatna was famous for its high quality wooden toys (mainly ivory wood), and its lacquerware.<\/p> The traditional miniature toys, like spinning tops and dolls, made here are smooth, durable and coloured with natural dyes, making them ideal for children. While some toys are easily manufactured by a single worker, some of them need the effort of multiple workers, designing and producing different parts of the toys and later assembling it together. The time taken to make these eco-friendly toys varies from one to four hours.<\/p>