Day 4/100 - From the Toy town of India

Channapatna – which translates to 'Toy Town'  is situated around 60 kms from Bangalore on the Bangalore – Mysore highway.Had heard of Channapatna toys from a shop in Bangalore Airport that distributed a pamphlet and a  free keychain last December when hundreds of Artisans had come for the Airport Renaming and Terminal Inauguration. So when we decided to go for a road trip to Mysore it was a natural choice to take a short break at Channapatna- for a cup of tea and to buy something for Aiden. The Rocking Horse from Channapatna is his favourite now even after having fallen head –on from it .

Since we could not spend enough time in the town to explore it for ourselves  - I googled about  Channapatna  back in office the next day – enough to know that :

• The unique craftsmanship of making toys here was introduced at the time of Tipu sultan – who invited Persian artisans to train local artisans in the making of wooden toys.
• Channapatna toys are generally crafted out of white Ivory wood and pained with organic vegetable dyes – which are safe for children.
• These toys are generally manufactured in small to medium sized units with multitude of them being run as an extension to the houses in small scale. Ladies in Channapatna are generally seen chiseling and shaping small wooden  blocks outside of their houses . These are then collected in Cycles and Rickshaws into small manufacturing units where they are polished , painted  and assembled. The ladies and artisans earn around 500 Rs a day as against Rs 70 a few years back – thanks to the involvement of NGOs  in reviving this small scale industry that was facing hard competition from cheap Chinese toys in market.
• The art has gone global in recent years with demands pouring in from countries like US / UK  providing  prototypes of modern toys .Michelle Obama who took collection of Channapatna  toys – trains , key rings ,Ganesha idols -  from a stall in Delhi when she came for a visit in 2010 – has also given a  global touch to the revival of this ancient craft.

Here is a good write ups on Channapatna and the toy making process :

http://www.beontheroad.com/2011/02/incredible-world-of-toys-at-channapatna.html