The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : The dolls and their makers

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Thursday, Sep 21, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The dolls and their makers

Sandhya Soman

Figurines produced on the streets have landed up in the markets

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Younger generation from the potter community busy giving finishing touches to `kolu' dolls at Kosapet on Wednesday. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI : Behind the dolls, there is the maker. But it is not easy to see the artist behind the glass-eyed figures spilling out of pushcarts on roads and various exhibition halls that herald Navaratri across the city.

But, you might get to see them behind the rows of `kolu' dolls at Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan or Poompuhar showrooms. They are right there, selling their wares without any middlemen.

"My grandfather used to sell clay dolls on the roadside during Navaratri season. But now we are better off exhibiting at places such as this as we are sure of a regular income throughout the year. Visitors here demand quality dolls in new designs off-season as well," says M. Jayapal.

Jayapal and his brother Sundaramoorthy make benign-faced gods and goddesses in lightweight papier mâché that make it easier for women to lug around the dolls for the `kolu'.

The brothers also have new items such as Garuda, Dakshinamoorthy and Hayagrivar dolls lined up inside their house at Kosapet, which is the centre of all the action.

The winding lanes of Kosapet in Purasawalkam is where one can still get to see entire families engrossed in creating moulds, applying lime, drying them in bright sunshine and carefully applying colours to bring them alive.

Sundaramoorthy has his wife helping him at every turn, whether it is adorning the dolls with jewels or sticking colourful stones as part of the finishing touches.

There is no clay and so no smoke to bring in angry neighbours and law enforcement officials. The production is completed inside the cool confines of Madras-tiled houses of artisans from the potter community.

But just around the corner many continue to make clay dolls -- ranging from smiling goddesses to smoking monkeys. They are readied in various makeshift kilns set up along the road. Most of them go to wholesale dealers, says S. Selvi, while attending to a couple checking out her produce laid out on Sachitanandan Street.

This year, the `doll season' has shrunk for her with Vinayaka Chathurthi coming close on the heels of Gokulashtami. To make matters worse, she fell ill. "I could not make half of what I made last year," she says.

Most of the dolls produced on the streets have already landed up in markets in Mylapore, T. Nagar, Chintadripet and Tiruvellikkeni at prices ranging from Rs. 10 to Rs. 100.

However, Selvi evades a direct query regarding her income — just like her better-off counterparts at the exhibition halls.

All they are willing to say is that a recently formed association will be seeking the Government's help in demarcating an area for setting up kilns to churn out clay dolls.

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