It’s my favorite time of the year, Navratri time and yet again the hopeless nostalgic person that I am, it triggers a trail of nostalgia reminding me of the various small golu bommais(toys) of my childhood.
Many Dussehra vacations, I would travel to my grandparents place at Mylapore(Madras) , the whole area including the houses would wear a festive look but the centre of attraction would be the 300 hundred year old Kapali temple. The temple and the adjoining platforms around the temple tank called teppa kulam would be festive. Loads and loads of man bommai (clay dolls) in colors putting even the rainbow to shame would adorn the makeshift shelves of the stalls and platforms. Vying for children's attention would be the plastic miniature toys like mixie, water pump, toy trees, mini houses,kirchen set, bullock carts, huts,balloons,camera, catapult, toy musical instruments etc.
Elders like my mamis and aunts under the supervision of my grandmom would start the preparation for golu(arrangements of dolls during navaratri in tamil homes) much in advance. Visiting the teppakulam area to get some pooja items was a daily affair at home. While the elders ( usually my mami or chitti(aunt)) would go around minding their business of buying the haldi kumkum, flowers and other items needed for the pooja, I and my cousins would longingly look at the various dolls and miniature toys but what would catch my attention among so many attractions was this small “cinema” toy that came in many colors.
When paati once got us this toy, we all jumped clapping with glee and gathered around the cousin who had it and would wait for him/her to finish watching it. We would position our eyes around the peep holes, crinkle our eyes and then turn the little knob which would allow us to view the handloaded slides and give us a glimpse of Hema malini, Dharmender, jeetender, Dev Anand, zeenat,Kamal, Rajni. Then again after sometime it would scroll down to show the monuments like tajmahal, kutubminar, gol gumbaz. The mechanical toy would take us on a journey into the world of movie stars, then on another scroll, it would take us around all over India for a meager 5rs. We even had a snowwhite and 7 dwarfs slide which inspired me to direct my first drama at school when I was in Class 7.
For those few magical moments, we cousins would fight for our time to hold those colorful images and it’s really amzing how the simple magic of this handheld mechanical toy could captivate our imagination. That people, was the magic of the ‘viewmaster’ or as our maid’s 9 year old niece would call “Bioscope”.
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There were similar doll counters close to our home at VVpuram in Bangalore. The circular platform area around Sajjan Rao circle (now famous as eat street in travel and living chanel) would be vibrant with colorful makeshift shops. The 8 temples around the circle would be lit with festive air and the speakers would be airing the 'Harikatha' sessions, while the toy sellers along with the famous road side eateries would be making brisk business. Here too, there were many bommais(toys) which added to my collection but the one that stills hold a strong place in my memory is the kaleidoscope.
Wow! What mindboggling patterns it would roll out.!!
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A fascinating contraption with Just three slivers of mirror, with some colorful junk thrown in would transport us into a surreal world. One end of it would be closed with a triangular mirror and the other end with a peep hole, the kaleidoscope’s simple technology stole our hearts for a few hours.
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The innocence with which we peered into them to see the patterns that were never repeated transported us into an amazing world. And, those mesmerizing patterns ran through our eyes even after we had long discarded the kaleidoscope.
As kids at festivals and occasions, bewilderment was the lone virtue we possessed which made those awesomely simple treats at festivals so endearingly enticing to us.
Now, as an adult, I invest in such childhood bewilderment, by recollecting all those beautiful memories and lose myself in that make believe world even if it’s for a few moments.
Navaratri now, for me is not just about puja, prasadam, kutcheri(concerts) and golu( traditional doll arrangement) , it is about so many such memories.
Many Dussehra vacations, I would travel to my grandparents place at Mylapore(Madras) , the whole area including the houses would wear a festive look but the centre of attraction would be the 300 hundred year old Kapali temple. The temple and the adjoining platforms around the temple tank called teppa kulam would be festive. Loads and loads of man bommai (clay dolls) in colors putting even the rainbow to shame would adorn the makeshift shelves of the stalls and platforms. Vying for children's attention would be the plastic miniature toys like mixie, water pump, toy trees, mini houses,kirchen set, bullock carts, huts,balloons,camera, catapult, toy musical instruments etc.
Elders like my mamis and aunts under the supervision of my grandmom would start the preparation for golu(arrangements of dolls during navaratri in tamil homes) much in advance. Visiting the teppakulam area to get some pooja items was a daily affair at home. While the elders ( usually my mami or chitti(aunt)) would go around minding their business of buying the haldi kumkum, flowers and other items needed for the pooja, I and my cousins would longingly look at the various dolls and miniature toys but what would catch my attention among so many attractions was this small “cinema” toy that came in many colors.
When paati once got us this toy, we all jumped clapping with glee and gathered around the cousin who had it and would wait for him/her to finish watching it. We would position our eyes around the peep holes, crinkle our eyes and then turn the little knob which would allow us to view the handloaded slides and give us a glimpse of Hema malini, Dharmender, jeetender, Dev Anand, zeenat,Kamal, Rajni. Then again after sometime it would scroll down to show the monuments like tajmahal, kutubminar, gol gumbaz. The mechanical toy would take us on a journey into the world of movie stars, then on another scroll, it would take us around all over India for a meager 5rs. We even had a snowwhite and 7 dwarfs slide which inspired me to direct my first drama at school when I was in Class 7.
For those few magical moments, we cousins would fight for our time to hold those colorful images and it’s really amzing how the simple magic of this handheld mechanical toy could captivate our imagination. That people, was the magic of the ‘viewmaster’ or as our maid’s 9 year old niece would call “Bioscope”.
There were similar doll counters close to our home at VVpuram in Bangalore. The circular platform area around Sajjan Rao circle (now famous as eat street in travel and living chanel) would be vibrant with colorful makeshift shops. The 8 temples around the circle would be lit with festive air and the speakers would be airing the 'Harikatha' sessions, while the toy sellers along with the famous road side eateries would be making brisk business. Here too, there were many bommais(toys) which added to my collection but the one that stills hold a strong place in my memory is the kaleidoscope.
Wow! What mindboggling patterns it would roll out.!!
The innocence with which we peered into them to see the patterns that were never repeated transported us into an amazing world. And, those mesmerizing patterns ran through our eyes even after we had long discarded the kaleidoscope.
As kids at festivals and occasions, bewilderment was the lone virtue we possessed which made those awesomely simple treats at festivals so endearingly enticing to us.
Now, as an adult, I invest in such childhood bewilderment, by recollecting all those beautiful memories and lose myself in that make believe world even if it’s for a few moments.
Navaratri now, for me is not just about puja, prasadam, kutcheri(concerts) and golu( traditional doll arrangement) , it is about so many such memories.