A little stuffed yarn doll sits on a table. In a black vest with red pockets and a blue-and-green skirt, she’s a happy little doll from Nongtham village in Arunachal Pradesh. Hair in bangs and with smiling eyes, she wants to be a friend. When you stop and stare long enough, you realise that the crocheter crafted her that way, an ever-smiling and inviting playmate like no other, with her own little imperfections, a few threads sticking out or one arm a bit longer than the other.
This doll is far from the factory-made Barbie; she was woven into existence with care, by hands that knew that she would be picked up by even smaller ones. ‘Putul: Traditional Toys and Dolls of India’, the just concluded exhibition at the India International Centre, had on display over 75 handcrafted toys and dolls from across the country, out of which the little girl from Arunachal was one.
This individuality of handmade toys has always fascinated Dr Asani Bhaduri. The curator of the exhibition, he says, “No one toy can ever be like another”, just as every child is singular. A professor of molecular and computational biology at the University of Delhi, Bhaduri grew up around more toys than many children at the time, thanks to his father Agnibarna Bhaduri’s large toy collection.
A retired professor and researcher, Agnibarna is an avid collector of toys, among other things, and is also the author of Putuler Satsatero, a book of essays in Bangla on the toys and dolls of Bengal, which, Bhaduri attests, is one among the very few works on the subject. “I remember my father gifting toys to children and adults alike. He would also encourage them to be collectors,” says Bhaduri, recalling his childhood in Kolkata. Agnibarna, along with his wife, Madhumadhabi, established over the years one of the largest collections of traditional toys of the country, and all the exhibits at ‘Putul’ are theirs. Bhaduri is taking forward the work his parents started.
Dolls from the states
Toys are rarely the subject of serious conversations. Though many agree to their importance in the life of children, few take time out to think about their historic, artistic and cultural significance. Asani Bhaduri wishes to change that. ‘Putul’ is a celebration of the craft and culture of toys. Featuring toys and dolls from all the states and Union territories of India, from Ladakh to the Andaman Islands, the exhibits ranged from figurines, masks and puppets to action toys and kites. Made from various materials – from clay and papier mache to wood and steel -- the toys represent the diverse aesthetic and geographical backgrounds they were produced in.
For instance, a figurine of a bird from Uttarakhand is made out of a pine cone, found in abundance in the state. Figurines from Ladakh included a Yak that is crafted from phingpa, the wool of yak, and, also Losar dough dolls, dolls made out of dough on the occasion of the Ladakhi New Year, which, Bhaduri reminds, is eaten by the children afterwards. An idol of Ravana made from paper and cane, stand as a testament to the craftsmanship of the artisans of Titarpur in Delhi, a village famous for its tradition of crafting magnificent and larger-than-life Ravana idols for Dussehra.
“For a child, everything is a toy,” says Sukrita Paul Kumar, a poet and educationist, speaking at a discussion organised as part of the exhibition. She remembers how her daughter used to play with spoons, shunning all the conventional toys that were given to her. This sense of “toying” with objects and ideas is of great importance to her. It connects us to “something elemental” in our nature, she says. As a poet, she is always playing with words. “Dil toh baccha hai (The heart is a child),” she reiterates.
Toys comfort
The cloth dolls at the exhibition reminded Mugdha Sinha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India,of her own childhood. “Toys are rarely tender anymore,” she says. She emphasises how important it is for children to feel things with their hands, how the tactility of a toy offers a sense of comfort and companionship, which many children today fail to experience as they withdraw into their smartphones and video games.
For Alok Bhalla, scholar and author, the idea and act of play is equally important; it builds the imagination. “I used to have a wonderful time with marbles and cigarette cartons growing up,” he says. “Playing builds community. A sea-saw, as they say, needs two to work. It also teaches us to be ‘un-serious’, which is important,” he adds.
Bhaduri is always on the lookout for rare finds in toys. He remembers accidentally stumbling upon the village of Jaisinghpur in Rajasthan during one of his journeys, where there is a long-standing tradition of making wooden toys. A wooden truck he picked up there is part of the exhibition.
He rues the fact that handmade toys are falling out of style and business in this age of mass mechanical production. He has been working towards convincing state emporia across the country to stock more traditional toys as a way of preserving an increasingly vanishing tradition. He says that progress is being made and that people are, in fact, starting to take toys seriously.
At a Delhi exhibition, the dolls of the Bhaduris of Kolkata, who own one of the largest collections of handmade toys of India, took centrestage, along with their history & the craft of toy-making. The exhibition revealed what dolls do for us that smartphones & video games don’t.