HYDERABAD: “Now, roll the clay nicely and make a capital L shape for Ganesha’s hand,” says sculptor Manthena Dwaraka to a room full of his wide-eyed five to 10-something pupils, eager to sculpt their very own eco-friendly Ganeshas.
The rains vigorously lash Hyderabad but the children at Crafts Council of Telangana in Banjara Hills are unperturbed; they’d rather spend the Saturday running their fingers through the cool clay as parents and grandparents proudly watch on.
“Amma never lets me get my hands dirty but today I can make a mess. It is so satisfying. We never learn all this at school,” says 12-year-old Sannitha. Sitting on damroo stools, she and other children — akin to skilled bakers — knead lumps of clay on wooden tables, adding a little water to get a roti atta-like consistency.
Dwaraka goes from table to table, teaching children how to fashion a torso, head, ears, trunk, tusks, arms, legs and a gopuram-like crown. “There’s no particular order. It is art and they are free to do it any way they like,” says the master sculptor, who started his journey at just nine.
“My eight-year-old twins, Vennila and Indraneel, were raised in Zambia but I always make it a point to teach them about our culture every chance I get. Making these clay idols will connect them to their roots,” says Bindu. The twins help each other mould trunks, tusks and ears before passing a thin wooden stick through the idol to hold it in place.
The room is filled with positivity and one child even breaks out into song. Such, perhaps, is the power of creativity; one art fuels another.
Nandini Raju, member of the Crafts Council, says, “It warms my heart. Just look at each one of their idols…every single one is different and beautiful in its own way. In a world with so many rules, it is nice to see this,” she says.
Holding their finished idols, the children can’t wait to make their little Ganeshas take part in the celebrations on September 7.
“I absolutely enjoy teaching these little ones. Children sculpting Ganeshas is a form of pooja. Even on Ganesh Chaturthi, I will be sculpting idols…that is my way of showing devotion,” says Dwaraka.
Indeed, these children didn’t just learn how to make idols but deciphered how to invoke their most creative side. And mind you, even the usually naughty ones at home took their parents by surprise as they sculpted their idols…with pin-drop silence.