THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : For 13-year-old Guru Manasa, the lockdown period was a time to re-invent her hidden talents. With nothing much to do during the forced confinement at home, she decided to dabble in cooking. But still, this Class VIII student was keen on doing something distinctive and innovative. A chance visit to a local fancy shop at her hometown in Konni led this student of Netaji Higher Secondary School, Pramadam in Pathanamthitta, to try her hand at making a nettipattam, aka an elephant caparison.
When she asked her parents to get her the requisite materials, they were a bit apprehensive. They had reasons too as nettipattam is an ornament used in temples to decorate elephants while carrying the idols of deities. Their fears were led to rest when Guru Manasa promised to undertake the project with utmost piety. She told TNIE that she watched videos on YouTube on how to make nettipattam.
In no time, Guru Manasa tagged her mother to the same fancy shop to get the requisite items including the jute material to make the frame, copper plated golden beads in different shapes, woollen threads of different hues to make the tassels, velvet cloth and fancy twine. “I was apprehensive of how it would turn out as I have never been in to craft making. The expenditure to procure the materials was only `1,300 when shops sell a two-foot-long nettipattam for `5,000. I finished making the first one in two days. Seeing my work, the local Madathilkaavu Durga Devi temple and a few of my friends have given further orders”, said Guru Manasa who is thrilled to earn pocket money.
Her father, Anil Kumar, a businessman and mother Nisha Kunjipoovu, an avid gardener and the brain behind the popular garden community group on Facebook, ‘Pookkalum Koottukarum’, were caught unawares at the final product their ‘Chachu’ had come up with. They gushed with pride as they are aware that any other teenager of her age would have idled their time by browsing social media. But now their little girl has set her goals high and is keen to make the traditional 6.75-foot-high nettipattam.