Some unique dolls during my visit to judge Gombehabba

In my previous post I have already shared about judging the Gombehabba competition . I visited 10 houses to judge the competition. In each house , the arrangement of dolls was amazing. In some houses the themes were very attractive, and in some the creativity was dominating and in some houses I could see wonderful collection of dolls, which were bought from different parts of the world. Sharing about some of the unique dolls I saw.
Let me start with the Buddha doll meditating in a garden:

Buddha in a garden

In another house, a plastic doll was decorated as Kittoora Rani Chennamma:

A doll made as Kittur Rani Chennamma

Here is a model of Mysuru Palace. Here you can see the creativity of the lady who arranged this. Most of the dolls are handmade:

Model of Mysuru city

This is the most beautiful doll I saw this year. A lady dancing. You can see the charm on her face and the dancing posture looks awesome. It looks real.

Dancing lady doll

Here you can see the route between Bangalore and Mysuru. The important places on the route were depicted using dolls:

Route from Bengaluru to Mysuru

The below one is doll of sleeping Shiva and Parvati is near his head. This is the replica of idol at  Kondeshwara temple Suruta palli, near Tirupati.( You can read more about this temple here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palli_Kondeswarar_Temple,_Surutapalli)

The below one is about the current issue between Karnataka and Tamilnadu. You guessed it right, dolls depicting Kaveri issue. The supreme court judges are relpaced by Ganesha here, and also   CMs of both the states in the court :). I laughed a lot looking at this doll arrangement :)

Another one is a beautiful Lakshmi doll. This doll is from Pune and its Gowri(Parvati) doll. The lady's creativity has changed this doll to look like Goddess Lakshmi. Isn't it adorable?

 In many houses this custom is celebrated from past 100 years. So I could see some very old dolls. The below one is a doll , which more than 100 years old. You can see the difference in the color:

And this is collection of utensil sets. Most of us had these kind of sets during our childhood. Nowadays these are replaced by plastic ones:

Visiting all these houses to view and judge the arrangement was a wonderful experience.This tradition makes us kids. All of us enjoyed like kids, in the world of dolls.I was feeling, for those dolls we must have looked like giants :-)

Many sarees are designed, have worked on some hand embroidered projects. Soon share those with you.

 Until then, 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Judging Gombehabba

Gombe habba is a cute tradition which is celebrated in some parts of South India. I have already written about this tradition in my previous posts. This year there was no sign , that any would invite me. I was little disappointed. But a surprise was waiting for me. A Kannada News daily Vijaya Karnataka conducts competition about gombe habba. I was invited to judge the competition. every year I used to visit one or two houses to see Gombe habba. Because of Vijaya Karnataka , I visited 10 houses to see gombe habba
Here are some glimpses of the Gombe habba , we visited , published in news paper:

The day we visited 10 houses. In each house the arrangements of dolls was wonderful. I could see everywhere dolls, depicting different themes. The themes included stories from mythology to current issues like Kaveri water dispute between Karnataka and TamilNadu, recent surgical attack etc. I have captured photos of dolls, which I found very interesting. I will share about those in coming post.

Until then, 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Clay dolls from West Bengal

Doll making is an ancient craft . In India this must have started with making of terracotta dolls  , and then with wood and other available materials. Dolls making is very fascinating craft which attracts all the age range. I had recently shared about the clay doll I made.

Different kinds of dolls in India:

In India, many kinds of traditional doll making is in practise. It differs from area to area. Etikoppa , Kondapalli toys from Andhra Pradesh, Channpattana toys , and Kinnahala dolls of Karnataka  . 

Karnataka also has the tradition of celebrating Gombe Habba, festival of dolls. 

Similarly, clay dolls of Krishnanagar (West Bengal). These dolls though made of clay, and decorated with cloth to look realistic.

Craftsmen use clay and Plaster of Paris moulds to make the different parts of the figurine. The parts are joined with the support of a metal wire. Then painted and decorated with cloth and accessories. The craftsmen replete most of the professions and figure, by showing all the minute details.

Dolls of Mahatma Gandhiji

Dolls depicting some profession

Some  more cute dolls

 I got an opportunity to talk to a craftsman in an exhibition in my city. He explained me  the process of making of clay dolls,in detail. I wish to visit these craftsmen to know how they make the dolls!

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

She is beautiful, stylish- making of Clay doll

She is beautiful, she is stylish with wild designer dress, and has lovely curled golden hair. I'm not talking about any Hollywood actress, she is the cutie doll.
Here she is :

Cutie doll

Is she not mesmerizing you by her beauty? I know you can't say NO. She is the cutie doll I made from clay.

Doll making is an ancient art. Human beings are always fascinated by dolls. The Gombe habba(Festival of dolls)  of Karnataka    is an example for this.  I have written in last posts there are several kinds of dolls made  in India, like Channpatna dolls,Kinnala doll etc.

Making of clay doll:

I was longing to learn making of clay doll. Inquired many experts too. But either there was time constraint or location was too far. At last  my wish fulfilled. I enrolled to learn Siporex carving class, the organizer told me she is conducting class to make clay doll too. Immediately I enrolled for both. This took 2 days to complete the doll making. The whole experience of making doll was very nice and the trainer was very patient to answer all our queries. 

The end result is very cute. Here are the glimpses of cuteness, beautiful face

Her beautiful golden color , curly hair with hat on that:

Long golden hair!

Her stylish shoes:

Wild shoes

Overall she is not lees than any Hollywood actress :)

I wanted to share the procedure of making, but could not take the photos of the intermediate steps. Soon will make one more cutie doll and share the tutorial with my readers. 

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

 

Kinnala Dolls- looks like dolls with life

Kranataka is always known for its handicraft. Different kinds of crafts are practiced in different parts of the state. Karnataka being always has its own heritage of wooden crafts. The wooden craft practiced in coastal part of Karnataka  is unique. Similarly the wooden toys, Channapattana dolls  are world famous for its cuteness and attractive colors.
Here are  the colorful Channapatna dolls:

Channapattana dolls

 Another kind of dolls made in a small village Koppala of Karnataka, Kinnala dolls. These are also made of wood, but entirely different from Channpatana dolls. Channapatna dolls are cute and looks like dolls, but Kinnala dolls are dolls with life.At first sight you feel these are small human beings:

Kinnala dolls

Kinnala is a small village in Koppala district of Karnataka. Once this place was flourishing centre for crafts.The Kinnala craft dates back to 13th century, during rule of Vijayanagar empire, the craft flourished a lot. Kinnala art was started with painting the wooden plates and murals on the temples. Then craftsmen started making cradles , dolls etc and painting it with beautiful colors.
Very light weight wood is used to make the dolls and after making the parts, the parts are joined using paste made of tamarind seed powder and saw dust. And these are painted with natural colors. Earlier the craftsmen were making human figures:

Human figures - Kinnala dolls

Here are the dolls depicting pooja of a deity:

Now the craftsmen make animal figures too, in the below figures you can see those:

Garuda( Vehicle of Vishnu) and Kamadhenu (An animal in Hindu mythology) are very popular among Kinnala toys:

Doll making art has always fascinated human beings.In Karnataka many celebrate Gombe habba exhibiting the collection of dolls. There are different kinds dolls made of different materials like cloth, wire, sponge , wood etc. 

Recently learnt to make doll from clay. Will share about that in the coming post.

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Gombe Habba- Dolls everywhre

I have already shared about Gombe habba I visited in the following posts :

Gombe Habba with different themes  

and 

Gombe habba with different themes- Festivals 

The collection of the dolls were so much that, I had to continue with this post also. I could see everywhere dolls there. A felt like I was in the Doll city;let me take you a tour in the doll city

In this doll city there is a park, a zoo, school etc. Here you can have the closer view of the doll city:

Here are the houses and apartments. Anyhow the real estate price is very high, if you want ,book an apartment now itself. :-) Otherwise all the dolls are already in the queue to book apartments :-)

 Here is the zoo. Some animals are inside the cages and , Oh! Elephants are also there...

Tired and hungry because of roaming?There is a restaurant  You can order whatever you want :-)

 And now a walk in vegetable market,

And there is a sale also, you can buy anything from dress, shoes, bags and many more:

Now to refresh and cherish your childhood days visit this doll marriage:

 Very cute couple! Have you wished the couple? OK, Now,  let us go to a village now :

So you have roamed in doll city as well as village. Now meet the  creators of this doll city, from left to right cute Aditi , her mom Vidya and her grand mother Lakshmi.

As I have written in the first post about  Gombe Habba with different themes,  this doll arrangement was done by three generation. Everywhere in this arrangement you can observe the creativity of the artists.I really appreciate and love, the traditions of celebrating festivals.How the tradition is passed on to the next generation! Most of the arrangements are made by Eco-friendly  materials. And very small details are also taken care while arranging.Hats of to the three lovely, artistic ladies!

Hope you like all my posts about Gombe habba. Hope to visit some more interesting doll arrangements during next Dasara. Recently visited many interesting places, so will share about that in coming posts. 

Until then, 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Gombe habba with different themes- Festivals

Hope all of you had lovely Deepavali celebration. Even I :-). Before Deepavali travelled to 4-5 destinations of my interests. Eager to share about my travel experiences with you all. But before that , sharing about Gombe habba with different themes, which I had already written the first part here Gombe Habba with different themes .
In this post sharing about the festive theme created there:
This is complete glimpse all the Hindu festivals, you can see starting from Naga Panchami (which is the first festival of festive season to Deepavali )

 

The series start from right, the first festival Naga  Panchami.

Next festival is Krishna Janmashtami , here it is . All the practices and rituals followed in Krishna Janmashtami is shown here, even the Prasad. 

 

Next , Vara Mahalakshmi Vrutha and Swarna Gowri Vratha which are celebrated in South India, by married women:

 Then comes the everyone's favourite festival Ganesh Chaturthi :

 The the Dasara season. All the practices of Dasara celebration are shown with cute dolls.
Devi Pooja:

World famous Mysore Dasara procession:

Then end of festive season, with Makara Sankranti ,

 

In each arrangement , very small detail like Rangoli etc are depicted perfectly by the artists.I know you are eager to know about the artists who made these arrangements. Definitely I will introduce them to you in my next post .

Until then, 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Gombe Habba with different themes

During each Dasara I write about Gombe habba. Every year I have been lucky enough to get invitation and enjoy  Gombe habba. Its celebrated during Dasara in some parts of South India. This is celebrated by arranging dolls in the house by women. Each year its different experience and memorable. This year during Dasara I did not get any invitation. So was little disappointed. Thanks to one of my friends, she took me to her friend's house on the last day of Dasara.
I was stunned to see the arrangements of the dolls.It was doll arrangements with different themes, Eco friendly and arranged by 3 generation :-), grand mother, mother and grand daughter. :-) I cannot cover all in single post.
When I entered the house the living room was full with dolls arranged.I was excited to see the dolls and  gave full-time work to my camera.
Let me start with the dolls arranged on different steps, here it is:

The first row from down has dolls of little boys and infants, arranged in a cute way.

 

  Aren't the dolls very cute? And there are dolls of infants in different position, that too arranged in the cradle. Here is the close look. Ah! I haven't seen any doll cuter than this! What do you say?
 The creativity can be seen in the cradles made of paper.

Next row is dolls depicting story of birth of Shanmukha or Murugan :

Next row is  dolls depicting Dashavatara, (10 incarnation of Lord Vishnu) :

 And Hindu Gods and Goddesses in the next row:

 And the top most row with Pattada Gombe.

These are just one section of the dolls arrangement. Actually the whole house was filled with lots and lots of dolls, arranged in different themes, which I will share in the next post.

Until then, 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana