With a focus on eco-friendly Ganeshas for the last few years, many people have taken to making their own idols with clay, shunning the usual practice of picking up a ready-made Plastic of Paris one from a store. There are workshops galore held in Bengaluru by government agencies as well as NGOs to help people learn to sculpt an idol, while there are many DIY videos available online too.
But a few Bengalureans have been making idols on their own for years, some with their own unique interpretation of the icon.
Chitrashekar Nonavinakere, a former General Manager at BEML Limited and a passionate amateur theatre artiste, has been making his own eco-friendly clay idols for many decades. He says it was his school teacher who motivated him. “I have been making Ganesha idols since childhood and it has gotten more artistic over the years. I started when I was in the fourth grade at R.V. Middle School near Lalbagh. I had made a Ganesha idol out of sand when we were playing on the school grounds, it was simple, and had no hands or legs but was very attractive. A teacher noticed my skill and asked me to make more idols. The school would have exhibitions frequently, and I would display my idols.”
He was also part of the Bharath Scouts and Guides during my teenage years, and every year, they would celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi. “One year my Scout friends pushed me to make an idol for the festivity at school. During the celebration, my friend Subramanya Kukke’s father S.S. Kukke, a renowned artist, visited our school, appreciated my work, and said I was talented. I started learning art forms like drawing and painting from him.” He also taught him nuances of anatomy and proportions. “I started making Ganesha idols for my friends too, but gradually because of my personal and professional commitments, I restricted myself to making just one Ganesha idol for my home,“ he said.
Chandra Keerthi, an actor and theatre teacher, has been making Ganesha idols at home using unusual material -- furniture, cloth, utensils, and simply any object he can find around him. For instance, Keerthi once made a Ganesha called “Ranga Ganapa” using theatre props and costumes.
