Post by Nagappa
It was a five day workshop (9th-13th Jan, 2014) organised by the Directorate Art and Culture, Government of Goa and held at Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto, Panjim.
The first day was an exciting day for me as it was my first time at a workshop like this. There were 64 other participants and we sat in a large circle. The workshop resource persons were from Rajasthan, experts in cloth toy making. The workshop was from 2.00 – 5. 00 pm .
The organisers had planned the workshop well including providing most material and it was also conducted very beautifully.
The workshop started with making easy toys, like the little birds and later it got to be quite tough as we had to use lots of material, complicated forms on each thing and it took a long time.
In the beginning I felt that the volunteer assistances were not very cooperative but as we all got to know each other and became comfortable in a group, they were all participating actively and making toys with us and were friendly and helpful. This attitude of positive energy comes when one is doing creative things. I have learnt that.
All 64 participants were very happy and cheerful. If anyone ran short of any material, then someone else would help them and the thing would get done. There was lots of cooperation.
During the workshop the most interesting thing was that each one got to show their own talents and everyone was trying to improve their style and design on the toys. Every time when we couldn’t do that particular thing, we were encouraged again and again.
In the workshop we were taught to do parrot hanging, horse, elephant and a camel. Each time I finished doing something, I would have a glance at that thing again and again and would feel excited and happy because I would not believe that I had done on my own. I always dreamt of such Rajasthani crafts and would often wonder when I would get a chance to learn all these things. This time I got a chance and it made me very happy.
We couldn’t complete making the complicated camel because of a lack of time and not enough of materials. But one day I will complete my camel.
I learnt a lot and it was a really good workshop.
