It is with a sense of secret hope of getting back to playing with toys and games that I took up the elective of Toys from Tales. Wanting to reconnect with all those hours of unadulterated fun, stitching little doll dresses and playing innumerable board games, I was hoping for two weeks of absolute fun.
Although life is meant to make you regret hoping for things, for once, it
didn't disappoint me at all! In fact, this elective has turned out to be even more fun than I had imagined.
Classes with Rutti and Sajith and a whole bunch of similarly excited classmates are extremely interesting and enjoyable.
The very first day, we were asked to make a toy that best described an incident from childhood or ourselves. It was such a delightful experience-and also nice and self-absorbed- to sit and think about oneself and recreate the flashes of childhood memories that sifted though our mind.
Everyone came up with a toy by the next morning. The toy I made was called the 'Ollikuchchi Octopus'(Eng:Stick-Thin Octopus); a dig at the stick figures my sister used to draw as a kid. 
The Octopus represented the extreme anxiety I had in me from childhood(it continues, till date) of trying to do many things at the same time. A juggler of activities, I needed 4 pairs of hands to finish whatever I had undertaken. Also, as per Animal Symbolism, the Octopus is a sign of creativity and insatiability. What better a way to represent it than using the Octopus?!
As a child, I was too full of myself and in all arrogance, I used to boss around the people in my class. Later, this 'higher than thou' attitude lead to a fall and a whole reanalysis and reformation began! Stick-Thin Octopus); a dig at the stick figures my sister used to draw as a kid.
I shaped the OO out of a thin bamboo branch over which a cloth octopus was strung. The bamboo branch resembled stilts and was signaling at the fact that I never had my foot on the ground. To represent my flighty attitude, I made four rotor blades by crossing two ice-cream sticks in the centre and keeping them in place with a board tack. These blades, I stuck to the bamboo branch octopus with adhesive. I strung little ghungroos(bells) at the tips of the rotor blades to provide some sound every once used- a dig at my talkative nature.
I used bright primary colours to paint OO, to attract kids. The stick , tack and ghungroos were painted bright blue, the rotor blades were poster red in colour and had some intricate hatching patterns on their top side. The head of the Octopus was a moss green with white polka dots and had a happy expression painted. The hands were made of multi-coloured cut cloth. A small white band held the head and the body together.
In all enthusiasm, I decided I'd develop the merchandising also for the OO. Hence emerged the pamphlets that go with it, and the poem that it has.
As my original doodling brought forth a gingerbread woman, I decided to explain my toy in the form of an act. I covered my toy with another piece of cloth and as sense strikes the OO, it sheds its cloth skin and emerges to fly off into the sky.
OO can be used for two things- one as a rattle for babies, and another as a fly-away toy. You need to spin the bamboo stick between your palms- almost in a churning movement- and then let it go. It spins in flight and then crashes down, unless you catch hold of it in a while.
However, OO was a parody toy- meant for me to laugh at the person I was and be thankful for the improvements that have happened, and hopefully get working on the parts that still remain.
The Poem that went with the toy is as follows:
A gingerbread woman
feeling fragile
acting all snooty
hiding all the while
Stilts shoot out
like horns on head
high and mighty
ego well-fed!
A constant quest
and arrogance too!
Little kid happy
goody two shoes
Pretty little frocks
bunch of bangles
a mop of curls
always in tangles.
Life eats her up
slowly chews her ego
with no choice left
she must let go.
shedding her skin
once sense did hit
a power hungry pair dies
where eight hands fit.
Octopus woman
grinning wide
flying off to the sky
a purpose beside.
Setting off instantly
the world to conquer
exploring searching seeking
with enthusiastic fervour
New one emerged
trying to be good
genuine to people
helping as much as she could
Trying flying
sometimes falling flat
feeling good, feeling bad
feeling pretty, feeling fat
A swirl of emotions
continue to haunt
as the world applauds
also while it taunts
Little Octopus toy
reflecting little me
growing up still
trying to BE
The flight continues
and so does the fall
But good and bad
make life afterall!
Sandhya Ramachandran
sandhya.r@nid.edu