The tiny tots of Kerala State Council for Child Welfare here have got a new bunch of friends now. They come from all over the world and carry the essence of ethnic cultures from far off lands. The gleaming new dolls in the renovated doll museum at the Council are sure to be a big draw with all the young ones who visit the Council main office at Thycaud here. Recently inaugurated by Social Welfare Minister P.K. Sreemathy, the museum has on display more than 2500 doll.
Dolled up
“We have collected dolls from different countries for this museum. There are dolls from Africa, Japan, the US and Europe. The museum has dolls from different parts of India as well. We also have contributions from the Shankar's Doll Museum in New Delhi,” said museum designer Najeem Sultan.
The dolls in the Council museum have been neatly arranged in different categories, depending upon their place of origin or theme. You can find beautifully decked up dolls under categories like ‘Brides of India', ‘Tribes of India', ‘Traditional dancers of India', ‘African Tribal Dolls' etc.
There are separate sections for soldier dolls, monk dolls and celebrity dolls which includes dolls modelled on famous personalities like the Presidents of the US and popular characters like Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy.
All these dolls have been made from different materials like porcelain, wood, cloth, glass, metal and terracotta.
You can even find dolls made of shells and conches. The museum also has a section dedicated to puppets and masks. The audio and text descriptions given with every category of dolls makes a visit to the museum both entertaining and informative.
Up close
“Apart from the dolls we have also arranged at the doll museum a section showcasing innovative and interactive toys that we developed like the talking Santa and Ulta Pulta chair. But the speciality of this renovated doll museum is that we have brought the dolls out from behind the glass cases to make it more appealing to the children,'' Mr. Sultan said.
