Young women sit on the floor, deeply engaged with the task in front of them. Learning how to shape and polish coconut shells into wonderful animal and other shapes – they are also taught how to use machines that will help them in their work.
Dr. Pellur Sudhakar, the Director of CPREEC (the C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre), has traveled to Gudalur, a city in the Nilgiris Hills in south India, to conduct classes in making traditional handicrafts.
Handcrafted products made from coconut shells can be wonderfully imaginative.
Coconut trees grow abundantly in India, and many products are made from them, for example, coconut oil. After the oil is extracted, the shells are left, and this extremely abundant material, which would otherwise go to waste, can be turned into delightful works of art.
CPREEC teaches groups of students or teachers, or both, how to do these crafts. By teaching the teachers, who pass on what they have learned, they reach a great many students.
The Nilgiris hills of Tamil Nadu, where the town Gudalur is located, are one of the most beautiful places on earth. Unbelievably green hills are enveloped in mist that drifts among the hills. It is a magical landscape. Gudalur is the farthest point west in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
In the town of Gudalur, thirty young women, from a low-income background, were identified as trainees to take part in the two-month training program to learn how to make coconut shell products. CPREEC came up with the products that would have the greatest marketing potential: “angry birds,” spoons, bowls, cups, key chains, soap stands, incense stands, flower vases, wall hangers, and doorbells. The young women were taught how to make these.
An expansive program
In 2020, Dr. Sudhakar and his team traveled to 24 locations in four different states to teach teachers and students. The course in how to make handicrafts from coconut shells was just one of several programs that were offered to the students. As well as the town of Gudalur, the training programs also traveled to twenty-six other locations.
In the Tumakuru district of Karnataka, the state just west of Tamil Nadu, another hill district, a range of hills 4,000 feet high, running north to south, creates spectacular vistas, as one looks down over the valleys below. It is a wonderland of green hills.
In the state of Odisha, to the north, they traveled to the Khorda District, a land of coastal plains and startingly beautiful, ancient temples.
The long history of Indian folk art
Handicrafts in India are not something that one just does as a hobby. They are part of a long, much respected culture and tradition – an art form that has been passed down from generation to generation. Indian handicrafts are extraordinarily beautiful and creative.
CPREEC taught the trainees how to use machines safely — grinding wheels, polishing tools, cutters, and drills to make and polish the finished products. The young women were also trained to use natural colors to decorate the products. The training would enable each of them to make a good living as an entrepreneur, and also a professional artisan.
Producing this beautiful and very popular form of folk art will give them a livelihood based on creativity and inspiration, which engages their inner spirit and natural joy in producing works of beauty. It is an art form that is filled with life and charm – that will bring delight both to themselves and their customers.
Helping the earth
As well as artistic creativity, the coconut shell products are friendly to the environment. They make use of a by-product – the coconut shell – left over from the production of coconut oil or coconut milk. The process destroys nothing and creates great beauty.
During the year 2020, in 27 programs, reaching 1,215 students and teachers, which took place in 24 towns – from the Nilgiris hills to Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, further north along the coast, Dr. Sudhakar and his team have brought out the natural creativity of these young people, giving them a very practical – as well as delightful and environmentally friendly — future. They will now be equipped to make their way in the world with confidence and pride in their own talents and abilities.
Photos:
Photo of Gudalur. Needle Rock View Point
Raj, CC BY 2.0
All other photos: CPREEC
© Text copyright, Forest Voices of India, 2021
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