By M.T. Yogesh Kumar
India is a country with creativity as reflected in its arts, culture and exquisite handicrafts which one can see across the length and breadth of the geography. However, as technology takes over, skilled hands are disappearing with the most creative handicrafts created by skilled craftsmen becoming a thing of the past. In spite of this grim scenario, there are a few brave souls who continue to struggle to preserve traditional arts. One such craftsman has migrated from Kerala and has made Mysuru his home and turned into an entrepreneur by reviving traditional handicrafts. He sells specially made handicrafts to eke out a living and at the same time promoting the dying art. Meet Balamurugan, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram and who has found his calling in selling handicrafts and decorative items. Realising that people were attracted to various handicraft items from Kerala, he brought a few of them to Mysuru about 15 years ago to display them on a small table at the Dasara Exhibition premises. Seeing the encouragement he received from customers, he decided to settle down here. And he never looked back. Later he started participating in various exhibitions, fairs, ‘Bahuroopi’ Theatre Festival and handicraft exhibitions. An array of decorative items available in his stall include clay lamps, floating lamps, door hangings, Rangoli and items for Puja rooms. There are also fancy articles for drawing rooms, clay bowl to keep in front of the house filled with water, decorative items used during Gowri, Ganesha festivals and Swastika symbol to hang them on door entrances.
