Have you ever seen a Dasara-display of more than 15,000 dolls?
Well, you soon will be able to! At Mandala Cultural Centre on Kanakapura Main Road, figurines of wood, cloth and terra cotta sit pretty in thematically created spaces as part of the Navaratri showcase from master puppeteer and storyteller Anupama Hoskere.
“Many of the dolls go back four generations, and yet some of the wooden ones haven’t even lost their sheen,” says Anupama, founder-director of the 19-year-old Dhaatu Puppet Theater specialising in ancient art forms of doll-keeping and puppetry to tell stories. Anupama, a Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee, also aims to develop Mandala into a platform for puppetry and performance arts — a preview of which the public will get a chance to witness during Navaratri.
Encompassing an area of an acre, Mandala comprises a large open-air space for puppet shows amidst…
