Inter Design Industrial Visit and Educational Tour

On 29th February 2020, Top Animation Design Degree College organized an industrial visit and educational tour to :

1) Kokkarebellur, Mandya- Bird Sanctuary.

2) Channapatna- Wooden Toy Factory.

3) Jana Pada Loka, Ramanagara- Folk culture world of Karnataka.

Objective:

The main objective of an industrial visit is to provide us an insight regarding the internal working of companies. We understand that theoretical knowledge is not enough for a successful professional career. With an aim to go beyond academics, industrial visit provides students a practical perspective of the workplace. Also, educational tours for students provide them with an opportunity to collaborate with teachers and integrate new perspectives with informal environments to enhance learning initiatives. Among the many educational tour benefits, skill development is the most important.

1. Kokkarebellur, Mandya

Kokkarebellur is a village in Maddur taluk of Mandya district of Karnataka, India. The uniqueness in Kokkarebellur is the long-established bonding between the spot-billed pelicans and the villagers who have adopted this bird as their heritage since they consider the birds as harbingers of good luck and prosperity to the village. This village is famous for having large colonies of painted storks and spot-billed pelicans nesting in the trees of the village.

The birds arrive after every monsoon to make their nest and lay eggs from October to November. As summer approaches by May, they again re-migrate.

The Government is in charge of taking care and also protecting the migratory birds.

When we asked a local about the birds, he says “I have seen these birds since my childhood, once out of curiosity I asked my father as to when these birds were coming. My father laughed and told me he has also seen them coming here from his childhood.”

The Government also compensates the villagers with some amount of money for each tree that is used by the birds for nesting. There is also a rescue center for birds. People meditate for the birds which got hurt and it also has some arrangements made for the birds to hatch their eyes.

The students of Animaster spoke to the villagers to understand the concept of migration which is opted by the birds. They have understood that there is a bond between the birds and the humans and of all the simplicity of the life of every villager in that village who has dedicated their lives to protect the migratory birds.

2. ChannaPatna

Channapatana is a city and taluk headquarter in Ramanagara District, Karnataka, India. It is famous for a particular form of wooden toys that are manufactured in the town of Channapatna. This traditional craft is protected as a geographical indication (GI) under the World Trade Organization, administered by the Government of Karnataka.

As a result of the popularity of these toys, Channapatna is known as Gombegala Ooru (toy-town) of Karnataka.

The students interact with workers to know the process of making wooden toys.

The manufacturing stages include procuring the wood, seasoning and cutting the wood into the desired shapes. After the wood is given its desired shape, carving it into a toy is the very next step. Then applying the colors and finally polishing the finished product.

On interacting with the workers we came to know the difficulties they face in managing the materials and how tough it is for them to get orders. They also spoke about the marketing of the toys which is going down due to the competitive world.

We also had a conversation with Mr. Kouser Pasha, the Owner of Toy factory. He tells us about the tough time these handmade toys market is facing due to the availability of Chinese toys in the market. He has also created a light wooden device for throat and tongue cancer patients, who have lost their voice.

The students understood the concept of toy making in small scale industries and the process of making these beautiful toys with minimal design and limited colors.

3.  Janapada Loka

Janapada Loka or “Folk world” or “Folk-culture World” is a folk museum that has an exclusive display of the village folk arts of Karnataka. The Janapada Loka campus consists of a decorated gate, road with display of mannequins of folk artists, symbols of traditional tribal worship, Lokamatha Mandira, Loka Mahal, Chitra Kuteera, Janapada Library, Shilamala, Ayagaramala, puppet theater and Loka Sarovara and also folk arts museum, which displays large number of artifacts of the folk culture, along with different types of musical instruments, tools used in agriculture and farming.

The students enjoyed the tour, they learned about the folk art of Karnataka and saw traditional houses, ancient stone sculptures. The display of mannequins of folk artists gave them an insight into how hard the artists have worked to reach such skills. They understood the rural life of the people.

Over all this industrial visit and educational tour was a great learning experience for the students of Animaster as well as the faculties who were in charge.

We thank all the students for their active participation and also Mr. Pratyush, Mr. Jagadhish and Mr. Bikramjit for organising such a great on field experience.