'Mini forest' at Vidyagiri enthrals visitors

It is an attempt by the Forest dept to create awareness on forests

The forest department has come up with a novel idea to create awareness on forest and its produce with the model of a mini forest, at the Alva’s Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat venue. 

Explaining the uses of forest, a small banner said ‘from birth to death, humanbeings make use of forest and its products.” The mini forest created on the top of a hillock was a cynosure of all visitors. 

The model has a ‘mini tree hut,’ ‘watch tower,’ which was used by the forest guard to watch the forest from forest fire or illegal activities, a mini nursery with saplings, model of a ‘Namoora Shaale’ inside the forest, information on Forest Rights Act, a cave, the statue of a serpent God. Water bodies flowing inside the forest gives visitor a feeling of being inside a real forest. 

A cave, ‘Mallika vana’ furnishing details on a few medicinal plants, ‘Rishi kuteera,’ a model of a house belonging to sages inside the forest, mini foot bridge and waterfalls provide a complete picture of the forest. 

On each and every step, there was a appeal to the public to conserve forest for future generation. 

The mini forest also has a mini cottage industry unit wherein sculptors from C E Kamath Artisans Training Institute of Canara Bank are silently engaged in wooden carvings, clay models and stone sculptures. 

Sheepwool blanket

For all those who have not seen how sheep wool blanket is woven, there is a demonstration at the agriculture expo. The weaving provided a thrilling experience to all those visitors who were keen to know the minute details into the act of weaving. 

“There is so much one can do with this ancient craft. A lot of hard work goes into making these woollen blankets and we need to market them,” said Nagaraj from Challekere in Chitradurga. 

Explaining the process, Nagaraj and Veeranna said one wool blanket can be woven in a day. “The weaving can only be a subsidiary occupation after the harvest when we do not have much work in the field.” 

“Sheep wool collected from Bellary is put into a machine to give it a soft texture. Later, it will be used for preparing a thread using Charaka. Once the thread is prepared, we will use the starch made of a mixture of tamarind seed powder. After drying it, the threads are used for weaving in the loom,” the duo added. 

Magic show

A troupe of 20 magicians have come all the way from New Delhi to enthral  the kids with their magic show.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Raj Kumar and Irshad said “magic is part of our life. We have been eking out living through magic shows. Creating pigeon, flowers from a simple things, disappearing of a child from a basket, are some of the tricks we show to the kids.”