The master of small things

Most of us would remember having small bikes and cars as toys in our younger days. Taking this ahead as a serious hobby, PL Shashidhara, who is a civil engineer, has miniatures, varying from small musical instruments to small dolls, from across the globe.

His admirable collection is neatly stacked in showcases in the walls. Ask him about this and he says excitedly,  “I started collecting miniatures at the age of 20, from 1980. My first set of miniatures was wine bottles and it was exciting to collect them,” he says.

It then expanded into miniature cigarette lighters shaped in the form of guns and so on.
A walk through the house and one will be amazed by the items varying from small cuckoo clock shape miniatures to cute farmer dolls.

“I have different items like little animal heads to beautifully carved combs too,” says Shashidhara. Apart from miniature bikes and cars, there are a few vehicles, which are made from scrap material like wheel bearings and other automobile spare parts like bolts and screws too. The collection also has cars varying from a stylish sports car to a limousine.

“I collected many of them from my trips abroad that include those from Singapore, Bangkok, Thailand, Malaysia and Maldives,” he says. There are also items like small chairs, colourful masks, mini bowls, small helmets, tiny airplanes and different guitars.

“I have more items but due to shortage of space, I have stored them safely. I intend to create a special arrangement for them so as to display my other collections too,” he says.
His personal favourites are the small wine bottles, but he says that he loves each item  and is possessive about them.

“When people visit, they ask me to pull out the collection, but I am very careful with it. I let them touch and feel things which are unbreakable only,” he says with a smile.

Relatives and friends have also gifted some miniatures to him, which he holds dear. “Some Swarovski items, scale model telephones and motorcycles have been gifted by friends,” he adds.

Taking care of the items is a time-consuming process. He pulls out his collection from the showcase, every three months, to dust and clean them.

 “I clean everything with a soft cloth and arrange them back neatly. They require proper care as they have intricate detailing on them because of their size,” he says.

Shashidhara, who says that he might have spent lakhs for this collection, does not exchange duplicates of the pieces with other enthusiasts. “Each of the pieces that I have is rare and important to me. They have all been chosen and stored safely because each one of them is unique though my collection may have hundreds of items,” he says.

What more does he want to add to his collection? “I love the creativity in Swarovski crystals and I want to collect items made of them. My latest collections include gold-plated items in different themes,” he says.