Unique hobbies
Sabhyata’s souvenirs stand proudly at the entrance to her house, welcoming visitors with jingling stories from different corners of the country. A collector of keychains for over a decade now, her collection is vast and varied. Each one is testament to her travels and the different stories she has to share. She even fondly calls the collection the ‘Hanging Keychain Garden’!
Sabhyata started collecting keychains when she was doing her bachelors in engineering, way back in 2000. “I used to live in Mysuru and was doing an engineering course in Mandya. I was fascinated by the sheer number of keychain vendors and the variety that they used to sell. This spurred me to collect keychains.” She hasn’t stopped since. She has about 118 keychains in her collection – from bare metal ones to those that have unique shapes and intricate designs.
Her collection includes keychains from metros like Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, tourist spots like Goa and Kullu Manali, temple towns like Madurai and Udupi and from hole-in-the-wall shops around the City. She makes sure that she buys at least four keychains whenever she travels to a new place. She has found star attractions for her collection outside temples such as Dodda Ganeshana Gudi in Basavanagudi and Muddu Udupi Sri Krishna along with a metal keychain of Manjunatha from Dharmasthala, one of Radha and Krishna from ISKCON and another in the form of Hanuman Gade from the Doddanjaneya Temple in Mahalaxmi Layout.
Her treasured assets also include keychains in the form of toys and handmade dolls bought from exhibitions. At the Dasara exhibition, she had bought keychains with cloth dolls and jute boys. There are keychains with Channapatna toys picked up from ‘khadi’ exhibitions. She also has a keychain with two girls from the Kalakruthi exhibition.
Although handmade keychains are the ones she treasures the most, she says, “I have many favourites. I have a beaded keychain which I bought from Akshardham in Delhi for Rs 80. It happens to be the costliest and one of my favourites. I also have a keychain which is in the form of a cycle made from unused wires.
A few other pretty ones come from handloom exhibitions in Chickpet and Channapatna.” She also has ‘multipurpose keychains’ in her bouquet of collection. They are in the form of torches, screw-drivers, Pepsi bottles with pens, nail-cutters, measuring tapes and a weighing instrument that she carries around with her. Roadside vendors have also contributed to her collection with intelligently-shaped designs. From simple keychains in the form of gambling dices, cigarette-shaped ones, girls and money to gory ones like skeletons and fish-bones, her collection is unique.
Sabhyata says, “Designs of keychains have changed a lot ever since I started collecting. I used to have bare metal keychains. Soon, handmade, jute and wooden keychains were an intimate part of my collection. Now, the keychains of cartoons and caricatures are in vogue. My daughter keeps me updated on keychains from shows like ‘Chhota Bheem’, ‘Jaggu’, ‘Bal Hanuman’ and about Barbie dolls and ‘Angry Birds’.”
She adds that her daughter picks up keychains for her when she visits old shops. Her family, too, has generously contributed to her hobby. “My aunt gave me a keychain from a Nepal trip.” But she says she finds the best keychains during train journeys, especially the ones from Bengaluru to Mysuru. From Delhi, she has bought at least six keychains. She would like to pursue this hobby as collecting keychains comes in handy.
“It’s a cost-effective hobby. Keychains are reasonably priced with beautiful colours and patterns.” Although, many a time, her child has not received return gifts from tours, Sabhyata makes sure she brings back her treasured keychains, which fully clink of stories.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> MetroLife / by Anushka Sivakurma / DHNS – April 06th, 2015