Sphoorthi Theatre

  As a Puppeteer and a researcher, I am always fascinated and drawn towards the giant puppet pageants or parades from Western Countries. Most of the Puppet festivals of Western countries surprise the world with a mechanically devised and human-controlled giant puppet that draws all our attention to it. The French street-theatre company Royal de Luxe has presented multi-day in out outdoor performances featuring their giant marionettes for millions of people around the world for more than 20 years. They have cast big puppets—Big Giant, Little Giantess, Xolo the Dog, Giant Grandmother, and Little Boy Giant in Liverpool, England. A marionette known as the Giant Grandmother is paraded through the streets of Liverpool, England, on July 25, 2014. The parade, entitled "Memories of August 1914" by the French theater company Royal de Luxe, featured the Giant Grandmother, a giant little girl, and her dog, named Xolo, and told the story of the city's involvement in World War I. th...

  The Indian State of Karnataka, once part of several kingdoms and princely states of repute in the Deccan peninsula is rich in its historical, cultural, and anthropological heritage. There are as many as 50 different tribes notified by the Government of India, living in Karnataka, of which 14 tribes, including two primitive ones, are primarily natives of this State. Interesting to note that most of these tribes who had been original natives of the forests of the Western Ghats have been privy to an enormous amount of knowledge about various medicinal plants and their use in traditional/folklore medicine and these practices have been the subject matter of various scientific studies. Kannada is the most widely spoken and official language of the State. Apart from Kannadigas, Karnataka is the home to Tuluvas, Kodavas,   and Konkanis along with minor populations of Tibetan Buddhists. Goudalu, Hasalaru, Jenu Kuruba, Konda K...