Pick up sticks from toy town

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Channapatna is a little town with a huge tourist traffic, strategically located on the Bengaluru-Mysore highway and a destination in its own right. Also called “Gombegalaooru” or toys town, this is the traditional home of wooden toys. Churned out by very small scale units, the range is so wide, you’re bound to come across something offbeat that could make for a perfect keepsake.

After navigating through crowded wooden toy shops, I marvelled at this retail phenomenon where stores selling similar merchandise group together.
The carved teak wood flute for `150, would make a wonderful gift for my aggressively ill-tempered nephew. For me there was Mikado Spiel (Pick Up Sticks) in a wooden box with a slide off lid. Thirty-one sticks with the classic tapered ends, in wood they were they’re meant to be, and not in tacky plastic. Press down gently at the end of a stick to carefully ease it off the other sticks without disturbing them. Once the Mikado (a stick with distinctive markings) is lifted, you can use this to help with the heavy lifting ahead. This is a game of concentration and skill. A classic from toy town. Now in my games room!