School: SBOA Matric. & Hr. Sec. School
    Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

12 students, ages 15 to 18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on January 3, 2015. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): none

Classes and Teachers: Mrs. S. Chitra & Mrs. V. Neela

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.sboacbe.com

1. Description of Our Community

Coimbatore is a budding city in Southern India, in the state of Tamil Nadu. The Manchester of South India, commonly called as “Kovai”, is well known for its Siruvani water – the second sweetest water in the world. The Kongu Tamil spoken here is popular for its beautiful slang. Situated in the Western Ghats, it is known for its pleasant and cool weather. It is also a major textile, industrial, commercial, educational, information technology, healthcare and manufacturing hub of Tamil Nadu. Located on the banks of River Noyyal, it is a city which has a wide branch in all the fields available in the world. But one particular field for which our region is quite famous is the art of sculpting. Coimbatore is surrounded by numerous cities and small towns which do the sculpting work of the deities and for the temples. This ancient art form which dates back to the Harappa civilization is an art which has amazed people from all over the world with its intricate carvings and sharp details. Indians are very religious and follow their culture and traditions with strong belief. This strong cultural belief is what unites India. Our community may be geographically limited, but our views and ideas stretch out to the whole world as from a single soul named “India”.

2. Summary of Our Project

India, during the time period 900-1400 AD became the hub for sculpting big monuments and statues. Every day, a new monument rose up with such crystal clear details that would leave one mesmerized. But as the days passed by, the art of sculpting was overtaken by various other jobs as the most dominating job in India. By the 1700’s, it was reduced to a few. But still there are many cities and towns in the present age like Mahaballipuram, Thirumurugan Poondi, Myladi, Perur and several areas around Coimbatore that still have kept the art of sculpting intact. These cities sculpt beautiful statues of Gods and Goddesses which are mostly kept in temples for worship. But due to the fast technological growth of our current world, the trends in our nation are changing again. Our culture and our art is dying fast. Thus as an attempt to spread our cultural beliefs and to reawaken the cultural belief in us, we have taken this topic “The Art of Sculpting” as our project. Our project is to explain in detail about the various steps and methods involved in the art of sculpting and prevent this ancient yet mesmerizing art form from dying.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:none

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dial-up modem

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:1

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

Internet played a major role along with our field visits and research in developing our project. It helped us verify our facts and get additional information to support our project.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1. Tight schedule – As each and every team member including our teacher had different engagements each day, it was difficult to work on the project together. So we had to work individually at our homes and then combine it together whenever we got time. 2. Language – All the information that we had collected during our field visits were in Tamil. And the information that we had collected from the internet were in English. Translating the Tamil text into English without the actual meaning getting lost in translation was difficult.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

1. Knowledge – This project has definitely opened our eyes about the long forgotten art of sculpting. By the intensive internet research we have done, we learnt a lot of new information that we were not aware of earlier. And the field visits to the sculpting areas made us ponder upon the stages of transformation of a raw shapeless rock to a beautiful sculpture – a true marvel we had never witnessed before. 2. Money doesn’t matter always – While interviewing the sculptors and artists, we found out a fact about the workers – that even though they were not paid very well, they still did not leave their job – they work because it gives them satisfaction. 3. Patience – Watching them carry out their carvings patiently to prevent any damage to the sculpture instilled the importance of patience in our life.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

The subjects in our regular school curriculum are pretty diversified; there is no chapter or any mention on the art of sculpting. But there are many chapters and many topics related to our tradition and culture – emphasizing on the need to preserve our unique culture. This art of sculpting is just a part of the vast cultural specialties that India has. This project about the art of sculpting is a part of our ancient culture and it is necessary to preserve this precious art form. Along with all our regular portions, this information will be the “out of the box” information that will help students in their future.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We used varieties of tools and technologies to complete this project. Hardware – • Laptops, Personal Computers, Workstations • Professional Cameras – For taking Photos • Digital Voice Recorders – For taking interviews • Video Cameras – For taking videos • Printers – Hardcopy of the data • Mobile phones • Software - • GoDaddy – website hosting • MS Word • Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox • Cyberlink Power Director, Windows Movie Maker • Adobe Photoshop • Websites – Google, Youtube, Wikipedia and many more

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Our team members have done intense research and visited numerous libraries, temples, and various sculpting sites and acquired a lot of knowledge. Every time when people used to ask the details about our project, we used to explain it to them. This information kept passing on from us to our parents, relatives, friends, teachers and their friends, thus ultimately educating almost everyone about the art of sculpting. And everyone gave suggestions to improve our project and take it to greater heights. They suggested many books, news articles and sculpting sites that we should not miss. So ultimately both sides got benefitted. They filled us in with their valuable suggestions while we educated them about the ancient art that was once followed by majority of the people in India. And our website also proved to be valuable and helpful in passing this valuable information to our society.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

This project has definitely opened many doors both for the members of the project and for those who read our research. Our field visit to the various sculpting sites around our city has proven to be very useful. Our school children now know the difficulties and the hard work that the sculptors have to face. They now know that carving a beautiful sculpture is not a day’s work, but a work which takes months together. Our approach to the sculptors and artists regarding their art has made them happy that nowadays even school children are worried about their dying culture, taking interest in their art and contributing a lot to the society to continue our long history of our ancient culture. People have started to appreciate the intense work of the sculptors on the statues that they have been worshiping blindly for years. They came to know about each and every detail about the forgotten art of constructing marvels from crude rocks that our ancients used to do. This project has certainly enlightened all our students and their parents about the art of sculpting. Our website has had a wide reach among our community and it is still spreading.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

Dr.Sthapathi.T.U. Sampandam, a professional sculptor, along with his family, runs a sculpting workshop in Thirumuruganpoondi. He voluntarily helped and guided us through this project. He shared with us his experiences and provided us with all the necessary information. We were shown the tools and raw materials used for sculpting. We were able to learn the culture and lifestyle of the sculptors of our locality. Our crew members along with the help our teachers compiled the entire project. We humbly acknowledge the kind co-operation of him without whom this research would not have been possible.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

While researching for this project, our team members came across many interesting things that came as a surprise for us. When we had asked a sculptor whether the salary he received was enough to support his family, his reply shocked us. He replied that he doesn’t do it for the money; he does it because he gets satisfaction that he’s working for God. This answer made us realize that there are still people present who have undying faith in God. Faith plays a major role in sculpting. Some of the sculptors still use traditional tools like the hammer and chisel to carry out their sculpting, not modern tools, because they still like to follow tradition rather than try other means to save time. They are of the belief that a perfect statue can only be made by caring hands of a sculptor and not by machines. And they carry out their procedures with great care so that not even a single scratch is laid on the statue. If by mistake even a single scratch is seen on the statue, it will be discarded without a second thought, because they are of the belief that the embodiment of a perfect being (God) cannot be imperfect.