IN 1942 the King of Rewa asked Ram Siya Kunder, a toy maker, to peel away the thin outer layer of his supari or areca nut, to make it easier for him to chew on. Ram Siya had the tools to carry out this job. While scraping the nut, its intricate patterns caught his eye. “Why don’t I craft a few products with this design,” he thought.
He set to work and made three products out of areca nuts or betel nuts as they are also known: a tea set, a kangaroo and. . .