It is Navratri and Chennai’s streets in religious centres like Mylapore; Triplicane, Nanganallur and West Mambalam have become colourful with plenty of clay and paper mache dolls on sale for the Golu.

Hundreds of golu dolls stand in neatly-arranged rows inside a godown at Selvapuram. At a corner, three men are busy packing a few in cartons lined with hay and old newspapers. S Saravana Kumar takes ...