User:Gnowgi/Arvind Gupta

A popular toy maker, a writer, a science enthusiast, an engineer, a bibliophile - these are a few ways in which people recognise Arvind Gupta and his work. Anyone who has met him has seen his jhola from which contains things that most of us would discard as junk - a small plastic dabba full of thread, buttons, scissors, straws, matchboxes, marbles, slipper soles, pencils, empty ballpen-refills, and other throwaway items, from which he constructes dozens of toys -- tone-changing flutes, a writing board for the blind, an abacus, wall-climbing critters, scampering mice. The toy making accompanied by stories leaves one mesmerised and in awe of all that is possible!

Arvind Gupta has written many entertaining books which describe the toys he has made, which have been published by the Eklavya Foundation, the National Book Trust, and others. Little Toys, Ten Little Fingers, String Games, Matchstick Models and Other Science Experiments, Pumps from the Dump, The Toy Bag and Toy Treasures are some of his most acclaimed books. Many of these books have been translated and printed in multiple Indian languages.

Arvind Gupta has worked with the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Program, Universities Grants Commision, India, NCERT, National Book Trust and many other organisations for the popularisation of science. He currently lives in Pune and working at the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) to start an one of its kind science centre for children, where children start to like science by making their own low cost science toys.Another of his ongoing efforts is to make educational books, toys and other resources freely available online and translate books on education in various Indian languages.