Hyderabad: Hyderabad based Ravi Kumar Toleti won the prestigious Guinness World Records for the largest display of origami peacocks. Ravi Kumar had showcased his extraordinary talent by modelling 1776 pieces of origami peacocks and displaying it at Kalamandir auditorium at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Tirumalagiri, Secunderabad, on 15th November 2020. Shri Sai Ranga Rao, Dy. Commissioner (Retd.) Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Hyderabad Region and Dr BSN Murthy, Psychologist, Educationist, Motivational Speaker & one of the Observers of the record creating performance; felicitated Ravi Kumar Toleti for the feat; at Press Club, Somajiguda, today.
Earlier two eminent citizens, Shri BSN Murthy and Ms Manjulatha Kalanidhi, City edition editor, The New Indian Express, were present at the exhibition on 15th November, as observers to validate the record creating performance. In his endeavor to create Guinness World Records, Ravi on an average spent four hours per day from 29th October 2020 to 14th November 2020; making 1800 Peacock Folds. It was a challenging task, but my passion for origami was the driving force, Ravi Kumar Toleti says.
After doing due diligence and thorough authentication, Guinness World Records recognized the initiative of Ravi Kumar Toleti as the largest display of origami peacocks, beating the minimum count of 1500 set by Guinness World Records. Ravi Kumar was presented the certificate of official recognition on 24th July 2021.
Ravi Kumar Toleti, a teacher by profession, has been passionate about origami since 1988. He chanced upon it while exploring ways to make his students express their creativity and present their project works. A book on origami written by Paul Jackson helped him to master the art in no time. His maiden attempt with origami of designing a poster for his home, is still intact, even after 32 years. The appreciation garnered for his origami works, triggered him to adopt it for educational projects by students and since then there was no looking back. Even today he is as zealous about it as he was when he discovered it.
To popularize the art of origami as a tool in education, especially to encourage easy grasp of difficult to comprehend mathematical and science concepts, he created a YouTube channel during COVID-19 pandemic. This channel besides being a platform for showcasing videos of his projects and exhibitions, helps students to create DIY models related to their curriculum.
With the applauds I received for my work, my burning desire to reach greater heights, popularize origami among students got further impetus. While I was browsing the internet to enhance my knowledge on origami, I happened to come across the Guinness World Records’ feat related to origami. That inspired me to create one in my own name and have my Country’s name etched in the field I am proficient, says Ravi Kumar Toleti.
Ravi conducted several exhibitions of origami, in all the schools he worked in. Two of these exhibitions were exclusively for animal folds. One was named “Caravan”, a procession of Camels. ‘I like the fold very much. We could display about 100 camels’, he says. The other one was “Animal Planet”, where he displayed animals like foxes, Pandas, Gazelle, and many more. Among all, there was the display of a poster of about 50 Pandas. To create awareness of the animal under extinction, he made a life size model of a Gazelle. In 1995, Ravi created a poster (a mosaic of a Peacock – two dimensional), which has three thousand folds in it. Ravi spent six hours per day for 23 days to create it. ‘This is my favorite project. I got it framed and still preserved it at home’.
‘I strongly feel young students should be taught origami and they learn the importance of it. They have to make the models and submit them as projects for their academic subjects. Students should correlate origami with their curriculum. They should use their creativity to interrelate subjects. Also, they have to do research on the web regarding the latest developments taking place in the world with respect to origami.
Origami has several applications and can be a profession for aspiring students. It is used in medical diagnosis, the Space department for solar modules, Aero space for parachute folds, DNA helix, Fabrication, engineering work, and many creative doors are made with origami folds. The opportunities are infinite in the field.
32 years ago, when I started there were hardly any books to explore. Now you should have only ‘time’ to explore and learn. Origami develops creativity and innovation in the young minds. I suggest that beginners learn origami with patience. The end results would be fascinating, says Ravi Kumar Toleti.