Ajrakhpur, an art and a place

After my stay in Ahmedabad, I went to Kachchh in western Gujarat.  I stayed in the main city of Bhuj but traveled to a few villages in the area.  In Ajrakhpur I learned about the art of ajrakh, block printing, from one of its masters, Dr. Ismail (standing proudly in his home, above).  I also learned a bit about the history of the village, which has been driven by the demands of its primary livelihood and namesake. I haven’t written up my notes about this visit yet, but I wanted to share some photos at least, since ajrakh is a visually rich and fascinating process.  I also want to share more about what Kachchh is like, as it is unfamiliar to most visitors to India, and many Indians even.  More to come!

At home in Ahmedabad

After our stay in Varanasi, we headed to our father’s home state of Gujarat. Our base was Ahmedabad, where our father worked for a couple of years in the early 2000s (though he is originally from Bhavnagar).  We stayed with friends of his in their abode, with plenty of room to roam:

Ahmedabad is a famous textile center in India, so we were sure to find all kinds of things – and we did:

- The famous Calico Museum, where I was rushed around an achingly beautiful collection of textiles from all around India in a grand old haveli,

- The family business employing 300 women around Gujarat to make clothing and soft furnishings in great modern styles, who led me to explore the city of Bhuj in Kachchh later on,

- A project of  Mallika Sarabhai to make green, fair trade handbags from recycled plastic, collected by ragpickers and woven by women from their homes outside of Ahmedabad

- The well-known SEWA, one of many NGOs in India promoting women’s empowerment in part through the development and sale of textiles and other crafts,

- An impressive designer who built her own clothing company from the ground up, including 25-year relationships with many of her hundreds of craftspeople, and made me rethink my decision not to include clothing among my products,

- The prolific arts publishing house Mapin, which publishes the kinds of books I  hoped in vain would exist in the UW library, especially this one,

- The handsome House of MG, where we ate the most decadent and sophisticated Gujarati thali ever,

- The sleek Swati Snacks, where all manner of Gujarati street food is done right and served in a snap.  And I fell in love with their lemon grass ice cream!

Apparently, I was too busy to take any photos in Ahmedabad (and you can’t blame my sister – she was sick almost the whole time we were there). I’ll try to make up for that in my next post. But I look forward to returning to the vibrant city and working with some of the many creative people there.