India – Page 2 – Judy and Valerie On the Road

Jodhpur Tie and Dye workshop

Whilst in Jodhpur we went to a Tie and Dye workshop at ‘Isha Silk’ run by Ishwar Dewani on the rooftop of his house. Neither of us knew what to expect and our only experience was back in the 60s.

So this is pretty different to those T-shirts back in the day. Ishwar first described the process he uses for his professional dying and then took us through a simplified version.

We were each give a square of silk folded over 4 times and tacked along 3 sides. We put blobs of dye in a number of places making sure it went all the way through.

Then we wound thread several times creating small knots in the centre of each blob. The material under the thread will retain the dye colour.

The material was then placed in a bleach solution so that it went completely white, rinsed, and then placed in a dye. It was rinsed again, dried in the sun, and then we removed the knots. Hey presto!

The owner of Chandeleo Garh took us out in his jeep to visit two weavers in nearby Akthali village who weave dhurries (rugs) using camel wool. The journey itself was wonderful seeing gazelle and antelope and then the visit was fascinating.

The weavers whom we’d seen in other villages used treadle looms, but Bhiyaram and Heera jointly used a hand loom which they had made from tree trunks. Their work was very interesting and we ended up asking them to make us a rug for our home in London, using the same design and colours as the one in progress but a different size. Money was exchanged and the rug will be ready in three days – very exciting!!

Jaisalmer yoga

We discovered there was a local yoga class held just near our hotel in the stadium at 7am so we decided to go.

We found our way there but couldn’t find any yoga. We’d been told it was behind the pavilion on a green sheet. Valerie asked some men passing by and they were going too. What a friendly group of people.

It turned out that on that day the yoga was being held on the raised platform in the middle of the stadium! They were all very welcoming and one of the men took to translating into English as we went along. There were about 15 people, many of our sort of age. Pretty different to yoga in England where the main emphasis is often on the physical. The first part was like any set of warm up exercises and then the majority of the exercises were different pranayamas which we did for far longer. Kapalbhathi was practised for at least 5 minutes – 300 breathes (1 per second), and alternate nostril breathing similar. We also did Bhramari pranayama (humming bee) and the Lion – which everyone enjoyed and the ladies found us very funny. Then we finished with laughing yoga which I’d never done before and which was absolutely brilliant. It was also a very chatty group, rather like one we went to in Spain

We enjoyed the class so much that we decided to go again the next day and leave for Jodhpur slightly later.

So the next day we were there again, and it was on the platform again, but this time all the men were dressed in white track suits with orange turbans, and there were twice as many people. Then later, a group of young men who were running round the stadium training for the army also joined the class so there were about 50 or more on the green mat on the stage.

Then another yogi came up to the front and we did more and more laughing yoga. Everyone was laughing laughing and waving their hands in the air.

I’m going to find laughing yoga in London it’s fantastic.

Jaisalmer Prabhu handicraft

Wandering through the streets inside the fort we were stopped by Bobby, who had a handicraft shop where she sells products produced by rural women, and who turned out to be an ardent feminist. She was very vociferous about wanting to empower women and for women not to have to be confined to their traditional roles. We asked her what her husband thought about this and she said he was unhappy about it to start with but now was ok. She has two daughters and is bringing them up to be like her, but had received a lot of criticism from her family. She’s studying for a BA at the university.

Jaisalmer Camel Safari

Our two camels were called Bob Marley and Fidel Castro! When camels sit down they’re extremely neat, tucking their back legs underneath them as if they’re kneeling. When they get up and lie down you have to hold on and lean back as far as you can otherwise you’d topple over.

Their movements on the sand felt surprisingly undulating and we could understand why camels are called the ‘ships of the desert’. Even though there were a lot of other people also up on the dunes it was still possible to get a sense of the beauty of the desert. It’s made me want to see Lawrence of Arabia again

Jaisalmer Camel Tattoo

When we were in Bikaner our guide told us that camels are very good dancers. We were fairly astonished and when at the Desert Festival I said this to our guide he said that this happened in the ‘Camel Tattoo’, so of course we had to go.

Do you remember the Royal Tournament with the horses galloping across the arena just missing each other? Well picture that in a huge outdoor arena in the desert with the blazing sun, with a brass band, on camels. The Border Security Force and their camels all dressed in their finery. They were fantastic!

Jaisalmer Desert Festival

The annual Desert Festival started with a wonderfully vibrant parade through the town. Everyone decked out in beautiful colours, men with amazing moustaches and orange turbans, girls with exquisitely embroidered dresses, dancers in red flowing gowns and camels looking extremely fine

Block printing workshop in Barmer

On the way to Jaisalmer we stopped at Barmer to attend a block printing workshop run for us by a small textile printing company called Panihari.

This was very exciting as one of the workers first showed us the process and then we were each given a metre of cloth and helped to create our own prints. We each just used two different blocks one for the edge and one for the centre, but they would use several wooden blocks to create a detailed pattern with several colours (see the Anokhi post). The solution we pressed onto the material was made of lime and gum. This will act as a ‘resist’ so that when the material is dyed the patterned sections will remain white.

They will dye our prints with indigo and send them on to us in Jaisalmer … watch this space.

Hand weaving in Raisar

On our way to Bikaner we stopped in a village and went into the home of a family who generate their own wool, yarn and fabrics.

They take the wool from their sheep and camels, spin this into yarn, dye it, weave it on hand looms creating fabrics, and then create products such as shawls. They then sell these to the local cooperative who are then able to sell it on.

Evidently Bikaner is the largest wool producing area in Asia.

They also made us some millet roti which are eaten there with s small curry- it was delicious.