India – Page 3 – Judy and Valerie On the Road

Cinema in Jaipur

Went to the fantastic art-deco Raj Mandir cinema in Jaipur. The outside looks rather like a wedding cake and foyer inside is stunning. It was a great experience, seeing the latest Bollywood hit Tiger Zinder Hai on a huge screen. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t understand Hindi, we could work out what was going on. Valerie particularly liked the scene where our hero single handedly fights off a pack of wolves in the snowy Swiss Alps (you’ll just have to see the film).

But what was extraordinary was that I was able to buy the tickets on-line on my phone, and paid for them using my Amazon account. I got a mobile ticket on my phone which I just showed at the door!

Block printing – Bagru village

We visited a small block printing factory in a village called Bagru near Jaipur where they use a technique called Mud Resist.

Initially they create a paste made of of earth, water, wheat powder and gum A wooden block with a carved pattern is pressed into the paste and then onto white cotton material. Then sawdust is sprinkled on the top and print is left to dry.

The fabric is then dyed in cold dye- first in a solution to enable the dye to take, and then into the dye itself. In this case the dye was made from scraps of iron producing a grey colour.

The process can then be repeated pressing the mud resist solution onto the parts of the fabric which are to be kept at that dyed colour. The whole dying process is repeated as many times as required. Eventually the resist solution is washed off and the printed fabric remains

and of course they had a shop, and of course there was a natural progression

Anokhi museum of hand printing

You may have heard of Anokhi shops where they sell beautiful clothes using traditional Indian fabrics for contemporary designs. Well in Jaipur Anokhi have a very interesting museum of hand printing. It’s housed in a beautifully restored haveli and takes you through different printing techniques. They have a collection of fabrics and also have some people giving demonstrations of techniques. One man was doing block printing whilst another was making the wooden blocks used.

Jaipur street scenes

Arrived in vibrant Jaipur and went out for a wander

Thrive Seed are a not for profit initiative in Delhi, and Sonu, who runs it is an extraordinary woman. We called in to see her when we visited Delhi.

Sonu came to Delhi from Nepal with her husband and started teaching slum children in a back yard. Most of these children receive no other education as they have to work during the day to help provide for their families. Parents of other children heard about the school and so it grew. She now runs three slum schools which teach Hindi, Maths and English. She also runs women’s empowerment classes where women develop different skills which can assist them in make a living e.g. sewing, candle making.

The project runs purely off donations from individuals, although it is in the process of acquiring FCRA status.

Volunteers are encouraged to go and teach in the school and this helps both with the English teaching and with networking. Valerie’s niece Hana spent three weeks there in November.

To find out more or donate go to the ThriveSeed web site
http://www.thriveseed.org
And the Thrive Seed Facebook page

If you can think of any ways in which people over here can help, e.g. in fundraising, volunteering, providing general charity/business expertise – please let me know