Day 3 - The preservation of the artisan

We had an amazing day today. Starting with a beautiful sunrise over the lake while eating breakfast. 

We then jumped in the bus and drove 2hours to the village of Ludiya - actually to one of the smaller Hindu villages in the cluster of villages which are part of Ludiya - in the Kutch district. This area is 60km from the border of Pakistan and very multicultural.

The village was destroyed in the 2001 earthquake but the work of the local charity associated with the Anganwadi project has meant it was the first village to be rebuilt. The charity took a completely different approach to many other organizations who came in to help. They decided they wanted the villagers to be an integral part of the process. So they provided the raw materials and the villagers decided the structures they wanted to build with a focus on retaining the local archit7ecture and style and the charity paid the villagers to be the laborers to build their own homes. They did this because they figured that if they built their own home the quality would be great as they had a strong vested interest and it also meant the village felt they owned the decisions and it would be more likely to be successful as the villagers were living somewhere else at the time and so they needed to move back to the area.

The houses are made of mud and bricks and were amazingly cool inside. They render the homes with a mixture of mud and cow dun and then paint. Each village has its own distinct motifs which are used  in their arts - embroidery and wood carving. These motifs are also painted on the outside of the houses generally using natural paints made from the clay stones in the area. Every year the houses are re-rendered and painted. Around the doors and in the houses they have beautiful patterns with mirrors which are made from rolled mud.

The embroidery is also unique to each village/community they each have their own style as is the jewelry worn by the women. Begin preparing for their marriage from a young age embroidering the contents of their dowry bag -  special embroidered shirts and many quilts. A woman can only wear the embroidered shirt once she is married - unmarried girls wear shirts without embroidery. Once a woman is widowed she wears a different shirt that has embroidery only on the chest area. As a result when two women from different communities meet they immediately know a lot about each other based on the clothing and jewelry they wear ie where they come from whether they are married  etc

Young girls place bracelets on their ankles  (solid silver weighing about 1kg each) and numerous bangles on their arms which  their limbs grow into and therefore can not be taken off. If they are widowed these are removed then.

The women in the village we visited have formed a co-operative and all work to produce embroidered goods which are then sold for income.  They work from 4am to midnight. Their work is amazing and it was fantastic to once again be able to buy something from the person who actually made it by hand. The woman i bought from was the first woman in the community  (and only one i think) who managed to convince her husband to let her get her tubes tied. Her husband has died and rather than relying on her sons to take care of her she has continued to work and sell her craft.

The men make gorgeous wood work making day beds and chairs amongst other things all carved by hand and by eye  (no measurement tools of any kind)

We then had a go at learning to embroider! Not quite an epic fail for me but close!@

Then a wonderful lunch cooked by one of the ladies - yum spicy and we ate with our hands.

Disturbing when we told one  of the wonderful ladies from the  charity who took us around the village we were doing a 5 day trek in the "white desert" - she seemed very puzzled and a little concerned!

We then headed back to Bhuj to explore the markets. So busy and colourful - constant beeps from the motorcycles and other vehicles that drive through the roads of the market - takes nerve to cross a road here I am not confident yet that they wont hit me!

End of a jam packed fascinating day. 7 hour drive tomorrow!

PS: a footnote to yesterday's blog - at the temple  i saw a woman sitting with a cloth bad over one hand - i asked the guide what she was doing - he told me she was rolling rosary beads in her covered hand and that she had the bag over it so she could not possibly harm an insect as she did it! The particular religion has strict one of the strictest attitudes to not harming any living creature - they are also known not to swing their arms while walking in case they harm a flying  insect and to sweep  gently in front of themselves when they walk to avoid stepping on ants! Wow could we learn a little something from them!