Monday 11 February 2013

Challenging Times

Well, at least in terms of getting online long enough to post anything here!
It's a week since we landed in Ahmedabad and fell into our hotel beds for a few hours to catch up on some sleep. This time the city seemed a bit calmer; maybe festival fever has abated for a while. And certainly much cooler which is a blessing for a fair skinned Scot.
We spent our first days getting money and SIM cards sorted so that we could communicate with contacts here, as well as taking in different museums and visiting the dangerously addictive Gamthiwala in the market, Manek Chowk. Inside is a treasure trove of block prints in every hue - making a sensible selection when you really want every single one a challenge... Might have to go back on my last day.
On Friday night we went to Darpana Performing Arts Centre to an amazing dance performance.

We had a long long train journey west across the state to Bhuj on Saturday and then went our separate ways. Jeni is down in the south of Kutch at Kala Raksha, while I am staying at Khamir this week. Yesterday we had lots of discussions about what I want to do and how we are to achieve it. Ghatit takes his duties very seriously and is most anxious that everyone knows the plan. This meant four different languages at one stage - Hindi, Gujarati, Kutchi and English! I met Juned Abdul Khatri, a young award winning block printer in neighbouring Ajrakhpur and he is taking forward my odd block print + resist paste + indigo dyeing requests very calmly.



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