In the clutch of Kuchchh and being the stooge of Bhuj

October 9, 2016

WOW! We have just ended our second day in Kachchh (pronounced Kutch) the textile region of Gujarat about six hours drive from Ahmedabad. On Friday I visited with

Mazharkhan, an antique textile dealer in Ahmedabad who gave me some suggestions of what to see here. I had already been given names and other suggestions from Kamaldeep, a textile designer who has become a friend.

So armed with loads of information we set off at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and first drove to Dhamadka where we met the family of Jabbar Khartri. This family has been making hand block printed fabric for generations and we were enthralled watching the process. One member of the family took time to explain the process from fabrics used, how to prepare the fabric for printing and about how they make the paint used. We ended our visit with me buying five scarves done in traditional designs. 

Next we visited Imran Adam, who made textiles using the Shibori technique which is a Japanese manual resist dying technique. After watching how this was done we left with two pieces that we think will make a tablecloth. 

By then we were hungry and needed a break so drove in to Bhuj and checked into the hotel and ate a good hearty Indian lunch of veggies and bread.

After lunch we went back in the direction we had come from and went to Bhujodi about five miles out of Bhuj. We met with Samji whose family are well known pit weavers and who do beautiful work. I managed to leave without buying anything. 



We next visited a shop, Shurjan, that specializes in traditional embroidery. They had wall hangings, clothing, purses, cushion covers, etc. By then we were all exhausted after getting up so early to come to Bhuj.

On Sunday we were met by Bacha (Kumar) who is a local taxi driver. Kamaldeep had suggested using him to find women and men in the villages who make the various textiles. We drove for a couple of hours due north and arrived at the checkpoint for entering the White Rann of Kachchh. This is a large salt desert. Police permission is required to visit this region because it is right next to Pakistan. Kumar had failed to get the permission required when we passed through the previous town.  So Kumar and the policeman on duty got into a heated discussion. When we handed over our passports he let us in and Rahul told us that Kumar had said the office had been closed and the policeman said you are lying and the policeman was correct. While this was going on three women came over to show their permission slips so it was evident that the office had been open.  He asked who Rahul was and Kumar said that our car had broken down in Bhuj and we had hired Kumar to bring us to the Rann. He said this because only one driver is allowed to go with us. My experience has been some people have no problem making stuff up on the spot. This was an example of that. I  don’t care for lying. Sankar has done it so much I do not believe a word he says as a result.

We drove a short distance and parked the car and climbed onto a camel cart to take us to the point out in the water with a viewing station that was being repainted.  None of us knew that the Rann was seasonal so right now it is under two feet of water. So I renamed it the Wet Rann of Kachchh. We were disappointed but it is all part of the adventure.

We left after chatting with the three women and taking photos and proceeded to Dhordo, a sweet village of round houses that have some form of thatch roofs and met Sophia, a lovely woman who invited us into her home. She is quite artistic and has created a beautiful home. 

On the interior she has completed mud work in the circumference of the house and around the window. This involves using small mirrors and embedding them in the mud and creating designs with the mud which is then painted. 

Next she brought out her embroidery which is very fine and lovely. She spoke English and was self taught. We were blown away by her. She had two small wall hangings and a myriad of strips that contained a number of small embroideries. I learned that these are bought by the piece for 100 rupees for each piece on the strip, then cut out ad sewn into a garment such as a kurta or blouse. Ron and I liked both of the wall pieces and I asked if they were for sale. Yes and I asked how much. She said 1200 rupees. That’s $18. for each one and I asked if we could have both of them and she said yes. I gave her the money and she looked at the money and said “I am so happy” and I said “So are we.”  

We left and drove to Hodka where we were taken to a place that makes those cotton quilts made from pieces of hand block print fabric. The three guys must have pulled out 15-20 quilts but none were right for us. The colors were all wrong. I felt badly even after I learned that the owner travels to a famous textile show in Santa Fe and sells them for $400 each. He was asked $75 here. As we were leaving he bought out some hand block print scarves so I bought five of those.  Several of the local women and girls came to watch us buy.

Next the driver suggested we look at leather work which wasn’t on the agenda and I regret saying yes. The leather purse were pretty but not my style at all. A grandmother started laying out her bead work on the floor right at my feet as soon as I sat down, again nothing I would ever wear. I even tried to get Rahul to pick something for his daughter and he said no. I looked across the room and saw a quilt that looked like appliqué work and asked where to get them, within minutes people started flowing into the room with quilts and at a closer look I realized they were prints of appliqué. So I quickly said ‘stop, I made a mistake’ and we made a quick exit. On the way out of the village another man stopped our car to ask if we wanted to see leather work and we declined. We are here to see textiles.

Our next stop was the village of Nironi. To get there we traveled on a newly paved one lane road with two way traffic, yep you got that right. It was an accident waiting to happen. If a bus or truck was coming towards you , you had to move off the road which had a narrow shoulder. Scary to say the least. If it was another car coming your way, it felt a little like the game of chicken seeing who would move over enough to pass. OY! Coming back on the road I realized the right side dropped off about two feet in preparation to build the second lane so there was no way to move off the road without dropping off two feet and crashing your car. Double oy! 

In Nironi we met Abdulgafur and Sumar Khartri. Their family has been doing rogan painting for over 300 years. It was an amazing process to watch. They make the paint from a based of castor oil that has been boiled for three days before adding pigment. The paint becomes elasticized somewhat like silly Putty. They use a metal tube and dip it in the paint then the artist lays a ‘string’ of paint onto the fabric. The artist pulls the string from the tube and keeps a consistent string width, constantly pulling and laying down the paint. Members of the family hae won awards for their works. Some are incredibly intricate. I bought a simple stole. The only place to buy rogan painting is from this one family in this village. They had two old skirts and old one small table cover between 50-60 years old and they were much prettier than the new paintings. The colors had been muted and bled into the cloth. I will ask my friend Mazharkhan if he ever gets any old rogan pieces. 

The same small village also had a copper bell maker. We got a demonstration then bought a single bell and bought a gift for Rahul as he was pretty keen on the bells. He chose a wind chime and we got another wind chime for Sankar. 


Our driver announced ‘lacquer ware next’. I quickly spoke up and said we didn’t want to see lacquer ware. We have seen it being made in many countries and it isn’t an art form we are that interested in. It was getting late in the day and none of the villages had restaurants and we had one more stop to make before heading back into Bhuj. Again we reminded ourselves that our priority was textiles and learning about the various techniques this region is known for. So we drove to Sumrasar to see Kala Raksha Textile Museum and their shop.

We spoke with a staff person who told us about the organization and some fo the ethnic groups they worked with. Their work was truly beautiful. IN 2005 the organization started a design school and 135 of these women have graduated . You can read about them on line. By the time we got out of there we were exhausted. It had been a long day and although it started off cool it got quite hot. It was so late we decided to skip lunch and eat dinner at 7:00 as soon as restaurants opened in Bhuj. We went back to our hotel, arriving around 5:00 and rested until time for dinner.