Distance: 60Km
Departure: 27/06/09
Arrival: 27/06/09
After all the small places we visited in Kutch go back to Ahmedabad was quite a shock. Fortunately there we had a contact to call and ready to host us. Aahna opened the door of her house to us at 7 am, with a marvelous smile and a fresh breakfast we broke the ice and for 3 days we shared good time together.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Mundra (India) to Bhuj (India)
Distance: 60Km
Departure: 27/06/09
Arrival: 27/06/09
Happily we left Mundra and once in Bhuj we felt like to go back home. Also in Bhuj we had a great experience with a family whose members realize jewelry in silver. They also welcomed us in their house and in the small and simple nest they live in we could share knowledge, smiles, food…
Departure: 27/06/09
Arrival: 27/06/09
Happily we left Mundra and once in Bhuj we felt like to go back home. Also in Bhuj we had a great experience with a family whose members realize jewelry in silver. They also welcomed us in their house and in the small and simple nest they live in we could share knowledge, smiles, food…
Mandvi (India) to Mundra (India)
Distance: 50Km
Departure: 27/06/09
Arrival: 27/06/09
15 people in one car and 1h30 was required to reach Mundra, another small town but quite crowded. Searching for a place to sleep we found “Meet Hotel”, guesthouse made in a typical Indian style with rooms scattered in three floors with a dirty aspect, a few light coming from the windows and fans on the roofs to refresh the guests from the stifling heat. The owner welcomed us very nicely and when we arrived at the point to ask about the fee he try to let us understand in Hindi “for you It’s free!” but we had to wait somebody able to translate before to get It.
After this amazing beginning, and apart for other one reason, our stay over there wasn’t great. The town is noisy and dirty, to walk in the streets is not really pleasant and there aren’t so many attractive places… actually, there aren’t at all! At the same time our stay there was more than motivate coz we could start to translate in action our project for the book.
We meet Shakil and his family, the welcoming was properly organized with tchaï and detailed explanation about their work. It was in this climate that we got closer and that we choose to propose to him the project. Soon everybody knew about what was going on in the small room where we were sitting and to confirm our thoughts shanty shanty most of the uncles came to pay a visit to us and he propose us to meet a member of the family to work with also.
Well, this first meeting was a good starting point for our research, we spent together 4 days and we use to meet once-twice a week. The contact with the family was great, so different and interesting their way to live and their artistic heritage was more than fascinating!
Departure: 27/06/09
Arrival: 27/06/09
15 people in one car and 1h30 was required to reach Mundra, another small town but quite crowded. Searching for a place to sleep we found “Meet Hotel”, guesthouse made in a typical Indian style with rooms scattered in three floors with a dirty aspect, a few light coming from the windows and fans on the roofs to refresh the guests from the stifling heat. The owner welcomed us very nicely and when we arrived at the point to ask about the fee he try to let us understand in Hindi “for you It’s free!” but we had to wait somebody able to translate before to get It.
After this amazing beginning, and apart for other one reason, our stay over there wasn’t great. The town is noisy and dirty, to walk in the streets is not really pleasant and there aren’t so many attractive places… actually, there aren’t at all! At the same time our stay there was more than motivate coz we could start to translate in action our project for the book.
We meet Shakil and his family, the welcoming was properly organized with tchaï and detailed explanation about their work. It was in this climate that we got closer and that we choose to propose to him the project. Soon everybody knew about what was going on in the small room where we were sitting and to confirm our thoughts shanty shanty most of the uncles came to pay a visit to us and he propose us to meet a member of the family to work with also.
Well, this first meeting was a good starting point for our research, we spent together 4 days and we use to meet once-twice a week. The contact with the family was great, so different and interesting their way to live and their artistic heritage was more than fascinating!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Bhuj (India) to Mandvi (India)
Distance: 60KmDeparture: 17/06/09
Arrival: 17/06/09
Mandvi is a small town famous for its port and for craftworks. At the beginning we thought to spend there not more than 3 days but travelling it’s difficult to follow a program and, at last, we stayed there 9days. This is our 9th day in Mandvi and tomorrow we’ll move to Mundra, a village 60km east from here, where we’ll start a project called “Objects stories”, written in the last month. Actually, it’s also because of this idea that we decided to move to Kutch and it’s because of it that we are meeting different people and visiting some places around.
When we have been to Tunda to visit the design school created by Kala Raksha, we had the nice surprise to meet Jody Farter, the women who started this project 16 years ago. With her we could talk about so many things and understand better the actions of the cooperative in this area.
She also introduced us to the design class, talking to the students and looking at their creations, we sympathized with Shakil, a young batik printer and painter from Mundra who invited us to have a look at his workshop... Another reason to go there!
Ahmedabad (India) to Bhuj (India)
Distance: 415KmDeparture: 10/06/09
Arrival: 11/06/09
After a nice dinner with Kunjan and Alex, we took a sleeper bus toward Bhuj, there we arrived the morning after at 7:30.We had to walk more than 3 hours before to find a guesthouse suitable for us, accommodation are more expensive than in the south and there are less facilities than in other parts of the State but with our big backpacks in Kunjan house to move all around was easy.
Walking in small streets in the centre of Bhuj in the early morning we had the feeling to discover another India, every 5 meter somebody was saying us with a smiles on the lips “good morning” and nobody try to sell us something. Apart for the weather, too hot in this period, our days in Bhuj were shanty and pleasant. From Bhuj we also moved to other villages around for one day trip. In Sumerasar, 25Km far away from the capital city, we have been visiting a cooperative, Kala Raksha, working with craft workers for the preservation of art and traditions of the region and in Bhujodi another one called Shrujan with the same aims. In both places we had the chance to see worker realize different kind of craftworks in tissue and we learned so many things about the different local communities.
In Ajarakhpur we meet the famous Dr. Ismail Mohammad specialized in block printing and also there we could see people realizing marvellous sari and find out more about his family’s tradition.
For sure it was cool to meet people and get new tips about techniques and traditions, a different way to travel and discover a country.
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