Channapatna, the toy town of India

Channapatna, also known as the toy town of India, is a small city tucked 60km from Bengaluru. This small place is a house for one of the traditional forms of woodworking. The place is famous for wooden lacquered toys. This age-old craft process involves softwood (hallemara), natural lacquer, vegetable colours and palm leaf as major raw materials. Artisans use the woodturning technique to make beautiful, brightly coloured toys that are eco-friendly and sustainable. Through the advancement of technology has also hit this town yet most of the artisans still work on the traditional hand lathe to make products. One of the good things working on a traditional lathe apart from creating an intricate small object is that they save on electricity, making the process more sustainable. It is a unique technique practised only in this part of the country and because of this Government of India has awarded this craft a Geographical Indication Tag (GI No. 22).

Demand to shift from YES to NO

Since forever, girls have been trained to say YES to everything. A newly married child bride from the Gadiya Lohar community of Rajasthan. They are the traditional travelling blacksmith community from Rajasthan. The community travels on Gadiya or gaduliya (an open cart) from one place to another temporarily settling at some place and earning their livelihood by developing basic household and gardening tool in iron by hot forging technique. These marriages are planned by their parents when the bride and groom are still young. Although child marriage in India has declined, few states continue to carry on the practice. Often girls are married, even before they reach puberty exposing them to numerous hazards both mental and physical. Though poverty is one of the reasons behind, the major breakdown is proper education among the people. Time is we teach our girls to say NO.

One of the Asia’s biggest flower market, KR Market

This one was from the recent visit to KR Market or Krishna Rajendra Market. Named after the ruler of the princely state of Mysore, Krishnarajendra Wodeyar this locality in Bengaluru was the first in Asia to get electricity and today host one the biggest flower markets in Asia. Having a history of some 90 years from being a water tank to a battlefield today the place is bustling with flower, fruits and vegetable vendors and has become a paradise for explorers. One can feel a deep sense of energy and dedication of farmers, sellers and buyers.

With pride

Jogappas, a transgender community from in and around North Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, relaxing just before their amazing powerful performance. While many others in the transgender category fall in the hands of prostitution or begging Jogappas have survived for more than 2000 years by devoting themselves to Yellamma. Jogappas carry three instruments during their performance, namely choudki, sutti and ektara. They dance, sing songs and play skit in praise of goddess Yellamma and hence earn their living. More power to them.

The infamous Bellandur Lake. 

It might look a tempting visual but fact is it is all high-level toxic froth. Unplanned urbanization has taken a toll on the lake and has said goodbye to several species like kingfisher, parrots, wood pigeons, king cobra, rat snakes, monitor lizards and many more. The lake is now just a pool of chemical waste and untreated sewage.

Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto

A classic example of how the poison insinuated itself into the domestic realm of wealthy households.

Dress: First colour-fast green dye invented by chemist Carl Scheele, by combining poisonous arsenic with copper. Developed in 1778. This emerald green ball gown was chemically tested and found to contain arsenic.

Wallpaper: The famous William Morris trellis pattern wallpaper. Like many of Morris wallpapers, this pattern was tinted with toxic pigments: Arsenic for the stimulated garden and mercury for the vermilion red roses. 

Table cloth: The bright green thread used to embroider this table cloth was also tested positive for arsenic.

A thing of past

The traditional stone grinders are slowly becoming a tool of the past. Though it had maintained itself to be an important part of every household across the country for a very long time, today with the commencement of new and faster technologies these traditional products are fading away. Somewhere it's the result of our fast paced lifestyle and lack of our education system that we are not able to appreciate and embrace the importance of these tools in our lives.

I came across these sils and chakkis (traditional names for different types of grinders used to grind spices and grains) in the local market of Mirzapur. Today it is majorly being bought and used by the local people from nearby villages.

These are made up of special stone which is strong and sustains for a long time. What mesmerizes me the most is how artisans combine aesthetics with the design solution to create a piece of art. The beautifully designed groves to create a rough surface for better grinding is just so amazing.

These products should be celebrated and promoted as they not only benefit the artisans, but also helps in promoting a sustainable lifestyle and development.

Struggle for education

While on my recent trip to remote parts of Goa and Maharashtra I took local government buses to travel from one place to another. One good thing about these buses is that they take a special route in the morning and afternoon just to pick a school/college kids from small villages tucked in the remotest corner and drop them to school or home. You can see a number of school kids waiting for the bus to come on their respective stops. In the process, the buses take longer and much bumpier rides just to facilitate the kids. I just tried capturing a part of this fantastic gesture and the roads in this video.

Play of light

The traditional shadow puppets of Nimmalakunta Andhra Pradesh are made out of leather (goat or sheep)) and are based on stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata. These puppets have small perforations for light to pass and are fixed to a thin bamboo stick so that they remain straight. Strings are attached to the various joints of the puppet to facilitate controlling their movement. Processing of the skin is a painstaking process and is done using indigenous methods. Further, the puppets are hand painted by the craftspersons, intricate designs are made to ornate each and every character. The bright colours and perforation gives interesting character to these puppets when viewed against the light.

Behind closed doors

It might sound like some random noise, but it’s not, it’s a piece of music composed of dedication, hard work, rhythm and story of the weavers. This is outside one of the houses of Banarasi saree weavers in Banaras. These small crooked lanes are home to one of the finest weavers of the world. Every home has its own story and music. When you enter the community your ears are filled with such beats. Banaras, since time immemorial, has been the major centre for weaving. The place has seen a lot of change and created n number of such beautiful rhythms while weaving finest textile. Traditionally weaving was done on handlooms (pit loom) but with the change in time, the traditional looms are getting replaced by machine looms making thing mechanism and also these rhythms.

Serenity

Whenever I travel I plan to do one adventure sport/ activity to have a purpose for my travel, this also leads to challenging myself and in a way trying new things. So when I was travelling up north to Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh I heard of this place called Triund and that there is a trekking route to it. I had never experienced trekking before so was very much up for the plan. It didn’t challenge my will to finish it, but it did at point challenged my fitness level and forced me to take breaks. During one such break, almost halfway through I met this guy playing the flute. The sound was so melodious and capitating along with the picturesque view that I was spellbound. I recorded it then and listen to it whenever I am feeling stressed, it has such healing power.

Such intricacies

It is always amazing to see how traditional craftsperson goes into fine detailing of a product and put his/her heart and soul in creating even the most neglected part of a product so beautifully and thus, enhancing the entire product. They make us realize and appreciate the importance and value of a handcrafted product and further life.

This picture is of a handmade leather mojari (traditional shoes), both front and back, from Jodhpur. The artisan has made intricate designs on the front followed by the same passion and craftsmanship on the back part of the shoe to create grip which not only solves a need but also adds up as a design element.

Dinning with the dead

I won’t be hesitant to say that I have a huge interest in death, dead bodies, graveyards and the preconceived notions, emotions and taboos involved with it. This interest of mine drives me to visit graveyards, meet people working there, understand what they feel and believe, how they see things which other people are reluctant to or have a taboo about.

So during one such study, I got to know about this restaurant in Ahmedabad, Gujarat by the name Lucky Restaurant, in the old city. At once it looked like any other restaurant with people occupying the entire space, but when I went inside I had to mind my steps as there are people not only on the ground but also below the ground.

Krishnan Kutti, the owner of this bizarre restaurant had a very sustainable idea of not cleaning this preoccupied land (already a graveyard since a very long time) but to build a place utilizing the space between. Everyone should be in sync, right?. The place is crowded with people at any time of the day and it looks as normal as anything. So basically he proved that it’s all mind over matter if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter.

Breaking barriers

Adding to my series ‘Today’s finding”, I found these Gulaal Gotte, a handmade lacquer balloon or traditional water balloons which are used to play Holi. Prepared by the traditional Lac artisans, Mr Awaaz Mohammad (National award winner) and his family from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. These paper thin and super fragile balls are made up of natural lacquer and hand blew to desired shape and size. They are then filled with dry colors and sealed from the top. These lacquer balls filled with colors are used in the festival of Holi.

These were traditionally used by the royal families and the tradition continues till date. Sadly, these eco-friendly, safe and sustainable designs are now being replaced by cheap rubber balloons. Apart from this, another interesting story is that these balls are made by the craftsmen belonging to Muslim communities. It's so amazing to see how craft goes beyond caste, religion and community. The craft is so liberal that a Muslim community every year makes more than 4000 lacquer balls for the Hindu community to play Holi in Vrindavan temple in Mathura. Alarmingly, there is only one family left, which is practicing the craft so beautiful yet not known by many.