Cold weather but a warm welcome

I know England is freezing and I should have been used to the cold, but I was expecting India to be warm and its not! Its very cold in Delhi and strangely foggy which creates an eerie atmosphere and you can't see beyond your immediate surroundings. The dramatic thunderstorm we awoke to this morning was even more strange for the this time of year, glad I'm not up in the mountains!

Because all the buildings are built to keep you cool in the hot weather, the climate Delhi sees for most of the year, its very hard to get warm. You end up wrapping up in a million layers and looking really silly. Looking forward to traveling further south where it is warm and sunny!

Although the weather was unexpectedly cold, we arrived to a very warm welcome. On arriving at the DIA university in Delhi we were welcomed with vermilion bindhis on our foreheads and gifts of roses, we felt like royalty! We were later told that guests in India are treated as if they are gods - they definitely show this and always make time to look after you and make sure you are ok. Such a nice change from the too busy English!

Our first day was spent seeing sights around Delhi, the mughal forts and ruins. Much of the day was spent driving. DIA is situated in Noida, a seperate suburb of the city. Getting anywhere takes ages normally with the traffic anyway, but they are building a tram line and many of the roads have diversions. There's enough entertainment on the roads of India for it not to be boring though!
The sights were very interesting although hard to concentrate on the history when being followed by gawping men, making us feel more like celebrities being papped than royalty. We could not understand why. I was quite used to it having spent time in India before, but the rest of the girls didn't know how to react feeling a mix of amusement and anger. I think a group of young western girls is something of a novelty for them! You find yourself in a culture clash, the boys pointing camera phones in our faces without asking, trying and failing to be discreet, and us being too polite and English and too embarrassed to tell them to stop. You end up just laughing it off and accepting it is just a massive contrast in culture and we'll never completely understand each other!

The business and craziness of inner-city Delhi knackered us enough to get a long well needed sleep last night. I'm now ready to start on work. Although, the students are holding a welcome party for us today...
I can tell I am not going to get as much done as intended, it never seems to happen in India, too many unexpected surprises!
Funny Indian quotes:
'I'm no ordinary man', 'I make you happy, you make me happy' - tour guide at the Red Fort

Return to India

January 4th - The end of christmas and new year and back to normality, work and the monotonous trudge of everyday life.

Not for me though as I'm off to India for 3 weeks! Exciting, well sort of. Its not quite a holiday, as it is more a 'study' or 'research' visit. I have spent 6 months in India before, so it doesn't feel quite as much of an adventure.

I'm a bit fed up of the snow now so looking forward to the warmth. January's the best month to go as its generally the coldest in Gujarat where I will be, which means its about as warm as our summer!

I'm looking forward to seeing the people and places I feel I got to know well last time. The welcoming families of the villages of Kutch. I worked for a small organisation called Kala Raksha - a grass-roots trust working with the local textile artisans to preserve the traditional arts and provide sustainable livelihoods. It was an informal arrangement, having arranged it myself after being introduced to the founder Judy through Carole Douglas who ran the textiles tour I went on previously - Desert Traditions and Textile Treasures.

showing off our bandhani on the tour

The tour took us travelling round Kutch visiting the villages and artisans, joining in with the crafts, meeting lovely people, eating tasty food and experiencing fascinating traditions. We also stayed in Ahmedabad to sight-see, shop and immerse ourselves in the city crafts.

After the tour I went on to work with Kala Raksha. I was helping revive old products that weren't selling by adapting them or re-designing them. By the end of the 6 weeks I was there I hadn't done as much work as was originally planned as so many other events got in the way. There were weddings, a festival in the desert (see picture above -some of the ladies of KR outside a traditional decorated mud hut - just been built for festival), and travelling the 3 hour drive down to Tunda Vandh where the Kala Raksha Vidyhalaya, the design school was situated.

Rabari wedding

A re-visit to KR this time will help keep in contact in hope that I will do more work with them in future.

I will also be re-visiting Anokhi near Jaipur in Rajasthan, where I spent a 2 month design placement near the end of 2008 after returning for the second time to India. (I was first there January to March 2008). With 3 other students from Brighton, I produced a selection of painted designs intended for block print patterns, had a go at block-printing in a few of the nearby villages and enjoyed chilling it out in the farm of the Anokhi compound. This included swimming in the pool, watching films in their mini cinema , eating home-cooked organic food and relaxing in our comfortable cottages. That is a time well missed!

Anokhi fabric hanging to dry. Indigo dyeing in the village of Jahota

I am currently writing my proposal for my MA by Research which I began in September 2009. This trip was not originally planned, I wanted to be more prepared and know in detail my research before taking a visit! But there was a group already going from the university so it means I get to go free, I couldn't possibly afford to miss such an opportunity! Only problem is now I have to do lots of work in less time so I know exactly where I will visit, who to see etc. I'd better be getting on with it, I'm off in a week!