Textile Heaven

I’ve had the best textile day and I need to talk to some people who would understand.

Woke up early - breakfast on the rooftop and then headed out.  Thought I’d go to the lake before it got too hot.  After that I just wandered. Always hoping to find very special textiles.   There are so many tourist shops selling clothes, jewellery and all kinds of tourist souvenirs.  Didn’t inspire me.  Most of it you could get at home, you would just pay a lot more.   Or it has elephants on it and you could buy it anywhere in Asia.  

Then I found a shop that looked upmarket.  i.e. clean windows, displayed beautifully, not cluttered.  Thought this would be very expensive.  Just lovely looking around beautiful scarves,, wraps etc.  Bandani work for which Jaisalmer is known.  

Got talking to the owner who recommended the 2 best things of the day 

- that I have a cool drink at his rooftop cafe  ( my response was that  I would only if he has clean toilets, and they were.  No price can be put on a clean toilet especially when you are a 1/2 hour walk away from your hotel and don’t want to go all the way back just to use the toilet)

- That if I was interested in textiles, especially old textiles then I should visit his friend Dineesh

Yes I know it sounds like one of those scams, but I spent a fair part of the afternoon sitting on the floor of Dineesh’s shop looking at and talking textiles.  

Dineesh - the textile man in one of the 4 rooms of his shop

You can imagine the story - the family has been in the business for generations, Women don’t do embroidery the way they used to.  There used to be a lot of these pieces but now you can’t get them. etc etc.  He told me where different pieces were made, what they were used for.  They have all kinds of products they sell.  And then he started showing me old embroidered pieces.  Many different uses, bags for money, belts, dress fronts, throws etc etc.

He said they have supplied pieces to many museums including V & A.  

He showed me many things and then just let me wander the rooms of the shop pulling out things to look at.  

 Old Rajasthani embroidery

Above are 3 bags used for coins

Below is a belt

And then …… we sat on the floor and he opened the trunks that hold their very special pieces.  Some are for sale, but they are saving many for a textile museum they hope to set up.  And he talked about each piece.  I was in heaven.  Some pieces have prices - many thousands of dollars.  He knew there was no way I could afford these pieces and yet he spent probably 2 hours with me.  

And yes, I did buy something - 2 old silk saris in gorgeous colours.  And I think you would call it a khadi throw made of old silk saris with a row upon row of running stitch joining them.  

Most days lately I just can’t quite believe how I am living my life.  This is a very special time.

Delhi a short history

Delhi – some history

1060         AD   first city of Delhi

1191         Delhi falls to the Afghan Muslim armies of Muhammad Ghor       

1206         Delhi sultanate founded

1398         Tamelane invades and sacks Delhi

                 Founds the Sayyid dynasty.

1444         Sayyid’s ousted. 

1526         Mughal emperor Babur takes over ending the Delhi Sultanate.

1540         Baburs son Humayun ousted by Sher Shah Suri

1556         Hamayun retakes Delhi but dies the following year.

1565         Hamayun’s son Akbar shifts the Mughal capital from Delhi to Agra.

1638         Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan shifts the capital back to Delhi.  (old Delhi)

1739         Mughal power crumbles.  Persian emperor Nadir Shah sacks Delhi, slaughtering 15000.

1784         The Marathas take over making the emperor their vassal.

1803         Battle of Delhi – Britains East India Company defeat the Marathas and are effectively the rulers

1857         First war of Independence.  Delhi supports the insurgents but he British retake the city with bloody reprisals, deposing the Mughals and expelling Muslim Delhiites for 2 years.

1911         British decide on new Indian capital at Delhi as opposition to colonial rule mounts  in Calcutta.

1931         Delhi officially inaugurated as the capital of the Raj.

1947         British hand over power in Delhi to India’s first elected government but Hindu mobs drive many Muslims from the city.  Hindu and Sikh refugees flood in from the Punjab and Bengal.

1975 – 77 Indira Ghandi’s Emergency forced eviction of Muslim slum dwellers from Old Delhi

1984         Indira Ghandi assassination.  Followed by sectarian riots targeting Delhi’s Sikh population.

The above info is courtesy of:

The Rough Guide to India

E book 2015

Arriving in India and Jaisalmer

DELHI        14^th October

Flight Tashkent to Amritsar to Delhi

Very smooth passage through Delhi airport.  NO cueing for passport check.  This has never happened anywhere and this is meant to be one of the most populated places on earth.  From landing to exiting airport would be lucky to be ½ an hour.

Picked up by intrepid staff.  6 crowded lanes of traffic each way.  They drive on the left – first time I’ve seen that for a few months.  The driver pointed out that Delhi has around the same population as the whole of Australia?

Dropped at Hotel Perfect.   Had to walk the last 150 metres as it is a festival and couldn’t drive right to the hotel.  Felt very overwhelmed by the crowded narrow streets.  Lots of sari shops. 

Checked in to the Hotel Perfect.  The wi fi password is “allisperfect”

How Marigold hotel is that?

Sorted my washing and thins to be posted home.  The Time Of India newspaper has a half page of ads placed by the police.  Some people are missing/kidnapped and others have been found dead and they are seeking identification.  They publish a photo of the persons face in the hope that someone will identify them. – The reality of a city like this.   I feel very privileged and naïve.

Thursday – packed up the textiles I purchased in Uzbekistan. 

Finding it very hard to go out onto the streets – it is just so crowded and narrow and “too much”.  The men on Reception kindly had the porter go with me to change money and told me what to do to post things home.  They organised a bicycle rickshaw and told him what I would pay etc.  Before you go into the post office you take your goods to a shop to pack them.  They sew a calico bag around your things and you write the address.  You then go back to the Post Office, produce a photocopy of your passport and complete a customs declaration.  The power went out twice while the woman was processing my package – so everything stops … and you wait.

Met the Intrepid group of young people and our guide Naveen.

Walking tour of old Delhi.  Crowded and life is lived on the streets. 

Visited the Sikh temple.  They feed 20,000 people a day for free.  You walk through a footbath on the way in and some people are actually drinking the water of the footbath! 

Also visited the largest Mosque in Delhi.

Diwali the festival of light is coming up on November 11^th and there are fireworks for sale in many places

Walked through narrow crowded streets. Not feeling as overwhelmed but Delhi isn’t for me.

Left Hotel Perfect at 3pm to catch the 5.30 train.  Was in the biggest traffic jam.  About 8 cars across then you throw in cycle rickshaws, People carrying products and a cart being drawn by a Brahman bull.  Travelled 40 metres in 35 minutes.

We were going to miss the train so we got out of cars and had to run to metro – Naveen had to talk people into letting him push in to the line to buy metro tickets, go through security at a couple of spots, change stations, negotiate numerous steps and escalators, and find the platform.  We just made it.  Think I would have cried if we had to stay in Delhi another night.  Saw all sorts of poverty on the way to the train.

Have now experienced Indian trains – second class with air conditioning.  17-hour trip to Jaisalmer. In a compartment with 3 others from the group.   It was all a bit of fun really – lost of talking rubbish and not too bad sleep.

JAISALMER

Founded  1156.

In 1570, daughter of ruler was married to Moghul ruler.  Important position in Silk Road between Delhi and Central Asia.  (Goods such as silk, opium spices and the city grew rich on the proceeds.  This allowed some merchants to build huge Havelis.  (Merchant houses with intricate carved sandstone exteriors).

Partition put an end to Jaisalmer’s position on the trade route.  – Only 75 kms from highly sensitive Pakistani border.   It is now a major military outpost.

Jaisalmer is built of soft yellow Jurassic sandstone and the fort is crumbling due to all the water being used (especially with increased tourism)

Many many wind turbines on the way into Jaisalmer.

Staying in the Fort -

Deepak  Guesthouse.  Great room.  The fort and architecture is quite stunning. 

The door to my room – Deepak Guesthouse

Time for shower and then jeep ride to pick up camels for 2 hour trek to where we stayed for the night.  It was fine – once I got used to being up so high.

Sunset at the That Desert

Good sunset, dinner and sleeping under the stars.

Thar Desert – sunrise

Jaisalmer – looking to the outside town from the walls of the fort

Part of the fort.

The Prime Ministers Haveli, built in 1885

Cows wander around town ….. and sometimes decide to sit in the middle of the road.  They belong to people who milk the cows in the morning and let them forage in town during the day.