Sanganer

Thursday 17th April

- textile printing, paper making and block printing - Sanganer's ancient arts.

we had to move rooms today due to the Pearl Palace's incoming bookings, although they have been less than certain about our return date on Monday 21st. we enjoyed a breakfast upstairs again, very simple and pleasant indeed. we're off to Sanganer today, now a distant suburb but once a separate village and the true home of block printing and paper making in the region. this is true both historically and also in the present, as rising population and water consumption has forced many artisans out of Jaipur.

it was almost inevitable that Yusef would be waiting for us and, sure enough, his smiling face rounded the last hotel wall before we'd reached the road. we bartered for the journey and he probably did quite well out of us, not least because we were in his hands as to where to go in Sanganer.

a half hour rickshaw ride later through some of the busiest Jaipur streets we had seen ended with an unexpected but revealing several hours' tour through a textile factory, paper plant and block printing centre. all were, of course, designed to lead us to buy products from same, but each constituted a genuine tour and was well worth the attached purchasing inference.

the textile part was a sizeable operation, bordered by orange saris of countless hues drying in the sun and under the feet of the odd camel.

we were led through the process with the fabric - mostly cotton - bleached, washed, dried and used in a whole host of ways. the environs were a combination of flowing, drape-like sheets waving in the breeze from hanging racks and coils of cloth being soaked in tanks.

the men seemed to do the washing while the women did the rest.

then on to the paper factory, which used cotton pulp for the paper. lots of big machines with no safety rails, while the woman in charge was clearly not one to be messed with! it was strange seeing Christmas wrapping and accoutrements bound for Europe being made in front of you in an Indian factory in April. we made a few purchases before being escorted to Philippa's favourite part, the block printing area.

this was the most engaging aspect of the tours. we'd been shown the mass production saris being printed by men working in teams of two at considerable speed, but the block printing was more of an artisan craft than a manufacturing process. it also appeared to be family run, using - of all things - old horse shoes soaked in molasses to form the base of the pigments. the centre runs three day courses for the interested. an incredibly wiry master craftsman put on a great display of the art, inviting us to put the finishing 'tocky tocky' touches to banging down the pigment-laden woodblocks.

we were told that he had 42 years' experience and, with his fluid movements and calm but very focused concentration, one could very easily believe it.

and so, to conclude - where else? - the shop. we spent a long time looking at potential items. Philippa picked up things for the flat, while Edd even managed to find something he liked, a Katha style embroidery jacket that fit everywhere! - except under the arms. the owner looked crestfallen, but so was Edd - maybe he'll make the next batch a little bigger.

surviving the sales pitch - wonder which one of these two didn't find anything that fit?

the prices in the shop were 'fixed,' both in terms of being non-negotiable and also probably in terms of being slightly shonky, but we were happy. we also got to see Yusef carrying around the bright pink bag containing our paper purchases, which looked rather fetching.

back at the hotel, we decided to send a load of additional things back in the post, since we had too much to carry with us in our small bags. we changed some money first at Thomas Cook, where one could not help but reflect that the armed guards at every such exchange are defending the contents with very long, old-style rifles - hardly practical for close combat with mischief makers or serious thieves.

sending the parcel was quite expensive and also something of a performance, as the items were hand-sewn into a cotton package before us, prior to the obligatory queue. line jumping was, as usual, frequently attempted and helps explain why people get so close to each other while waiting their turn.

we spent our final Jaipur night for a few days at least on the roof terrace of the Pearl Palace, watching bats swoop and change direction at speed while trying to ignore the two genuinely poor musicians who constituted the evening's entertainment. they had decided to park themselves next to our table and wail or mumble along to some very dubious sounding 'traditional' songs. as seems to happen every night in Jaipur, fireworks were going off across the city. we went to bed early, hoping to squeeze a breakfast in before checking out and getting our coach to Pushkar. it had been a fun day - no ancient sites for Edd (!), but plenty of ancient skills and a welter of colours and textures, like India itself.

stay in touch!

edd & philippa