The region of Kutch in North Western India is rich in vibrant and highly skilled textiles crafts, as many of my previous posts have highlighted. What I haven’t had space to discuss enough so far though, is the embroidery of Kutch. Kutchi embroidery alone has a multitude of varieties, styles, motifs and colours varying from community to community and region to region. As well as being a form of employment, produced as part of the maker’s dowry and a form of elaborate decoration, it tells specific details about the maker’s and wearer’s caste, social status and religious affiliation. Girls are taught embroidery by their mothers at an early age, and…
-
-
Ahmedabad part 3: Rabari cattle herding, dancing and thali eating
On arrival back to Ahmedabad after my trip to Pethapur about 3pm, I was exhausted and hungry, I hadn’t yet eaten that day. The bus dropped me off near Ellis bridge, so I walked over in the direction of the lovely Green house restaurant in the House of MG. I encountered the SEWA (Self-employed Women’s association) on the way though, which I had been meaning to visit, so stopped and had a look. As you do, I bumped into a girl from Sheffield (also my birthplace). I told her I’d just been to visit Maneklal, and she said she’d also been there the day before. Then when she said she was…