Day 354- Chatuchak's Clay Flowers

Lotus buds wrapped in their own oversized leaves in exactly the same way they are sold at the Chinese temple a stone's throw from where I live. These flowers in full bloom, when out of the water, droop in a mere day. I think they are the handsomest as buds. 

Stalks of Heliconia in red and orange, even when carelessly thrown together, make a pretty picture. I use them during dinner parties for a sense of drama and a touch of vibrance. 

45 degrees off and the arrangement takes on a different visual structure. I love how they are a sight to behold, no matter which angle you look.  

Watching a red ginger plant in a red pail swaying to the winds of a balmy Sunday afternoon is like watching a dance to  poetry with music. 

Imagine the tango danced by a lady wearing a sexy red dress with a plunging neck line and all the men in the room, watching, with their tongues hanging. Let's name her, Rosanna, the red hot ginger.

Now, I want to celebrate the craftsmanship of an old man with one of my favourite flowers. So beautiful these blooms are that they are likened to the Birds of Paradise. Three of them stuffed into the pail that the old man had painstakingly made, to do justice to his handiwork. The ensemble, like the previous two, will liven up the dullest corner or the most run down shed. 

I never thought I would buy any more roses but how could anyone resist these? Whether they are red or orange, yellow or pink, they look divine.

Take in a deep breath around these flowers and you may smell heaven. 

Postscript:  I haven't been able to post much about miniatures since I broke my  5+ year old camera, the Sony Cybershot TX something. I took these pictures with a very old Nikon Coolpix 8400, so old that I couldn't even buy the battery anymore as they were out of production. I hated the Nikon and I was sure the feeling was mutual because I just couldn't get any good pictures with it.  I finally bought myself a new camera on Friday. A Sony Cybershot DSC Rx100. It's the best camera I have ever owned.  These pictures are therefore the first and last you will see from the Nikon. 

Day 262 & 266-Autumn Harvest

A harvest day in August, balmy

My dear Diary, 

What a big, big harvest day we had today. Surely, it must be the biggest I have seen. OM thinks so too for I heard him exclaimed :this must be our largest gathering in the last decade! Our crops were so plentiful that we could give baskets of them away. They were mainly potatoes, cucumbers, big fiery green chillis and some lady's fingers.

When we brought some of ours to Kivachi, she gave us this huge platter of her produce in return. There were so many varieties of vegetables that her platter was like a burst of fall colours. Pale pumpkins with blood red sweet potatoes, dusty small onions and tomatoes in  2 shades of green. She knew I love carrots so she gave us the really orange ones and although I really don't like mushrooms, Kivachi knew mama loves them so she dug out three precious ones for her. She even managed to grow some avocados which was really difficult in our region. She did not have many of them so she gave us just two but what a treat that was already! She also threw in some of her own potatoes, for some comparison, she said. Mine may be smaller than yours, she told OM, but I think they are just as tasty. OM snorted when he heard that and piled even more of our own potatoes into her baskets. You will want to throw away yours after you have tasted mine, he said. We all laughed at their exchange. Everyone knows Kivachi grows the best vegetables in the village, maybe even the best in the whole of Rajasthan!

Thanks to Lakshmi's good harvest blessings, our luck just kept getting better. When we went over to our new neighbour, Sindhi and gifted her with a sack of our potatoes, she gave us a present too. Way better than our potatoes, it was a basket worth of luscious, juicy persimmons. We found out to our great delight that Sindhi too is a gifted farmer. Mama is saving those persimmons which she is treating like gold for the harvest festival. I just can't wait to sink my teeth into one of those yummy fruits and have persimmon juice running down my chin! Hmmmmmm...

I just love harvest time. The kitchen is always full. Full of fruits and vegetables, fishes from the river, sacks of grains.

Even the old crate in the corner is never empty. For now it is filled with Kivachi's best coconuts, ready to be grated for Mama's famous curries .

Harvest time is a time when our home is filled with the rewards of our hard work and the gifts of good neighbours. Papa says this is the time we can really count our blessings and if that is so, then I think we are well and truly blessed. 

Day 246-Fetching Water

Traditionally regarded as a chore only for women in rural India, it is a task that is backbreaking, arduous and sometimes even dangerous. In the hostile desert of Rajasthan where the commodity is scarce, it often means tens of miles to the nearest well or the village pump under a torturous blanket of heat, dust and flies. 

For these women,  every dawn brings with it a long search for the most precious and crucial resource - water. An early start is inevitable as a day's needs for the whole family will mean several trips back and forth the source. 

Do you know that in the villages of the desert district of Banaskantha, women spend up to six hours a day bringing water from distant sources to their homes?  They carry up to 15 liters on their heads on each trip, often walking barefoot . 

It does  not matter whether you are young or old or even pregnant,   fulfilling this critical household needs means all the womenfolk in the family have to pull their weight. It is therefore not unusual for young girls to drop out of school just to help out with fetching water. 

Sadly, there will be no solace at the destination for our women. In a village where a single  pump services a community of 700,  it will mean a crowd all day, every day.

Another day of standing in  a long queue with hundreds of others waiting for their turn. Will it past midnight again today? 

I am afraid so for why should today be any different from all the days in the past 20 years?  

 We all know that without water, nothing will grow, the cattle will perish and eventually so will the family. 

  

But

our women 

ask 

"Must the drudgery continue?" 

Postscript

Before Bash

Surprisingly this trip to India, I  found only 2 items for my doll's houses. As far as I am concerned, though, they are both precious minis. This  water pump is my treasure from Amber Fort , Jaipur , bought from one of the many hawking their wares at the exit of the Fort.  

After Bash 

Of course, I was warned by our guide before we got to the Fort AGAINST  buying anything from these people because their wares are often not worth the price and that identical ones can be bought for way less in the shops at the city.

After

All my caution was however, thrown to the winds when I saw this old style water pump. I tried to play it cool and walked away to my girlfriend,  whispering to her "OMG! Did you see that? It's perfect for my tribal house!" 

Fafa fetching water while I photograph

There must have been something in my eyes that quickly prompted the seller to start pumping (the gadget of course).

When  water flowed from the tap, my knees went weak and I knew then that all was lost. 

Tell me , the most resolute amongst you, will you be able to resist a working miniature pump that can give you water, is to scale and exactly what your tribal house needs so that your dolls  will no longer have to carry their heavy brass pots and walk miles and miles to fetch water ? I don't think so. Even when it cost a whopping INR100 each. That's why my friend decided that she had to get one for her cats as well. 

I bashed the water pump right after work today and finished everything in less than an hour so that I could take pictures before sundown. I then went for a run and the idea that I should have iconic pictures of  Indian women fetching water came to me during that run. I came home already dark at 8pm  but went ahead with the photographs anyway. I then decided to find out more about these women. The idea  to focus on their plight came only after I started typing. When I finished, a thought struck me. In many ways, some of us are not so different from these women. 

Everything in this post (except the postscript) is based on the material I have found. If you follow through the link provided, it will bring you to the relevant source. You will be heartened to know from those reports that the Banaskantha women had started to do something to better their lives. Defying conventions , these women set up unions to push for changes. They acquired knowledge about maps, measurements and topography so that they could contribute to local water committees. Now more new wells are built and old ones recharged. 

I salute these women. 

Day 224 & 228-River Fishing In The Rain

             About five miles and an hour's walk away from the Rolla House, behind a tall tall Bonzai Tree, lies a mysterious, meandering creek. The villagers call the creek Longkang Ganga as many believe it to be a tributary of THE Source of Life itself, Mother Ganga or the River Ganges. BUT no one really knows where the creek originates from or where its mouth is as the rivulet seems to go on in an endless infinite stream. 

AND despite being nestled amongst the isolated hills and rocky ridges of the harsh Rajasthani desert,  the river never seems to run dry. This is a river revered, a gift from the Gods for with its abundant fish life, the river also holds a promise for the hardworking that they will never go hungry. 

That is, if you follow a few simple rules....

 Use only the traps and baskets made by your own hands. 

And if it rains on the day a brand new set is used, 

your harvest will be quick. 

Eat what you kill and do not kill more than a week's worth.

And so it was on a mid-winter's dawn that Om took his baskets and trap, weaved only the night before,  and started his l o n g walk to the creek. He was just about to step into the creek when the 1st drops of desert rain started pitter-pattering on him. And the trap had barely hit the bottom before Om felt the morning's 1st catch. A single, glimmering, beautiful river trout. Ro will be so happy, OM thought, happy himself.

Now, Om hardly had time to open the fish's gills to gut it before two more appeared..

and  before he could utter Namaste to the new arrivals, another one came and then...

another 

and 

another..

until we have S   I   X  ! 

That's just nice for a week  as the family goes without meat 

once  a week on the last day. 

So quickly, 

Om removed the trap from the river bed, 

store the fishes safely in his basket

 and began 

his long but satisfying walk home.

Will you agree with me if I say

you just can't get them any fresher than this?

Or any more realistic... Fishes by Kiva Atkinson, of course. I commissioned Kiva on 4th Feb 2011 to make me some river fishes and I landed these beyond awesome trouts on the eve of Valentine's Day. When I emailed her that I have received them together with her gifts of fruits and platter (which I will show in another post),  she was having a meal with Lance at a Chinese restaurant, probably steamed fish. 

My brother had held one of her creations in his hand and said "This is reeeeeeeal!" I swear they are too. One of them kept flopping out of the bamboo tray wherever I lay them! Look, if you don't believe me.