Blogs from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, Asia - page 4

The homework assignment: start hand quilting by doing embroidery on the rose panels. The women were delighted to show us their embroidery skills. Apparently, embroidery is still a classroom subject, especially in the convent schools. Although quilting is best done with a running stitch, most were determined to show us several other styles which slowed everything to nearly a standstill. Actually, that was fine with us since we weren't sure what we were going to do next. However, during the night, awake at 2 a.m. due to jet lag, I thought about using the bags of scraps to make a Chinese coin quilt. This got Bill involved with cutting strips, and he quickly learned that Medeena was excellent, and so she had to teach Hamida, who was not quite as precise. Fortunately, total preciseness is not ... read more

WOW! Flying Emirates Airlines took me back to the way that airlines were decades ago: metal flatware, menu choise, excellent food, coide of beverages including white or red wine (no charge and very quietly, a couple of extra bottles to take with us)...Probably 100+ movies, TV shows, news, etc. that we could individually select. I wateched an epidsode of Mad Men and saw again BLAZING SADDLES. I had started THE HELP but decided to keep what I read in my memory, not the move. Kinda interesting to Mel Brooks' take on integration in the late 1960s with how the The Help is portrayed in memory 30 years later.... read more

Bill fell asleep instantly, but I only slept intermittently...I listed to the cacophony of 4-5 dogs barking, snarling, and howling. It got very quiet, and then the loud speaker for the Moslem morning prayers started, then quiet. Someone REVVED up his mortocycle and took off. Quiet. Then, a most familiar ritual...someone coughing up phlegm, gagging, etc. Another motorcycle revving, then a rickshaw horn, and then, someone did their laundry, which consists of beating the dirt out of the clothes. THRAWK, THUMP, THRAWK...Bill slept through it all and I will no doubt crash in a few hours of pure jet lag. About 8:30 a.m., the chowkidar (night watchman) and his daughter pounded on the door to ask if we were ready for a bucket of hot water for bath...you know, there is the plastic cup, a bar ... read more

The AWAG fabric arts facility and shelter is located in a poor, predominately Muslim area. At the corner is a hand operated Ferris wheel that the small kids love to ride. Goats and neighborhood stray dogs rummage through the trash in the lot adjacent to the shelter. We arrived about 11:00 AM and were greeted by Farnaz, Sara's daughter and main designer, and Malini, the office manager. Malini has a severe s-shaped spinal deformity that makes it nearly impossible for her to walk. After greetings Sara introduced us to the ten women who would be taking the class. All were dressed in very nice saris or salwar chamices (tunic top with leggings or pajama type pants). All seemed eager to meet us. The mood was festive. We began with a simple small panel fabric to use ... read more

Last night we stayed at one of AWAG's safe houses in a fairly remote part of Ahmedabad. We woke when the chokidar (watchman - helper) brought us some tea. We ate some apples we had brought with us and sipped our tea on a warm veranda. A nearby tree held the skeletons of kites felled during the previous month's kite fighting festival of Utarian. Monkeys skittered along the walls and trees, and the birds, traffic sounds, and daily living sounds were just so different from our quiet woods at home that it was pleasant to just soak it all in. It is good to see that the India we remembered from our trip in 1994 is still here. The familiar smells of cooking fires, neem trees, dust and whatever else it is that makes the aroma ... read more