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Published: October 17th 2008
Door #4
wel-come (this is our teachers house where we ate lunch each day)With a little more than 2 weeks remaining before I.S.P. begins (Independent Study Project, I will fill ya in on that later), I have just realized that about half of my stay in India has come and gone. It is fascinating thinking back to all the things I have done and daunting to ponder all that remains to be done in that time (Hindi exams, Dance and Sitar recitals, Library visits, Final papers, etc.). Nevertheless, I am enthusiastically looking forward to all the days to come! Currently, it is Friday and I have a weekend of fun events planned! I will have a full Saturday of music: Qawwali in the morning, Sitar in the afternoon, and then (hopefully) a Jazz concert that evening....maybe dancing? Who knows!
A few days ago I returned from an excursion with four other classmates from a place in southern Rajasthan named Molela:
A bit about Molela:
A 12 hour bus ride to the Southeast from Delhi.
A village of about 3000 people.
Still very much traditional, most of the women cover their heads with scarves called "Dupatas" and a fair number cover their faces as well (when out in public).
The village itself is very
The studio
playin in the mud beautiful and vibrantly colored. I hope you like the pictures of a few of the doors I found in Molela.
While in Molela, I learned the traditional art of making terracotta plaques. For about 4 days I played in the mud and at the end I had about 7 different items that I fired and a few of them which I also elected to paint afterward...
As for sculpting:
Start by mixing water, donkey dung, and other ingredients on the ground. Then knead mixture by hand then stomp/mix with feet followed by more kneading and more stomping being sure to remove any rocks and debris that may have snuck in the mix. We (Sam, Andrew, Caroline, Emily, and I) watch intently as our teacher demonstrated how to make a plaque of Ganesha (God with the body of a man and the head of an elephant), then we tried to make one ourselves. Though, it wasn't as easy as it looked...(see pictures for the visual effect) I asked our teacher how long he had been doing this and he happily replied, "I have been working art for 15 generations!"
In addition to playing with muddy dung and making
Up close
Emily's Ganesha in progress plaques, we also tried our hands at throwing (spinning) clay. This clay however did not contain dung and was more fine than the previous recipe.
When not making bowls, plaques, or various gifts for friends and relatives back home 😉 we did find time to visit the Shri Nath Temple (a pilgrimage site) as well as the market surrounding the temple. While attempting to enter the temple itself, the men and women were split into two groups and as soon as the massive silver doors were opened, I was pushed, shoved, and otherwise squashed by the hundreds of devotees attempting to make it inside the temple and to get a better look at the deity and thus both give and receive blessings from it.
I am getting ready to be "on my own" here in India for the month of November. I have an idea of what I will study and where, but I will tell you more when I know for sure.
Please keep me updated with whatever happens in your life. It warms my heart and lifts my spirit to hear from you. I hope the coming weeks treat you well and you smile back
I throw
My first and subsequent cups i made while at the spinning wheel in return.
Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it!
Namaste.
Derek
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Frank
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Just chekcing in
I'm confused. Is #5 a door or a jar? Baaa-dum! Thank you! I'll be here all week! Have fun, little dude!