Bhuj, May31-June4, 2008

Things here have been pretty amazing, hot, but still amazing. We have seen many interesting things and spoken to several interesting people. To put it simply, sensory overload. I will start from where Stacey last left off and fill you in.
We left you at Ahmedabad , 43 Celcius and the Calico Museum of Textiles, which was fascinating, despite the limited viewing time. Seeing some of the museums here in Bhuj really put things into perspective for me and I appreciate the dedication to the textiles and keeping the museum intact even more.
The journey to Bhuj started with a 7hour bus ride, leaving at 11:15 pm. Right. We were thinking, what the hell are we going to do until 11:00 and how are we going to stay awake? Our trusty autoriksha driver, Manu, told us not to worry, he would get us to the right bus at the right time, both crucial aspects when traveling. He picked us up at 9:30. Now, I am not sure if he thought we left at 10:15, or if he had something else to do, no matter, we were an hour early. So, we stood in the stifling heat, watched the show going on around us and waited until 10:30 when we could check into our Luxury private bus. 10:30 rolled around and we checked into the bus, received the bus number and were told to cross the street to the platform, where the bus would pull up at 11:00pm. Luckily there was a somewhat clean although the bus was luxury, there was no toilet! Those of you who know me well know what I was thinking!!!
Boarding the bus wasn’t so bad, sitting down for the first time wasn’t so bad and falling asleep for the first time wasn’t so bad, it was the rest of the ride that was horrible! Not to sound like a snob, but I really can’t imagine what the public bus ride would have been like. I am not sure if this is because it was a night bus and I was, at least expecting to sleep a little or if I would have felt the same if the journey happened during the day, either way the ride was bad: hot because the A/C was turned off after we stared moving, uncomfortable because the seats were hard and the person in front of you was lying back, bumpy because the roads are in horrible condition, and of course loud because there were babies screaming and people talking. , ect.. The great news, we made it!
Bhuj is a little bigger than either of us expected it to be, which turned out to be a good thing because we have plenty of time to walk around and observe. It is a huge center for handicrafts and we have learned quite a bit of information from our conversations with the locals. Social enterprises exist here for many reasons and take many different forms. Three of which we have spent time learning about: Kala Raksha, the rural development model, KMVS, the cooperative model, and Shurjan the business model. As of now we have not met with Shurjan because we haven’t been able to locate it, but finding it is our goal for today.
Kala Raksha has a very interesting model. They called it the social rural development model and emphasized that it was NOT a business. Kala Raksha’s mission is to keep the handicraft tradition and culture alive while supporting artisans, they want to encourage artisans to continue doing their craft work. I could talk for hours about it, but won’t bore you with all the details. The most significant aspect of Kala Raksha, from my point of view, is the design school, which Stacey and I were lucky enough to sit in on. They conduct classes for both men and women and it is a year long process. There are six courses and there is no cost other than getting yourself to and from the school. Each course covers different aspects about textiles, design and market demand. After the six courses the graduates continue to be mentors in an alumni program. Kala Raksha helps to provide a platform where men can connect to resources to help sell their products while it is the direct resource for the women. There are village committees that decide the price of the textiles considering the materials and the time put into making them. At the office there is a library of old textiles, a health and education center and a retail store. Kala Raksha really is something special.
KMVS runs on the cooperative model, their aim is to give more fair wages to the artisans. Their quality is very nice and the design and color beautiful. This group has been really responsive to market demands and they have a shop set up in the hotel across the street from us. We have spoken to the employee over there to get his opinion on matters. We are still in search of Shurjan, but hopefully will have some news on that enterprise soon.
Yesterday we went to a palace, a little beach town and a Jain Temple, absolutely incredible. The temple was made of white marble and immaculately engraved, construction started in 1984 and will be complete in 5 more years, can you imagine!
Today we are off to find the post office and be, once again, overwhelmed with the sites, smells and sounds of Bhuj. Take care and we will be in touch soon!