Potter Later - The Final Call

Preparations at Pottery Town for the festival of lights!

Warm greetings to all of you who are reading my blog right now. I love and want to share my experiences (travel experiences or the meet new people, understand a new craft, understand the way of life) as it follows an insight that makes me happy. So here is another story of my visit to the very known - Pottery Town, also the Benson Town.

I had been to Pottery town in 2015 to document the whole of oil lamp (Deepa) making process on the occasion of Deepavali festival. On a casual working day in October we were called to a meeting around 9 30 am to visit this place and begin the documentation.

(Oh! to some of you all who have no idea of what I am talking about - I worked in National Institute of Design and the project dealt with documenting handicrafts- aiming to create digital learning environment for design. To know more - http://www.dsource.in).

We always had the time to research about the place we were going to visit and plan up the process to be covered (take videos I mean). Since it was informed all of a sudden we had to start early. Camera, handy-cam and a tripod were checked and taken.

As we reached this place, on either sides of the streets were displayed huge pots, men worked on -Tandoori Roti making- drums and a lot of oil lamps were kept to dry in front yard of the potters' houses. The place was full with the feel of festive rush already.

Sun kissed! what a beauty! 

We walked through the streets and noticed all the houses that had displayed oil lamps, interacted with potters informing the kind of work we were doing and also gathered information about them. Most of the potters were co-operative and few agitated when we tried to take videos. Some how we had managed to cover the basics on our first visit.

One or two months prior to the festival potters begin their work of making diya (oil lamps). The terracotta clay is mixed, nicely stamped and made ready for use. The making and the final outcome of the documentation is all loaded here in the link below.

http://www.dsource.in/resource/diya-making-diwali-bengaluru

We reached the SSC pottery house by 11 am on our second visit and continued the process. The potter was patient enough to talk while working on wheel, allowed to take pictures of them and all the products. They were kind enough to show their store where all the products were stacked. The way to this storeroom was quite interesting- we had to walk around a narrow path which lead to back yard of the house and then was a staircase that lead to the storeroom. It was a small room where variety of diyas were stacked nicely in boxes.

The SSC Pottery Works, where we met Mr. Chandrashekar (Potter) and his wife Mrs. Sumitra

At Pottery town was my first encounter with a potter, the sight of the artist - creating things on the wheel was so effortless and amazing. I never knew back then that this visit would impact deep within me and inspire to pursue pottery as my career later on. There, I only held a camera, clicked pictures to document and reported back to office to transfer all the data we had. Very little I knew that I would realize so much about working on a wheel like at present. I always enjoyed field visits because of the travel, the opportunity to meet people and interactions that lead to life lessons. 

It was a tea break and we went to this small tea shop that was at the corner of the pottery lane. It was a small space where 2 or 3 people could sit resting against the wall.

The kettle that was in the tea stall caught my eyes.

We had a cup of chai (tea) and biscuits here.

The articles were dry and ready to be baked. The kiln was getting set and to get a clear understanding of the baking process you must surely check the link I have mentioned above, it includes the making of oil lamps, drying and firing or the baking process (must check out their Kiln and wood firing if you are a potter as well).

The whole process is mind blowing to me. The potters sense and know how everything behaves, it is their observation skill. At the earliest, a non -potter would only see the final product and admire but as a potter myself at present everything in the field of ceramics is very interesting and involves slowing down to notice.

We were early to pottery town on our last visit, there was a common house that prepared breakfast for all the working potters, regular breakfast (Idli / Dosa with Chutney) was tummy filling. We headed to the kiln area to check if the products were being taken out.

Baking process - passed!

It was such a treat to see them baked and out of the kiln. They were further taken to paint and pack for selling. Pottery requires dedication and potters do it right.

We had finished covering (taking videos and photographs) and before we left the place I took a picture of random boys who were returning from school.

They were looking at the camera and I asked them to pose
(fun part of the visit is always meeting these curious souls)

Back then, I had enjoyed clicking pictures of the place, people and products they made. Do visit the site www. D'source.in and find more exclusive pictures that I have clicked, trust me they are good ☺. 

I never knew that I had the potter in me - I always wanted to be an artist! Though I went to an art school and took a degree in Applied Art (Graphic Design), I couldn't really get involved in the digital field as much as I can with pottery now. When something isn't right-one knows well and the sense of it must be considered without fear to evolve further.

Pottery on the other hand is a diminishing art. I hope the artists keeps it going.

I went through a rough phase definitely but I'm doing what I'm happy about and am on track I can tell.

To know more on how I began working with clay- you will have to wait until I write about it, if you are crazy kind and restless - Follow me on Instagram at sandonwheels.

Hahahah! Much love take care..
oh tis the season to be jolly and Merry Christmas! :)

Kasargod

Day 3 

We were heading to the new bus stand (from where we had to board Kasargod bus) in an auto and the auto guy made a quick whistle signalling a bus to halt. We quickly hopped in the Kasargod bus thanking him (din't forget to pay the auto fare as well).

Kasargod is 58.9 Kilometers away from Payyannur as I read in the Google. The bus ride was very thrilling; like I have mentioned earlier - narrow roads with super looking houses on either side were nice but what made it thrilling was that the bus zoomed through these streets, overtook other vehicles and made quick halts which totally reminded me of 'The Knight Bus' from Harry Potter's - Prisoner of Azkaban movie.  

Inside the Kasargod bus

Our asset. 

This I normally do :) 

By 10 am we were at Kasargod. We had to transfer all our data to hard disk and charge our batteries too to document our next session of crafts - took us 3 hours. 

As the picture reads - KSRTC Bus Station Kasargod
It was a bright day.

My friend from college and workmate then, posing with much happiness. 

The first craft to be covered was woodcarving at BC road. It was 2 pm as we got down the bus. The artists were busy working on the temple door as we entered. Marking the designs on the door (wooden board) - they chipped, carved and designed the required picture onto it using all the carving tools.

http://www.dsource.in/resource/wood-carving-kerala-0
(Check the above link if you wished to know more on wood-carving).

Kurma avatar, Varaha Narasimha and Sri Rama carvings on the wooden boards. 

 The designs began to reveal as the artist slowly chipped off wood, seemed very magical up close in my Handy- cam as I recorded the process. We went along with one of the carvers to document more on temple architecture.

  We were going to see ...

The road to Boodhalaya (temple) was very peaceful. 

A fruit that I saw on the way (pineapple perhaps).

We found a small group of men working, the person who came along (carver) and Lija (workmate from NID) had a small talk with them and the documentation of that place began. Temples were mostly called as Boodhalaya and were built inside the villages close to the nature - away from city area. We took some pictures of the temple that was being constructed. 

On the temple top is Vyali.

The temple facing towards east.  

This was seen in font of the temple, very unsure of what it meant. 

These were found near the temple.
As said by the artist - they are the warriors guarding the temple, symbolically.  

The roof  of the temple. 

Snakes sculptures near the temple. 

It was a golden evening, we were thankful to the carver who dropped us to Poinachi junction. From there we went to Battathur (Kasargod), the place where Theyyam happened. It was 7 pm when when I checked time in the auto. we found a huge standee with the picture of Theyyam as we got down.

The Theyyam standee that I mentioned.

The place was crowded with people, more like village festival event- Theyyam. 

Theyyam! 

It was 9 pm and we din't want to leave yet..

Everyone wore a Panche Shalya and I clicked a picture with this little one. 

We spoke to people and collected as much information we could on that particular Theyyam event that happened there and left. 8 30 pm - it was time to get back as we wouldn't find any transport later. 
In Kasargod people understood Kannada, so it gave me a feeling of comfort and communicated well. We took an auto from the Theyyam place to Poinachi circle and got on to the same bus that we had boarded earlier this morning to reach BC road from our hotel. 

It was 6 am when I woke up and got ready to set out for our final day of documentation. Nellikunnu beach was the first place in our list. It was 2 kilometers away from where our hotel was. 

Lija inquiring about Nellikunnu beach at King Cobra - Auto Stand.  

Nellikunnu Beach

It was a bright day! 

He must have been wondering about what I was doing.  

Beach, turquoise shoes and me, what a joy!

We were at the beach to find the traditional Weaver of fishnets.
The beach was clear and we found none who weaved fishnets yet. We headed half a kilometer further to find a small hut. Few men worked on the fishnet to set out for fishing. An old man was ready to show us the weave or making of loops (Fishnet loop) as Lija spoke to him. He explained us how the fishnets were weaved and made few stitches for us to document. We only recorded part of it as the net was already woven and was getting repaired. 

Weaving a fishnet.

Fisherman repairing a fishnet.

His lock sort of earring caught my eye as well ☺️.

We thanked this man for showing us the weaving. We had our breakfast in a small hut on our way back to the auto stand. 

Inside of a small hut.

We had some tasty puri with aloo (potato).

small memories .. big cheer...  

Our next destination was - Udaygiri weaving Center, a unit of 40 people worked under it.  

The Kasagod's Weaver's CO-OP and Society LTD. 
TRAINING CENTRE.

We met the head person and one of our teammate began interviewing. I head further to take a look and click some pictures of the center. The weaving process that we did earlier at Payyanur made it easy for us to understand the whole thing this time and quickly finish our documentation stepwise. After a round through the unit, I came back to the portico, it was a bright day as I observed. I sat leaning against the wall and a cool breeze brushed through my hair. My part of video coverage was done and I wanted to look at the pictures that I had taken in my cell phone. The pictures were good and gave a positive feel, unit on the whole looked very pleasant. There was a man who sung loudly with joy, and an old couple who came to work just to keep themselves busy and occupied. Everyone worked heartily.  
"What is there in gaining ? It is all in giving away" this strange line occurred to me and I was really surprised at this thought as it was out of the blue. We took a picture with the whole unit and left to the hotel. 

She enjoys working with the team and it also helps being occupied during the day. 

The couple at work - Sudharame amma on the left and Narayanappa on the right.

The Udaygiri Weaving Center team, Kasargod Weavers.

It was 4 pm when we headed out to do some window shopping as it was our last day. We walked through the MG road, Kasargod inquiring about Mr Ramesh KV as well, one of the Bombeyata members, for our final interview and documentation. We had to wait for sometime to see him (he had gone out on some work) when we reached his place.

A pamplet that I got from Mr Ramesh KV. 

Mr Ramesh KV has won many awards for his Bombeyata shows. 

He has visited other countries to give shows. 

The pamphlet has a line at the bottom that says - 'please join hands to save this art that is on the edge of extinction', this is sad, art like Bombeyaata is very little known to the urban people and is diminishing. We spoke to the artist, the interaction made me realize that he was an International award winner for Traditional Puppet shows and had visited China and England. He also had some students who came to learn the making of the Bombe (puppet). He dropped us close to the bus stand where we had to board the bus to Bangalore. We thanked him and clicked a picture. 

I'm so glad I have a picture with him, (with Mr Ramesh KV). 
A very well known Bombeyata member. 

This will be one of my favorite travel stories, for two reasons, 1- This was my very first field visit. 2 - For being able to witness happiness. It gave a lot of insight on and off field work. My actual journey began from this one..

Payyannur, Kerala

30 April 2015 - Day 2

We headed out with our cameras and found that Payyannur followed a 'Bandh' for some reason on that day. The result of which we had to walk till the artisan's place - visited a temple on our way - 'Shree Swamy kshetra' as called by the localite, otherwise Sri Subramanya Temple. It was very beautiful, we stood outside the Garbhagriha and the drum beats that played inside was elevating. One should definitely spare time to listen to the sound of Kerala drums. 

The Shree Kshetra Swamy Temple

Sri Subramanya Temple painting on postcard by Sand (me)

That ten minute visit of the temple was so energizing. We walked for another twenty to thirty minutes, getting some guidance we reached the destination. There was a man working with cement - building some kind of structure with help of two other people. Lija and us, we greeted them, and she probably spoke a little more about why we were there, in Malayalam. We were greeted well with some welcome drink (I'm guessing it must be orange tang☺️) and I began taping that cement structure as Vinodh explained about it. 

Mr. Vinodh Padoli is younger son of Sri. Padoli Govindan Anthithiriyan and has Masters Degree in Information Technology from University of Kannur. He decided to quit his IT job and contribute to the traditional craft work that the family was into. They were traditional craft makers in Payyannur who made idols of dieties in Bell Metal, Gold and silver, and everyone in the family contributed in making these brass castings. 

Sri. Padoli Govindan Anthithiriyan along with his wife and son at work. 

Mrs. Anthithiriyan appeared to be a strict lady who hardly smiled until that moment where we saw her shying away when we tried to tape her work. She took off, came in later to treat us with lunch. The house was beautiful with red tiled roofing with typical balcony with wooden cover. We sat on the dining table and Mrs Anthithiriyan alone served us with vegetable rice, curries and papad.  

Delicious appetite! Thank you Mrs. Anthithiriyan.

One thing I noticed about people here in Payyannur was they knew how to greet anyone with great smile and offer a glass of water. The water would slightly be reddish pink in color as it would be boiled with some ayurvedic roots. The lunch was delicious and Mr. Vinodh joked if we wished to have a nap. 

Water boiled with some ayurvedic roots. 

The piece of Brass casting that I'm holding is called as Vyali.

Mr. Vinod was working on the details using wax.

We documented the process of casting, detailed work with wax, clay coating and the furnace set-up. We were so engrossed in work and we hardly noticed the time. Luckily we had Mr. Anthithiriyan speak about bell metal craft by 5 in the evening which got us coverage for interview session. We had Mrs. Anthithiriyan talk as well as she was such an inspiring woman who balanced house task and Bell Metal works. We din't find her resting for a minute even and with such support from loved one will definitely bring out quality work that reaches another level.
Further information on Brass casting: http://www.dsource.in/resource/brass-casting-kerala

It was lovely to see such dedicated family who took pride in making bell metal crafts. It was 6 pm and Mr. Anthithiriyan had to leave to the temple (where he was the main Priest) and the rest continued with work. 

We quickly took pictures with him and he blessed us with good wishes for life. The process of buffing, the ones that we thought we had skipped were recorded before calling it a wrap. The day seemed completely occupied with work and amidst that I had managed to click some pictures of flowers grown on the portico and other things that caught my eye. 

Removing the outer cover of heated clay.

Some flowering plants.

Birds chirping and cheering.

Another kind of white flower. 

Brass Metal Door lock design 

Sri. Padoli Govindan Anthithiriyan

Around 7 pm we left their place. The moon walked along as we wondered why there were no street lights while heading back to the hotel. It was dinner-sleep routine once we reached.