Day 3
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..
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.
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.
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| Inside the Kasargod bus |
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| Our asset. |
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| 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.
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).
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 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.
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 place was crowded with people, more like village festival event- Theyyam.
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.
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.
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.
Our next destination was - Udaygiri weaving Center, a unit of 40 people worked under it.
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.
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.
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.
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| As the picture reads - KSRTC Bus Station Kasargod It was a bright day. |
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| We were going to see ... |
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| The road to Boodhalaya (temple) was very peaceful. |
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| 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.
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| On the temple top is Vyali. |
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| The temple facing towards east. |
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| This was seen in font of the temple, very unsure of what it meant. |
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| These were found near the temple. As said by the artist - they are the warriors guarding the temple, symbolically. |
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| The roof of the temple. |
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| Snakes sculptures near the temple. |
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| The Theyyam standee that I mentioned. |
The place was crowded with people, more like village festival event- Theyyam.
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| It was 9 pm and we din't want to leave yet.. |
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| 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.
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| Lija inquiring about Nellikunnu beach at King Cobra - Auto Stand. |
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| Nellikunnu Beach |
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| It was a bright day! |
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| He must have been wondering about what I was doing. |
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| 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.
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| Weaving a fishnet. |
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| Fisherman repairing a fishnet. |
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| 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.
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| Inside of a small hut. |
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| We had some tasty puri with aloo (potato). |
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| small memories .. big cheer... |
Our next destination was - Udaygiri weaving Center, a unit of 40 people worked under it.
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| 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.
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| She enjoys working with the team and it also helps being occupied during the day. |
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| The couple at work - Sudharame amma on the left and Narayanappa on the right. |
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| 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.
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| A pamplet that I got from Mr Ramesh KV. |
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| Mr Ramesh KV has won many awards for his Bombeyata shows. |
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| 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.
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| 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..
Seriously Epic, loved the Harry Potter reference :)
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