Pottery workshop at Motorcycle Diaries Event, Sakleshpur

Hello,
hope the Christmas was cheerful and here I am with another experience - All set and good to go ...

28-12-2018

The sun was beautifully orange and hid partially itself in the grey clouds, it was 4:00 p.m. and we were on our way in a TT (Tempo Traveller) to this event called motorcycle diaries which was at Sakleshpur.

We were going to have our pottery workshop and the unexpected company we had was one of the bands who were going to perform in the event. The main person of the band- Sam spoke a lot. He had a reminiscence of Bengaluru during his 20's, spoke of snakes, evolution of snacks and breakfasts, and everything we saw would turn into a discussion with him. I am guessing he must be in his forties now. I was mostly in my own sea of thoughts drifting away from the conversations. Jerome and Samuel were part of the band too. Ambika and I were for pottery.

The travelling itself is always fun! The cool wind brushing on my cheek and my pup face near the window!
We reached the place around 7:30 p.m. 

Samuel is trying a selfie with Sam.

There was a signage that had motorcycle diaries and an arrow mark indicating the way for us to enter. It was dark, bumpy road and we couldn't tell where we were headed to, we reached Gagan's ( organizer) house and a little further to his place was the event going to begin (in their estate to be precise).

We shifted our materials into a room (built from metal sheets) and occupied quechua tents for ourselves to rest. Tents were on the other side of the DJ area (open fields of the estate). More than 30 tents were lined up for people who would register for this event.

Sam began strumming acoustics classic which was borrowed from Ambika and the rest of us star gazed. After a while Jerome spotted a wonderful star that flashed reddish orange colour and sometimes with blonde yellow. We stood in the open fields with darkness embracing us and star twinkling in seconds interval. Saw a falling star! We lost track of the twinkling star after a while, Sam was very happy and said it was a blessing that we were able to spot it. We headed back to the kitchen area to have dinner and the night was sorted.

Ambi had carried sleeping bag for me and I was lucky enough to sleep very warm. (I realised what to include in my next packing). 

29-12-2018

We woke up around 6:00 a.m. and view was beautiful as we got out of the tent. Everything that was in shades of grey last night appeared clear in the morning. There were trees around us, birds chirped (parakeets mostly) and the sun sparkled through the branches.

We sipped green tea under the metal sheet close by our tent (Ambi had carried set of green tea packets and a flask). Warm tea soothed the chill on our skin and slowly the day began.

We spent a lot of time near the DJ area, which was also dining space during the day. Everything was beautiful with lot of greenery around us. After a while, we walked down to the open field and decided to sit on a rock for sometime. Everything seemed to move slow - people were unrolling serial lights for the evening, food trucks that had arrived were all set, Karan ran here and there to get things done (I have no idea what was his role with motorcycle diaries) and Gagan was mostly answering queries about the event to people who had been calling to his cellphone.

We waited in vain for Karan to help us with supplies to set up the pottery space. Finally at 4:00 p.m. Dha (Gagan's father) took us to the brick factory to check and collect clay for the workshop. Consistency and the kind of clay for making bricks v/s pots vary. The one that was in factory had lot of stone particles, needed wedging and  removal of stones  as working on the wheel would become difficult. We had no choice but to make use of it. It was getting dark and with helpers of the estate we got the clay wedged. The serial lights were up and glowing in the dark, Ambi treated me with paneer roll from one of the food trucks and we observed the sound check that happened on the other side of the pond near performance area. One of the walls that was painted with neon colors glowed in the dark. I had painted a vase with a heart on it (symbolizing my love for pottery and signed 'sand on wheels' next to it and Ambi had done flames-studio_ataash logo). There was a pup whose nails were painted with neon colors too, his name was Brownie (he was rescued and brought to the homestay by one of the members of motorcycle diaries), they had painted him so as to identity him in the dark and avoid people stepping on him. We headed to our tents after dinner and dozed off. The day had passed slow tiring us with no work at all and we did what has to be done righteous - SLEEP! 

DJ area 

Quechua tents we slept in.

Open field and mood. 

Came out of our tent to witness sunshine. 

Samuel and I had got fascinated about this bike and there we were ...

Ambi with Romeo and Brownie (near the front wheel).

The brakes weren't working !

Chilling on rock.

Finally! We were here to collect clay. Brick factory. 

I was wondering if all that was clay when I got to see it. 

Glimpse of how the brick is shaped and cut. 

Glimpse of how the brick is shaped and cut.

Firing area where all the clay blocks are loaded to make bricks.

There was a small pond in the estate. 

Helpers (Sandhya aunty stamping clay for us).

Fooooood! Truck! hehe. 

View from the other side of the pond.

Neon colors glowing in the dark. That vase with a heart on it is mine☺️.

My hankie with neon colors. 

30-12-2018

The day started off well and our stall was getting set finally! While others left for a trek. Getting the junction box closer to the pottery space was a hard task but one of the helpers got it fixed. Around 1:00 p.m. the pottery space was ready!

The hand-pan musician - Chirag and his wife tried making miniatures (musicians playing hand-pan) out of clay. They spoke about music, metals, robotics and their love story!

Later in the evening Sam and I went on cycling - it was lovely! I could hardly peddle up the bumpy road so I had to get down and walk a bit. Vehicles zoomed once we crossed the estate gates but otherwise fresh air and long green trees by our side was energizing, took us about thirty minutes to cover one stretch forth and back to the estate. There was an old motorcycle (sort of Yamaha RX) that I'd enjoyed riding that afternoon.

We were done with pottery for the day as sun began to set. The bands had began their sound check and they were going to play for real this time. The first band who performed was called ' Why do ?' , they were good. The next was 'celestial' Sam's band, we cheered them and teased Samuel with his surname 'Naina' by shouting it out loud. Another band whose name I'm not aware of - played Billy Joel's song 'slow down' beautifully. We swayed and enjoyed the live music fully.

Studio_ataash on the way...

Our tumblers and other things that were displayed at our stall.

That's Ambi. (I had managed to make her turn. Candid☺️).

Pottery under the sun. 

That is Chirag - Hand-pan musician along with his wife. 

Set of tea cups that were for display.

Carved tumblers.

Ambi doing her thing☺️.

31-12-2018

This day was our last day at Sakleshpur as we had decided to celebrate New Year with our families. So Ambi and I had packed our bags first thing in the morning.

People began showing up around 11 a.m. One particular visitor I remember is the Ayurvedic doctor who said was from California. She had come to India to visit her family and spend quality time traveling with them. Staying focused, she tried a small bowl form and enjoyed the making process. I noticed rashes on her hands; she explained that it was due to the cold weather and I'm allergic to the sun! The meet cute of allergies - must I rejoice? I was happy that I received a heartwarming hug from the lady before she left.

Couple of them tried on the wheel, we kept the articles to dry on the wooden boards and began packing out pottery things as it was time.

Around 2:30 p.m. Rameshana came to pick us, Sam who was resting in his own tent came out to help us with carrying luggage. We bid goodbye to Jerome, Samuel and Sam (Our new friends) and left there around 3 p.m.

Oh I forgot to mention about this one person who seemed very happy and cheered. He was Anshul and he'd decided to call me Sunday (instead of Sandhya) when he had greeted us, what a funny guy I thought!

When Gagan had called me for the very first time to inquire about conducting pottery workshop, I was so excited that I missed inquiring all about motorcycle diaries event. All I knew was - the event was for 3 days and we'd be there for pottery workshop. The reality v/s what I had on my mind regarding pottery workshop was sad but on the counter I did enjoy doing other things. The thing we hadn't realized was that people wouldn't show up until the day - New Year's Eve, and reached the venue way earlier than on required dates, perhaps this drained all our energy and we wanted to return - staying there made little sense to us.

In contrary to my story - the event did do well. The food trucks did great - everybody ate, the brownie stall did awesome and we saw them sorting cash after their sale ☺️, there was also a workshop on making dream catcher by one of Sam's friends. Samuel had explained to me that events, especially the events with live music - new year's Eve, go very slow. But somehow, perhaps because we are workaholics we couldn't relax and get along .. (Ambi knew that events were going to be like it yet had taken up on my behalf). Thoughts kept rushing to me as we were traveling back, our stay had become an experience already and I came to an understanding of how to go about confirming or planning on further workshops! 

That said - things that saved us from boredom... 

Until I'm back with my next post - Love.