Madad Karo! (means "Help!" in Gujarati - pronounced: Muh-dud Kuh-Roh)

Wow – where did the time go? 

 

On Saturday I was feeling pretty comfortable with my progress – but by Wednesday I was in a bit of a panic!  The regular power outages in my first week had meant that most of my research and notes were handwritten and we had spent the better part of 3 days (Sunday – Tuesday) “out of the office” going to Bhuj to interview the Master Artisans, on trains and meeting with the IRMA faculty so suddenly I found myself at Wednesday and in desperate need of a few days of concentrated effort to pull everything together!

For those that know me, I am sure you can visualise that I converted my bedroom into one large virtual mindmap covered in flipcharts & paper … much to the amusement of the KRV staff & students! 

Every few hours I came out from my cave and joined them for Chai … seriously – I think I drunk more tea in the last two weeks than in the last 30 years combined!  At night we sat under the stars and enjoyed the home-made open air cinema. 

 

What I found fascinating was learning more about the traditions and culture of the area – and how those traditions are being preserved but also challenged by modern society such as …

·      The Caste system; which classifies people into groups based on socio-economic conditions and dictates what occupations a person can pursue, if they can enter particular rooms or places & share common plates & cutlery

·      Arranged marriage; still very common across India but is being challenged more frequently by younger generations

·         Gender roles & Social norms; for example at KRV the design classes are split between males & females and are held at different times conforming to social norms but there is now a greater tolerance and acceptance of a women’s ability to earn and provide beyond traditional gender roles

·         The changes to the Rabari nomadic way of life, living in tents or under open skies raising cattle, camels and goats

·         The traditional Rabari clothing & jewellery and how you can tell based on the embroidery, tattoos, type of jewellery or lack thereof who is married, widowed, has children, is in mourning etc

The students continued with their final class, Shwetha helping them finish their collections, design logos, complete photo shoots and prepare to present their collections to a panel of professionals at the KRV Mela & convocation being held in November – it was amazing to see the difference in their presentation skills and confidence from Day 1.

On Saturday, Judy, Nilarijanbhai and I went to Bhuj to meet with members of the Karvada, the male alumni from the design school and some of the most likely participants of the business course.  I presented the outline (with the help of Nilarijanbhai translating!) to get their thoughts & reactions on the learning objectives, key curriculum & activities  … drumroll please … Judy and I were really excited at their reaction– all of them thought the topics and content were “necessary” and practical – and they liked how we had built in opportunities to earn money throughout the course.  They all expressed a genuine interest in participating – to the point I think Judy will struggle to keep numbers down for the pilot!

Sunday was my last day at KRV, the students did a final presentation (and were brilliant) before Judy and I said our good-byes and were taken to Bhuj in order to make our way to Mumbai.  I only had another 24 hours in India, so on the Monday I spent a few hours at the Western Union / WUBS office with Anil and his leadership team before having a final farewell dinner with Judy and making my way to the airport to start the journey home.