Rain, Trains & Automobiles

Despite the power outage and the rain we have been moving full steam ahead and making some great progress on developing the business course.  

Over the last few days I have met many inspiring people who have helped to provide valuable input and feedback on the core skills the artisans need to know in order to be successful, how to make it immediately practical and transferrable (particularly given the literacy and numeracy challenges) and how to incorporate sales opportunities directly into the program. 

On Sunday Judy, Nilarijanbhai and I went to Bhuj to meet a number of Master Artisans who have successful businesses and are the Kala Raksha advisors. 

I got to see some Bandhani  - after the hours and hours of effort to tie each individual dot it only takes seconds to pull and see the gorgeous effect.

The night before Shankarbhai took Judy & I for a drive to Mandvi, which is a Sea Coast town on the Gulf of Kutch, only a kilometre from the Arabian Sea.  On the way you could see the effects of all the rain ...

We stopped at 72 Jinalya, a stunning Jain temple that has 72 separate shrines and has been under construction since 1982 – which they are still chiselling …

The town of Mandvi is famous for its 400 year old ship building centre where local carpenters still make ocean Dhows. 

 

The King of Kutch has a Summer Palace (as you do!) where there is luxury beach hut accommodation and a private beach. 

After our visit with the Master Artisans on Sunday, Judy and I boarded an overnight train to Anand, which is about 9.5 hours by train from Bhuj.  I consider myself to be a fairly independent traveller, but I have to say that this is not something I would have tried if I had been travelling on my own  – not that I did not feel safe, but it is pretty intense for a foreigner who cannot understand the language!  However, Judy is a pro at it and we soon found ourselves in Anand and heading to IRMA – the Institute of Rural Management. 

 

We met with the Director and several of the faculty and students who were all very excited and receptive to partnering with Judy and KRV to help with the program – we are looking at how we might be able to leverage their faculty &/or resources for a mutual benefit.   It was a great reinforcement of the value of the program and that our approach is on track … but it was also a great reminder to me of how much difference there can be between theories and concepts and the ability for people to make it practical in reality – which was something we discussed at length yesterday to try and bridge the gap.

What I found strange is that in each faculty members office they had these posters pinned up of the students ... this is each class group and they need to sit in this order / configuration for each class so that the teachers know who is who ...

Some of the students who had heard about Judy and Kala Raksha arranged an impromptu meeting so Judy could spend an hour with them to present her experiences and the amazing work she has done to preserve traditional art culture.

After a long day, it was back to the train station for an overnight journey back to Bhuj.  Here are a few pictures from the car window ... and plenty of Western Union sightings ...

 

 

 

 

I am now 9 days into the 14 and I can honestly say I am exhausted but really excited as I think we are going to have an amazing program that has the ability to change a lot of lives!