Khabar, Hemant ni | Issue 3 | 2021

ISSUE 3 | DEC 2021 V O L U M E 1 PAGES 19

EDITOR'S NOTE Dear all, it’s my pleasure to welcome you to the 3rd issue of our newsletter: ’Khabar’ that is ‘Khabar – Hemant ni…’

Firstly, let me wish you the greetings of a refreshing season: ‘Hemant’ – a season of ‘Short yet Warm Days with Long but Cold Nights.’

Your appreciation for our endeavour of creating a ‘Meaningful Dialogue with Society’ in the form of a newsletter really boosts our morale – ‘To go one leap further and to walk one mile extra.’

At present, we are celebrating the ‘Feminine Power’ of our society; therefore, in this and upcoming issues of ‘Khabar’, we are focusing on ‘Diverse – Distinct – Dynamic Females’ in the different fields who have contributed in the art and culture of Saurashtra.

On behalf of my team and the school, I sincerely thank you for supporting us and at the same time, I ensure that we will continue to produce quality work, for times to come!

Hope to receive your continuous support and constructive criticism; see you in our next issue of ’Khabar – Shishir ni...’

-Hakimuddin Bharmal

हेमंत सुनो, पपीहे ने सुमधुर प्रेमगीत गाया है खुश हो, शोख़ हेमंत का दौर आया है

इस में कु छ अज़ीब सा ख़ुमार है जैसेकी वो रुतोका राजकु मार है देगा हल्की-हल्की ठं ड भोर को क्यों की वो सर्द ओस पे सवार है

नये सुगंधी फू लोने उपवनको मेहकाया है खुश हो, शोख़ हेमंत का दौर आया है

गहेरी शांति और घोर अंधरे ा है प्रेमियो ं को प्रेम-पाश ने घेरा है दिनको शायद मिले कु छ गरमी पर रातको सिर्फ़ ठं ड का डेरा है

सुनहरी धूपने नयी सुबह को सेहलाया है खुश हो, शोख़ हेमंत का दौर आया है

खलियान फ़सलो से ज़ूम रहे है किसान ख़ुशियो ं को चूम रहे है

सब, जुज़र-जोसेफ और जगदीश

सज-धज के मेलो में घुम रहे है शरदपूनमके चं द्रमाने धराको नहेलया है खुश हो, शोख़ हेमंत का दौर आया है

तेरे होने से समा भी रंगीन होता है

तेरे साथ शायर भी सं गीन होता है

ए हेमंत, अब बिना देरी जल्दी आ

तेरे बिना ताईर भी गमगीन होता है - ताईर ०६-१०-२०२१

CONTENT

Editor’s Note

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Khabar, IPSA ni

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Former Fellows

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Vichaar-Vimarsh

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Hemant

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The first female Architect of Saurashtra

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Design Educator and Textile Revivalist

Late Shri Ilaben Lodhaviya

Judy Frater

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Classical Music Vocalist

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Educator

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Scenes from a night at Garud Garbi

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Thought-Scape

Dr. Dulariji Mankad

Shri Alaukika Raje Khachar

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Editorial Team Hakimuddin Bharmal Jayesh Shukla Devashree Jadeja Kavya Mankad Ishita Bhansali Manasvi Samani Mansi Agarwal Sahaj Dayani

About Cover Illustration “Krishna and the Golden City of Dwarka” from the Harivamsha (Geneology of Vishnu) Artist: Miskin (active late 1570s–ca. 1604) Designer: Kesu Kalan (active ca. 1570–1604) Medium: Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper Type: Painting Origin: India Date: ca. 1585 Period:Mughal dynasty Hemant Rutu is the time for celebration of cultures, beliefs, flora and fauna, of mere existence of life, across the country. The poem sings of the beauty and joy of this season. The cover for this issue is an attempt at the visual representation of the poem: depicting the mela - celebrated with dance, music and fireworks, it is a depiction of the budding warmth between the beloveds amidst the growing winters, of the papiha singing out of joy in the air, of the auspicious sharad chandrama, of the farmer elated after the harvest. The painting, Krishna and the Golden City of Dwarka has been taken as the base for the cover. The palace being symbolic of a piece of architecture of Dwarka, located on the western shore of Suarashtra region, painted in a traditional indian miniature style.

The original painting represents the mythical city of Dwarka, located on the western shore of Saurashtra region, where lord Krishna, an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, is enthroned on a golden palace and surrounded by his kinsmen. A pastoral scene in the foreground evokes a familiar village setting and a sense that the gods are present in everyday life.

This manuscript was painted for the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605) who was quite interested in other religions. Akbar had translations made of major Hindu texts, including the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata, known in its Persian translation as Razmnama (Book of Wars). This painting is from a section appended to the Razmnama known as the Harivamsa (Genealogy of Vishnu), which narrates the life of Krishna.

KHABAR, IPSA NI ipsarajkot@gmail.com

Joint Design Studio-V with CARE School of Architecture, Trichy August to September 2021 | 6 weeks Module

The Joint Studio Module of the students at IPSA was conducted with the students from C.A.R.E. School of Architecture, Trichy, Tamilnadu. The studio was a part of academic Semester 5. Through the studio, it was intended to initiate a student and faculty collaboration with another school of architecture in India. Teaching pedagogy of the studio focussed on student interactions and cultural exchange.

The studio was conducted by Ar. Riddhi Shah from IPSA and Ar. Anu Selvaraj from CARE under the mentorship of Prof. Neelkanth Chhaya. The program for the studio revolved around the notions of culture, context and architecture.

Online Discussion with Prof. Neelkanth Chhaya on the evolution of life and life cycles

Exchange of culture by sharing the local recipes of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat

Forum 33 with Architect Jeremy Smith: “Being finished is finished” 26 August 2021

Jeremy Smith is the Design Director of Irving Smith Architects, a research-based design practise working in sensitive environments throughout New Zealand and Ireland. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor with a design based PhD at the University of Auckland.

He joined virtually with the students to discuss various facets of his practice. Key to his practice, teaching and research is understanding how buildings inhabit an environment that constantly undergoes change, be it in the city or rural landscapes. And with Jeremy’s Soft Architecture comes the question; “Is being finished finished?”

Ar. Jeremy Smith

SCION Innovation Hub – Te Whare Nui o Tuteata, New Zealand by RTA Studio and Irving Smith Architects https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/industry/architecture-and-design-firms-to-watch-in-2022/

IPSA Annual Sports Week 29 September to 9 October 2021

Sports week is conducted to promote co-curricular activities. It is organized throughout the academic calendar in different phases. Students, staff and Teachers, all participate to have a competitive week. It included games such as Basketball, Volleyball, Carrom and Chess.

Basketball and Carrom games participated by students, faculties and administrative staff

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KHABAR, IPSA NI World Architecture Day - Guest Lecture by Meghal and Vijay Arya 4 October 2021

The Conversation was on “An Architect’s Quest for Dignity” where the architects take us on a journey of their explorations into architectural practice. Arya Architects is an Ahmedabad based studio by Vijay Arya and Meghal Arya. They give primacy to the context and the people, each project is shaped by the idea of “appropriate”.

In search of “appropriateness”; the practice led by them depicts the diversity in their projects and design language. The presentation showed a lot of competitions as well. These competitions were explored in a way where there was an amalgamation of academics and architectural practice; generating an appropriate design solution. Also, a few of the projects were shown where the interdependence of architectural practice on other agencies/ practices was discussed in detail.

Ar. Meghal Arya presenting their practice and projects

The presentation was a also a peek into their process around their quest for finding appropriateness in architecture

Art Exhibitions in collaboration with Karyashala, Rajkot

Karyashala is an organisation working with the aim of appreciating art, is run by two of our senior professors artist Jayesh Shukla and Ar. Gaurav Vadher. This platform curates exhibitions, workshops, talks & art camps.

This season, Karyashala and IPSA hosted four major art exhibitions : 1 | Remembering Raza 2 | Safar 3 | Abhivyakti 4| Rango na Prabhatiya

Remembering Raza 22 to 24 July 2021

Raza foundation celebrates the birth centenary of Modern Indian Master Sayed Haider Raza by exhibiting the prints of the works done by Raza.

This travelling exhibition was inaugurated by Dr Nitinkumar Pethani, Honourable Vice-Chancellor of Saurashtra University.

Saiyed Haider Raza

Prints provided by Raza Foundation

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KHABAR, IPSA NI Safar 26 to 28 August

It was a group exhibition curated by Karyashala to commemorate eminent artists across Gujarat, who lost their lives in the Covid-19 pandemic. The exhibition of their artworks was inaugurated by their family members.

Inaugurated by Family Members & display of the Artists' Works

Abhivyakti 17 to 21 September 2021

It was a solo art show by artist Mahendra Parmar who is an eminent artist based in Rajkot. He focuses on ‘Chilli’ as a subject and explores it through various forms, colours and media, for many years. His works are exhibited all over India and have been felicitated by numerous awards including Lalit Kala Academy, Gujarat.

Mahendra Parmar's work on the subject 'Chilli'

Mahendra Parmar

Rango na Prabhatiya 14 to 19 October 2021

It was a solo art show by artist Suresh Raval, a renowned artist based in Rajkot. The show focused on his work of ‘Landscape’ as a subject which he had explored in watercolour. He has been felicitated by Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi and for the last 43 years, he has been doing field paintings of landscapes in watercolour, oil colour and acrylic colours.

Discussion on the colours during the Inauguration of the Exhibition

Suresh Raval

Suresh Raval's work on 'Landscape' with watercolour

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FORMER FELLOWS deshalshah0408@gmail.com

Navrasa : Meaning & Significance Dissertation by Deshal Shah - Batch 2014

Rasa in Sanskrit means essence or taste. Abhinavagupta interpreted rasa as a “stream of consciousness”. Each rasa signifies a certain state of aesthetic consciousness. Rasa can be explained as the quintessential essence of a work of art. A process that involves both the creator and the connoisseur, the artist endeavors to achieve rasa in his/her work and connoisseur is in a position to intuitively recognize and absorb it.

A key text which deals with the bhava-rasa theory is the Natyashastra, attributed to Bharata-Muni (some academics believe that it is more likely a compilation by several different authors). He ascribed a divine origin to drama and considered it to be a fifth Veda, which primarily deals with theatre, dance & musical performance.

According to the Natyashastra, the major purpose of dance, drama, ritual and poetry is catalytic in that aesthetic performance and should provoke an emotion that is already present in members of the audience.

Considerably there are nine fundamental emotions referred to as Sthayibhavas which are: Delight (Rati), Laughter (Hasya), sorrow (Soka), Anger (Krodha), Heroism (Utsaha), Fear (Bhaya), Disgust (Jugupsa), wonder (Vismaya) and the Peaceful (Shanta).The realization of Rasa is said to be the result from the union of four interrelated elements – Vibhava (determinants), Anubhava (consequence) and Vyabicaribhava (complementary states) and Sthayibhava (permanent emotion). Relishing these rasa to its fullest is further considered with bliss for all the senses of a human being.

According to Kapila Vatsyayan, "Classical Indian architecture, sculpture, painting, literature (kāvya), music, and dancing evolved their own rules conditioned by their respective media, but they shared with one another not only the underlying spiritual beliefs of the Indian religiophilosophic mind, but also the procedures by which the relationships of the symbol and the spiritual states were worked out in detail." This is where the idea to develop spaces to view art of a certain rasa changes along with its emotions, lie. Hence, navrasa becoming the Indian cultural theory of art that reflects into architecture. a. Shringar : it is considered the mother of all rasa. It can be separated in two parts; in union and in separation (of beloved). b. Hasya: can be categorized as follows: gentle smile, smile, gentle laughter and excessive laughter, laughter of ridicule and vulgar laughter. c. Karuna: it can be usually observed after raudra. d. Veera: it can be subdivided into the following: dharmaveer, yuddhveer, daanveer and dayaveer. e. Bhayanak: it is one of the negative emotions and is close to karuna. f. Adbhut: it can be a result of veera. g. Raudra: it can be a consequence of some depriviation. h. Bibhatsya: it can be explained as disgust towards something i. Shanta: it was the last added rasa by Abhinavgupta. It is considered to be nihrasa.

Navarasa & Architecture 35

A small study was undertaken to understand the field of vision : the heights and distances subect to viewing.

With respect to following a module of 6m x 9m was derived, with smaller divisons of 1.5m x 1.5m wherever necessary for auxillary functions

Parts of a stor yline was studied in order to understand how can a narrative be created by the sequence of varous emotions.

Further program formation and a list of necessary spaces was made in form of diagrams as a reference to understand the placement of various functions, overlapping, proximity and tentative areas of the same. The spaces were further divided into smaller parts.

Various circulation paths were explored that could give the whole experience to users non obstructively and with ease of motion

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Few different instances of rasa: “Radha is shringara personified .When she is besides Lord Krishna all other gopis create bibatsa at brija.

She shows raudra when she thinks of gopika, the other woman surrounding lord krishana; hearing Krishna adventures and mischief, she displays adbutha; She exudes bhayanaka when she hears some asura has attacked krishna; She is an embodiment of feminine valour or veera .She is all hasya in the company of her beloved lord Krishna.Radha is full of karuna bhava when she is with gokul vasi. Everybody experiences shantha bhava when Krishna play his flute”. -Sociolinguistic study of navarasa, Abhinaya Varieties.

EMOTIONS AND ENVIRONMENT

Illustration by Rahul Thorat on Navarasa theme for 14th Annual Mumbai Film Festival

Theatre is not only a noun but also a verb, which means that it is not only a show but also an event. Creating surroundings for a scenario, it is not distracting the audience from the play rather by creating a place that is in harmony with the author’s thought, establishes an emotional behaviour for better perception or understanding. It stands further true in other forms of art as well, where the encompassing can become extended form of art. The surroundings helps generate a cognitive experience from the representational components.

It is necessary to derive spaces in between the black box like movie theatre and a white washed enclosure of museum, which can still engage a viewer and yet better, generate the same emotions of the artist in the spectator. It becomes important to engage all the senses in order to experience an emotion in its fullest. For this, the stimuli for each emotion is differently activated and nurtured from the start. This formalizes different response to exposed surrounding and the focal point.

Richness and minimalism can be obtained in such spaces through the material of construction and its construction technique. As the raw emotions are to be transcended in viewer, so should be the material which comes in contact of the senses. Solid and Void can be achieved through the light quality which and wherever required to give appropriate ambience. By means of portraying all the different talents of the city combined by one theory of aesthetics, it would also generate a platform of interaction beyond the bar of gender or age group. When all the nine parts come together it should give a new narrative for every visitor.

VICHAAR-VIMARSH kuldeep181197@gmail.com

Post COVID changes in Architectural Housing An article by Kuldeep Kundnani- Batch 2016

2020, the year of pandemic has led to several new questions and research in all the major fields. One of the fields that needs to be rethought is the architecture. With the advent of working and living requirements within the house, it needs to be relooked, rethought and reworked keeping the new functions in mind.

People have questioned the existence of huge office complexes and huge towers for the work of office. Adapting to this ‘new normal’, people have started the transition from their office environment to working in their own houses. The need for new office-house typology has come into picture where one can constantly shorten the bridge between the work environment and living environment and the transition between these two.

As architect, it is now one’s responsibility to consider these changes while designing of houses which have potential of both shared spaces as well as isolation rooms. The pre-COVID era where there used to be coworking spaces will reduce and the concept of ‘Bio Bubble’(A bio-bubble is a safe and secure environment isolated from the outside world to minimise the risk of COVID-19 infection) will increase. One of the major changes that would come is the need for an acoustic space within the room owing to the long conference meetings or the virtual education system. The need for a better natural environment would come into picture to avoid seclusion for an isolated person. Exploitable Rooftops, Sanitized entrances, natural light and ventilation, Disease repellent material surfaces are one of the few prominent changes that the world would see more now.

Architecture has been ever developing as per the need of the hour. Ranging from modular temporary hospitals to tackle Covid-19 or co-working spaces, this year has brought a drastic change in the realm of Architecture. The change for a residence to smoothly transit from a collective living environment to a cluster of isolated zones becomes essential to stop transmission.

An ideal home by Heath Robinson

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HEMANT mail4shivambhatt@gmail.com

Butterfly gardening and the season of Hemant...

Shivam Bhatt

“Huh, that was quite a cool breeze” I said to myself. It wasn’t only cool, it was a special kind of cool – the brisk, cool, earthy, subtly humid yet crisp character that only develops in the wind for a short time between monsoon and winter. Winter’s right around the corner, I think to myself. Rains are packing up to leave after drenching the soil with all the love that they had to offer and winter is silently lurking down the road to take its place - slowly creeping in, one degree Celsius at a time.

I want you to imagine your winter bedtime routine. Changing into something comfy, dimming the lights, climbing into bed and crawling inside the blanket. That’s precisely what the nature is doing – preparing for a sweet slumber during the cold winds that are about to blow. A beauty sleep, that will show its magic come Spring. Before shutting down, however, flora needs to make sure it makes a comeback next year. Especially the small plants that live just a year. Annual plants, as they’re called. These are the plants that germinate with rains, grow in the monsoon, quickly spread their seeds and die as the wet season bids adieu.

These small annual plants play innumerable roles in ecology, be it as forage or as shelters for small animals.

Butterflies are no exception to this and a lot of these plants are crucial for their survival. Butterflies feed on these plants and lay their eggs. Their caterpillars munch on these plants to grow into the winged adult. Their very existence is dependent on them. Which means, the butterflies are bound to follow wherever these plants are. This can be used to our advantage; to attract butterflies as per our will. This art of attracting butterflies and gradually creating a suitable habitat for them to reside in your backyard is referred to as Butterfly Gardening.

This type of garden is unique in that it is centered around the idea of inviting butterflies instead of putting a major emphasis on the aesthetic beauty of flowers and landscaping.

One of the most important elements in such a garden is the presence of wildflowers. A majority of these wildflowers and weeds are annual; and by definition, they go to seed as the monsoon bids farewell. These mature seeds are a treasure for butterfly gardeners. Small communities of butterfly gardeners like myself set out to collect these seeds of wildflowers that they’ll use the following year. Strategically planting them in backyard the following year will draw in butterflies from far and wide. And it doesn’t stop there. In all likelihood, these butterflies will breed there as well.

Such a butterfly garden adds a whole another aspect to any place. It sprinkles a little bit of ‘life’ over a run-ofthe-mill garden, for the lack of a better word. I mean yes, a clipped and plucked garden full of flowers and pretty foliage is clearly pleasant to look at, but to the eyes of a naturalist, it still feels lackluster. Its beauty seems to be completed only when complemented by motion and activity of various critters. ‘No garden truly blooms until butterflies have danced upon it’, says K. D’angelo, co- creator of ObsessionWithButterflies.com – and I concur.

A butterfly garden not only attracts butterflies but also lizards and dragonflies that feed upon them. These are the wrongfully villainized humble creatures that chomp away at all the disease carrying insects like mosquitos, cockroaches and flies to keep the community healthy at large. Then follow the birds, who are drawn in by the buffet of all these smaller organisms. Before you know it, the backyard turns into a biodiverse habitat in its own right.

This habitat can be an immensely powerful tool. For starters, it keeps the area disease free. Secondly, it regulates the moisture and temperature of its immediate surroundings. It also acts as a great learning tool for hands-on nature education. It acts as a small sanctuary for butterflies whose populations are already dwindling.

Such gardens always keep chirping, fluttering, buzzing and breathing with various forms of life which, although in my biased opinion, beats any other garden.

A few minutes of watering or even a leisurely evening with a cup of Chai in this backyard is no short of a short trip to a nature reserve. The fact that you have made all of this happen from scratch only adds to the joy. People learn about nature right in their own homes – children and elders alike. All of this combined make butterfly gardening a huge addition to anyone’s home. When all the sweat tuns a lifeless patch into a safe heaven for butterflies, even a single fluttering visitor makes all the efforts worth it.

Butterflies in my Dreams...

Painting by Kavya Mankad, 2015 Size - 11.7 x 16.5 inches Medium - Acrylic on Paper

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Illustration by Kavya Mankad Medium- Pen on Paper

A Contemporary Take on Navaratri : Celebrating the Female Strength in Society Khabar intends to understand and interpret Indian culture, especially through its festivals. This particular segment of our Hemant issue explores the contemporary meanings of the festival of ‘Navaratri’. We celebrate the feminine strength of the society by featuring nine amazingly inspiring women who have devoted their lives to fields of art and culture, in the region of Saurashtra and Kutch. We invited some of them to share with us their professional as well as personal life experiences and we are truly grateful to them for pouring their precious time and sharing valuable words of wisdom with us.

We respect the time and content shared with us by the dignitaries and hence, we have tried to publish it in its full length. Considering that, we divided this segment into two issues. Featured dignitaries for this issue are Late Shri Ilaben Lodhaviya (First female architect of Rajkot), Shri Judy Frater (Design Educator and Textile Revivalist), Dr. Dulari Mankad (Classical Music Vocalist), Shri Alaukika Raje Khachar (Educationist).

LATE SHRI ILABEN LODHAVIYA The first female Architect of Rajkot

Ilaben was one of the first female architects not only of Rajkot but entire Saurashtra. Her practice began after 1972 when she graduated from MSU, Baroda. She then shifted back to Rajkot. She also had a PhD in Music and a PhD in Law and was principal at a law college for a long time. Her architectural practice was named ‘Sthapatya Shrungaar’. The office was based in the old city and was mostly run single handedly by herself, similar to her parallel practices like that of Indubhai Parekh. It was a time when people built their homes by themselves.

There were many engineers and contractors who would design houses. The architect was a rare choice a user would make.

Although there is no on paper count or inventory of any of the architects of Saurashtra from that time, it is estimated that she had designed around 150-200 buildings that included houses and institutions like hospitals, temples and much more. Her work area was astonishingly diverse and that is a range hadly covered by any architect till date, specifically in the region of Saurashtra. At residential scale, she did projects with scope of architecture as well as interior design. Her hand-drafted drawings used to be all around her work place. She has designed health and religious institutions in many towns and villages of Saurashtra. Strong sense of geometry and peculiar facade treatments were some of the strong visual characteristics of her buildings. Spatial organization reflects clear translation of deep understanding of user’s needs and lifestyle; with influences from art deco period.

Along with built forms, she also worked extensively on water recharging at urban scales. Walking door to door, educating people about the need for water recharge through borewells; Ilaben became the people's person in Rajkot. People from many societies thank her till date for the water management she had initiated. She would sit with the policy makers and government officers to execute these borewells. Borewells near Hemu Gadhvi hall and race course ring road are some of the examples. She was an active participant in interview or talk based radio shows of Doordarshan and often got featured for her works in leading regional newspapers like Divyabhaskar.

This range of interventions at various scales speaks for not only the diversity of her practice but also defines the roles and responsibilities of an architect. An architect is not only the one who designs buildings but also the one who shapes the society - can be considered the core of her practice. The definition might change with time, but her mode of practice shall continue to inspire new practices.

Ilaben’s office was her first home where she would spend days and nights at a stretch. Fierce and fearless, she lived her life alone and met with an unfortunate accident at her house in Jetpur in 2018.

(All the information is based on a conversation with Mr. Sudhir Oza, one of Ilaben’s clients and a close friend.

This conversation was part of an initiative by Ar. Abhishek Panelia, Ar. Neerja Dave and Ar. Kavya Mankad)

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JUDY FRATER Design Education Pioneer | Founder of Somaiya Kala Vidya Judy Frater is Founder Director of Somaiya Kala Vidya, an institute of education for artisans. During this time she Co-founded and operated Kala Raksha Trust. She established the Kala Raksha Textile Museum, and founded Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, the first design school for traditional artisans.

Book: Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris Awards: Ashoka Fellowship, Sir Misha Black Medal for Distinguished Service to Design Education Discourse:

It has been so inspiring to read your achievements and work, can you please share your academic qualifications with us. What inspired you to take up this profession and how has it helped you to reach where you are today?

I studied with a Goldsmith in a program of Indian studies and got interested in the whole community and their relationship with their work. Then I also discovered embroidery while I was studying in India. And then I diverted from doing to talking about, so I got involved in Anthropology and I did my undergraduate work in the social studies program. That was an experimental era and they wanted students to try out new ways of learning.

So I said, okay, I will. The program was designed and implemented for students and so whatever I wanted to do I could do. But I worked hard. I worked one to one with an anthropologist, and then went to the University of Minnesota also, and worked with Ram Dayal Munda, who was instrumental in the formation of Jharkhand.

But he was teaching at that time in the US and I was studying folk, mythology, Marathi, Hindi and so on. I got immersed in India which gave life to my studies. So I did my master’s in Anthropology and kept on coming back to India for a year and a half or so. I also did my second master’s degree in Anthropology and museum studies in the anthropology department.

Can you please share about your journey from your birthplace to the workplace?

American by birth, I started my college in fine arts and I was already experimenting with a lot of textile and textile crafts at home. While I was a freshman, first year of college, I had an opportunity to go to India in a study abroad program in the 1970s. I was planning to learn better boutique dyes in India. I was also interested in the traditional aspect of the craft so I continued studying with Goldsmith.

What was your aim when you started?

I was following how traditional art expresses the identity of people, not an individual but can be called ‘Cultural Heritage’. Then I worked as a curator at a textile museum in Washington DC. And during that time, I got a Fullbright grant to a fellowship to come back to India. Again that was when I started working with my previous research on Rabaris and their embroidery and did my second thesis. I later wrote a book ‘Threads of Identity’ about how you can read the history and culture of people through their cultural heritage.

During my interview, one of the artisans asked, why are you studying us? Why don’t you help us? It was like “Whoa!!”. I got a completely different perspective where I was looking at cultural heritage from a distance and she sees it as a part of her life! That was a turning point for me.

I was against the commercialisation of craft traditions which I thought was going to kill the tradition. But Dayaben (interviewer) wanted to earn more money and I wanted to find a way where they can earn better and can preserve their traditions by not just being a worker. So that was the intent of the Kalaraksha from my point of view anyway. And I started a museum there because that's what was needed.

Since you are born in a very different cultural context, share with us your perspective and experience about the craft community in India.

Working closely with these women artisans I got to know that it's like you peel away the layers first, you see, the initial problem was money. They need more money and by solving it I found other issues which were all interconnected and I got immersed in them. I saw that healthcare was a problem so we started working on it.

Another issue identified was the education of their children. We began to educate artisans so they can educate their children. In the literacy program, there is the liberty of choosing subjects so we choose healthcare and integrate that.

Crafts are a prominent part of Indian culture. What role do these Artisans play from your experience and what kind of struggles do they face?

I had been thinking of bringing in designers to work with artisans and it was often an uneasy kind of relationship. This brought me an idea for a design school for artisans. Why do we need to bring in designers?

What if artisans learned what designers learned?

But when the earthquake happened, it was devastating; but there’s always a cycle of destruction and creation, right? So it was a time when things could happen, partly because so much money was being poured into Kutch.

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JUDY FRATER Someone nominated me to be an Ashoka fellow, it’s a fellowship given to people who have an idea that has the potential of making social change. My idea was to start a design school for artisans. The main motto was that artisans should get all the expertise as designers get as they have skills that run from generation to generation.

Talking about the relation of craftsmen and designers, there is a pyramid of commercialization and craftsmen are often seen at the bottom of it as labourers. What is your take on this?

My goal was to enable artisans, to see the origin, to go back to what they originally were, you know, they didn’t need designers. If you look at any of the traditional work, it is amazing, who designed it? It was very dynamic and the artisans were using their capacity and they were being recognized and appreciated. So I thought if artisans can design, create and directly market their work, which first of all, gives them more money, of course; but secondly, also gets them more recognition, which is also important. That’s another important part of empowerment.

When I moved the school to Somaiya Kala Vidya, I realised at the Kalaraksha, we had a sort of captive audience.

We had men’s and women's classes separate, which I think was an important thing at that time in those traditional communities for several reasons. Women can have different relationships with their art. They did amazing work for colour rock shops and they had little opportunity to tap into the potential they had reached.

How would you describe the condition of artisans concerning today’s market?

I think to me design has to do with communicating between makers and the users. They could be the same or they could be different, but they have to know each other and that is important. That is again a challenge and that’s what makes it interesting. One of the issues of artisans in contemporary markets is that they are not familiar with the market that they need to target. So our programme bridges the gap by familiarizing them, by opening them to the market. You knew who the client was and you knew what their lifestyle was and you adjusted because it was very organic but now it has to be sort of more consciously learned.

Women being imparted Design education at Somaiya Kala Vidhyalaya Photographs by Judy Frater

Gender roles are also a reflection of its community. What are the constraints imposed on this community and what were the opportunities they had historically?

I had small committees for limited women who could design for the season. But it was problematic to fully recognise and appreciate those women. And you could only have a few doing that work. I was trying to work on it and in India, women from those embroidering communities, which are our traditional communities, have huge hurdles. When you think about being truly independent and running a business you need separate classes for these embroidering communities. Women as they have different relationships to art, different educational levels and different experiences. All these obstacles that a one year of education couldn’t overcome. So when the school moved to Somaiya Kala Vidya, we didn’t have women anymore. It was really hard to find women who even imagined themselves as independent entrepreneurs. We have not a single embroiderer that takes a design course. We had a postgraduate course in business and management, and seven women graduated from that and they were fantastic and they are running their business. We started getting Kutchhi Bandhani artists and even weavers which was exciting because those communities hadn’t had opportunities before. So it’s not only about women, it’s about their communities as well.

Designers are a part of our creative society. Can you brief about the relation to artisans and how this relation ratio will help to sustain craftwork and be a part of this larger craft community?

I think a lot of people feel that designers are essential to sustaining craft traditions. I don’t feel so because they first, as I said, weren’t there from the beginning, Right! And when you have a designer working with an artist there's an automatic vertical hierarchy, that the designer is there, their knowledge is more valuable than the artisan’s knowledge. And the artist becomes a worker and an artisan.

Think about it in any situation when somebody is working for someone they’re not going to reach their full potential, they’re going to do what's required of them. They’re not going to think much more. But if it’s their enterprise, it’s very different. They’re much more, they have to be more active or else they won’t survive. That’s one aspect.

The other aspect is the traditional aspect. Honestly, the professional designer doesn’t care about tradition, not you know, they care about the market. They care about making sales survive, but not in terms of keeping a tradition alive. And I think my belief and the program that I founded is based on this: if someone is working with their cultural heritage, they will automatically carry it forward. They don’t want to throw it out because it’s part of their identity. So they will find ways where they carry their tradition forward and be successful. So that’s the challenge. That’s the brief, I think in our program, we do emphasize cultural heritage.

Many upcoming design students are engaging with crafts. How can they get involved in this process which has passed from generation to generation and how it will affect craft and its people?

We begin with ensuring. We ensure students value their cultural heritage. Craftsmen always think about retaining their identity, making a new design that somehow keeps their identity ingrained. And then, because they love their tradition we have to broaden our idea of tradition. A lot of times people think, well, it has to be what I have seen. Before you saw it, it was something else. There is this piece designed by one of the graduates of the program. So he feels comfortable with it and even artisans do.

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JUDY FRATER I’ve learned everything that I know about it from artisans. Interestingly, I’m soon going to be teaching a course in which we have American students, design students, mostly Indian artisan designers, graduates of our program, looking at objects in museums together. And I think the point is that they see things differently and artisans differently. There are many details that makeup anything and that is important. The person whose cultural heritage it is can say that we did this.

We were talking with a group of students somewhere and we had a whole bunch of objects of Ajrakh. The most traditional one and the one that is made in polyester and many more. We had them all there. If we ask, you could get confused. Who has the right to define these materials and techniques? I feel the person whose cultural heritage it is, must have that right. I think it’s outrageous if somebody else makes the decisions.

Share with us your experience of working with artisans as a woman from a foreign land.

Yeah, I am a woman and a foreigner, both of these things have restrictions and advantages too. I think for the most part I could use them to my advantage within the craft community because I had a personal relationship with the artisans. They had accepted me for who I was, what I was.

The first year of school was very difficult because I was trying something new which has no precedent. There was no success or failure to show, I think blindly into this and it was a great leap of faith. Until I could prove it, it took a few years for results to show up, that was difficult. But I respected artisans and so they respected me. It was never a problem inside this community as it was outside where I was seen as a foreigner. They treat me as if I don’t know anything, they speak very patronizingly.

As a woman in a man’s world, well as you know it’s difficult but in India, I think if you stomp your foot and be assertive then people will listen to you, most of the time. You have to be in India and if you relax from that moment, it’s all over. It’s true all over the world. As mentioned, if you want to figure out where you are yet to prove yourself and don’t know where the institution might work or not; since these are experimental works, not very known fields. You have to evolve your method of working.

Women at Somaiya Kala Vidhyalaya Photographs by Judy Frater

So yeah it’s a very difficult stage and if you are doing anything new make sure you have success because success builds success. Take it slowly but make sure you succeed, because if you don’t you will have to work at more than twice as hard again.

What issues do you see currently in design education being imparted to artisans and how do you think young people like us can help overcome those issues?

See factor is finance. I don’t think that I can’t foresee the near future, that the artisans would be able to pay for what it educates them. If we offered the true cost nobody would come. So the challenge is to find out a way how we could finance. It’s not that they don’t value their education, but they have to be realistic. So that’s one big hurdle.

The next issue is going to be to find an appropriate market. There have been up to 200 graduates and some of them are those women so you might have to subtract them. That’s 60 or 70 but the rest of them have been able to tap existing markets and make it work. These graduates, when they are in college or their final term, do creative and fresh work but as soon as they go into these markets they start doing the regular work that everyone does. I think this goes for all the designers.

This is one thing you have to have the courage to do something new as you don’t know if it will succeed or not and education will help you with this. You should become a leader who leads the way. This applies to all the designers and it’s hard to build a brand.

Do you have a message for our ‘Young Designers’?

I think the best thing I can think of is co-design, but a lot of things are called co-design that I would not agree to; because a lot of times it's like, I'll design it and you'll make it and call it co-design, but that's not co-design and artisans know that too. So how do you come to that level? You co-design when you have an equal level.

How do you come to that equal level? The artisans have to come up and there has to be mutual respect and communication. If you're going to collaborate with anybody, you need to have equality, otherwise, it's not going to work.

We work with designers in a co-design format then, How do you sell it? How do you manage the profits?

There's lots of stuff to negotiate. Not, only the design, but the whole business aspect of it. So it's a long and slow process. Somebody once asked me when they were going to go to a certain design school to help redefine the curriculum. What should be in it? I said I think they should teach co-design. If you're talking about sustainability, that's a sustainable thing but it takes time and patience and everyone wants the shortcut, the quick reward. It's much easier just to tell artisans what to do and get it made and sell it. It's easier for everybody in a way, but it's not sustainable. And in the end, I don't think it's quite as gratifying. I think when you get genuine satisfaction from your work, you'll keep on doing it, right? If it's only about money, you'll go wherever you make more money and you will see artisans. I talked to someone once a long time ago and she said that weavers were lazy. And I said, why do you say that? She said they would rather work in an ATM.

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DR. DULARI MANKAD A Musician by Passion and Profession Dulariji is a trained classical vocalist who runs a music acdemy in Rajkot and teaches over 250 students worldwide. It was interesting to interview regarding her passion for the art with team Khabar

આપના ઉછે રમાં સૌરાષ્ટ્રનાં કળા-સંસ્કૃ તિનો શું ફાળો રહ્યો છે ? સૌરાષ્ટ્રમાં સંગીતના ઘણા પ્રકાર છે જે એક અલગ લાગણી ઉત્પન્ન કરે છે . મારી શિક્ષા વાદનમાં થઇ છે . આ ઉપરાંત લોક ડાયરો, સુગમ સંગીત, કાવ્ય સંગીત, લગ્નગીત અને ભજન વગેરે. સૌરાષ્ટ્રમાં ઉછે રને લીધે આ બધુ જ નાનપણથી સાંભળ્યું છે અને એનો મારા પર અને મારા સંગીત પર ઘણો પ્રભાવ રહ્યો છે જે મને મારા કામમાં પણ અનુભવાય છે . સંગીતમાં જોડવાની શરૂઆત કઈ રીતે થઇ? મેં ૪ વર્ષની ઉમરથી શોખ તરીકે કથક શીખવાની શરુઆત કરી. શાળાનાં શિક્ષણ દરમિયાન ગાયનમાં પણ રુચિ પડી. કથક અને ગાયનનાં શિક્ષણ દરમિયાન તબલા શીખવાની પણ જરુર જણાઈ. સંગીતની વ્યખ્યા જ એવી છે કે "ગીત, વાદ્ય અને નૃત્યનો સમન્વય". હુ M.Com ભણી છું એટલે એવું વિચાર્યુ ન'હોતુ કે સંગીત તરફ જ વળીશ. સંગીત વિષય પર કઈક કામ કરીશ એટલું જ વિચાર્યું હતું. ત્યારબાદ PhD કર્યું અને ધીરે ધીરે સંપૂર્ણપણે સંગીત તરફ વળી ગઈ. આ ઉપરાંત સૌરાષ્ટ્રમાં જ રહીને, રાજકોટમાં જ રહી ને સારા ગુરુઓ મળ્યા અને હું હજી પણ શીખું જ છું. આપે ૪ વર્ષની ઉંમરથી શીખવાની શરૂઆત કરી, ત્યારથી અત્યાર સુધીનાં ઉતાર ચઢાવ અને અનુભવ વિશે જણાવશો. ૪ વર્ષની ઉંમરે તો કોઈ ખ્યાલ ન હતો કે શું કરું છું પરંતુ મારા માતાશ્રી કે જે શિક્ષક છે , એમની પ્રેરણાથી હું અને મારો ભાઈ દર્શન, અમે બંને સંગીત તરફ જોડાણા. દર્શને પણ તબલામાં MPA કરે લ છે અને આથી ઘરનો માહોલ જ સંગીત તરફ વળતો ગયો. આ બધું ભણવાની સાથે કરવું ઘણું અઘરું હતું. ક્યારે ક પરીક્ષા સમયે થોડો સમય બંધ રાખવું પડે એવું થતું પરંતુ સંગીત માટે નો રસ અને પરિવારના સહયોગ થી ચાલુ રાખવું શક્ય બન્યું છે . મારા માતા પિતા અને ભાઈનો નાનપણથી ખૂબ જ સહયોગ રહ્યો છે કે જેને લીધે કપરો સમય પણ સરળ લાગે છે . તમે ૧૨ વર્ષ પહે લા આ સફર ની શરૂઆત કરી; તે સમય અને આ સમયમાં શું તફાવત છે ? અહીં સૌથી મોટો તફાવત એ છે કે હવે ના સમય માં ઘણા માધ્યમો થઇ ગયા છે . ત્યારે YouTube ન હોવાથી રે કોર્ડિંગ મળવા અઘરા હતા. પુસ્તકો માંથી માહિતી મળતી, પરંતુ એટલા બધા કલાકારને મળી કે સાંભળી ન શકાતું. આ ઉપરાંત હું ડિજિટલ માધ્યમ થી વિદ્યાર્થીઓ ને શીખવી શકું છું અને એ બાબતે ખાસ ધ્યાન રાખું છું કે જે અમારા સમયે જે ગાવા કે વગાડવાની અડચણ હતી એ એમને ન પડવી જોઈએ. વિદ્યાર્થીઓ માટે આ ખૂબ સારો બદલાવ છે . સંગીતના ક્ષેત્ર માં મહિલા હોવાથી કોઈ સગવડ કે અગવડનો અનુભવ થયો છે ? આટલા વર્ષોમાં મહિલા હોવાથી કોઈ અગવડ પડી એવું નથી. એક ફાયદો ચોક્કસ છે કે આજના સમય માં મહિલા ગાયકનું માન અને આર્થિક વળતર પણ વધારે છે .

સૌરાષ્ટ્ર ની કલા અને સંસ્કૃ તિ ને તમે કઈ રીતે જોવો છો? સૌરાષ્ટ્રમાં હવે યુવાનો સહીત ઘણા લોકો કલા ક્ષેત્રે શિક્ષણ મેળવે છે અને તેને એક કારકિર્દી તરીકે પણ જોવા લાગ્યા છે . આ સાથે ઘણા કાર્યક્રમો પણ થવા લાગ્યા છે . બસ એક ખામી લાગે છે કે ખાસ કરીને સંગીતના ક્ષેત્ર માં કામ કરવા માટે નું વાતાવરણ નથી, એ આપણે મેળે જ ઉભું કરવું પડે છે . હું ૧૨ વર્ષથી કામ કરું છું; કામ તો થાય જ છે પરંતુ એક વાતાવરણનો ક્યારે ક અભાવ જણાય છે . આ ઉપરાંત સંગીત છે એ સાધના નો વિષય છે અને કોઈ કલાકાર વર્ષોની સાધના બાદ જે તે ઉપલબ્ધીના સ્થળે પહોંચ્યા છે . પરંતુ આજકાલ સોશ્યિલ મીડિયા ના પ્રભાવ ને લીધે શોર્ટકટ થી ઓછા સમયમાં બધું શીખી લેવાની ઈચ્છા લોકોમાં વધારે જોવા મળે છે . એવો મારો અનુભવ રહ્યો છે . શ્રી એકે ડેમીની શરૂઆત બે વિદ્યાર્થીઓથી થયેલ. આજે આ સંસ્થાનો લાભ કે ટલા લોકો સુધી પહોંચ્યો છે ? બે જ વિદ્યાર્થીઓ થી શરૂઆત થઇ હતી, આજે ગુજરાતના વિવિધ શહે રો તેમ જ દેશ અને વિદેશના મળી ને આશરે ૭૦ થી ૧૦૦ જેટલા વિદ્યાર્થીઓ છે . હજી સુધીના કુ લ વિદ્યાર્થીઓની સંખ્યા આશરે ૨૫૦ જેટલી છે . જેમાં વોઇસ કલ્ચર જેવા ઓછા પ્રચલિત વિષયોનો પણ સમાવેશ થાય છે . આપ વિવિધ દેશ પ્રદેશ ના વિદ્યાર્થીઓ ને સંગીત ની શિક્ષા આપો છો તો ભાષા ની કોઈ મુશ્કે લી? આપ વિવિધ દેશ પ્રદેશ ના વિદ્યાર્થીઓ ને સંગીત ની શિક્ષા આપો છો, તેઓ આપ ની સાથે કઈ રીતે જોડાય છે ? આ કરશે online અને offline બંને રીતે ચાલે છે . લોકડાઉન સમયે એક અઠવાડિયા માટે અમે online પદ્ધતિ અપનાવેલી અને એ ખુબ જ ઉપયોગી બન્યું છે . સંગીતના ક્ષેત્રે સૌરાષ્ટ્રમાં કઈ બાબતને તમે મુશ્કે લી કે અડચણરૂપ અનુભવો છો? સૌરાષ્ટ્રમાં વિદ્યાર્થી અને કલાકાર બંનેમાં સગાવાદનો પ્રભાવ જોવા મળે છે જે ખૂબ નડતર રૂપ છે . તમે સ્વ-પ્રચાર કરો તો કામ અને ખ્યાતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે પરંતુ એ સિવાય ઘણા એટલા જ સારા કલાકાર છે જેમને એટલી તકો નથી મળી શકતી. સગાવાદ અને કાકલૂદીને લીધે આ એક મોટી મુશ્કે લી અહીં જોવા મળે છે . કોઈ કલાકાર સામેથી કામ માંગવા નથી જતા હોતા આથી એમના માટે ની તકો ઉભી કરવી જોઈએ. જયારે લોકોની રુચિ ફિલ્મી ગીત તરફ વધારે છે એવા સમયે તમે શાસ્ત્રીય સંગીતની સંસ્થા ચલાવી રહ્યા છો. આવા સમયે શાસ્ત્રીય સંગીત કે લોક ગીત તરફ લોકોની રુચિ વધે એના માટે આપણે શું કરી શકીએ? આ જાગૃતિ લાવવા માટે શાળા અને પરિવાર બંનેમાં એક માહોલ ઉભો કરવાની જરૂર છે . જેમકે નવરાત્રી જેવા સમયે આપણી આસપાસ ઘણા પ્રકારના સંગીતની હાજરી જોવા મળે છે તો ત્યારે બાળકોનું ધ્યાન એ તરફ દોરી શકાય, મણિયારો બતાવી શકાય. શ્રી એકે ડેમીમાં પણ ઘણા લોકો એક કે બે ગીતો શીખવાની માંગ સાથે આવતા હોય છે . આ વિચારધારામાં સોશ્યિલ મીડિયાનો પણ થોડો પ્રભાવ છે . શાસ્ત્રીય સંગીત ખૂબ સમય માંગે છે આથી ઓછા લોકો જોડાય છે પરંતુ જે જોડાય છે તે ચોક્કસ ખૂબ નિષ્ઠાથી કામ કરે છે . આપણી કારકિર્દી માં પરિવારના સહયોગ બાબતે જણાવશો. નાનપણથી જ દરે ક બાબતે પરિવાર નો ખૂબ સહયોગ રહ્યો છે . કોઈ ક્લાસમાં લેવા મુકવાથી લઇને ઘરના માહોલ સુધી બધું જ ખૂબ મદદરૂપ રહ્યું છે . ઘરના વાતાવરણને લીધે જ મને સંગીતમાં રુચિ ઉત્પન્ન થઇ અને એમના પ્રયત્નો અને સહયોગને લીધે હું આ કારકિર્દીમાં ઉત્સાહપૂર્વક એટલા સમયશક્તિ આપી શકું છું. મહિલા તરીકે કારકિર્દી કાળ દરમિયાન લગ્ન એ એક મોટો પડાવ હોય છે અને ક્યારે ક લગ્ન બાદ કામ ઓછું થઇ જાય અથવા છૂટી જાય છે . આ બાબતે આપનો સમાજ સાથેનો અનુભવ જણાવશો. મારુ એવું માનવું છે કે તમારા કામને સમજી શકે એવી વ્યક્તિનું મળવું ખૂબ જરૂરી છે . હું માનું છું કે તમે ખુશ રહો એ જરૂરી છે , તો જ બીજાને ખુશ રાખી શકશો. સંતુલન ચોક્કસ થવું જોઈએ પરંતુ કામ છૂટવું તો ન જ જોઈએ. સમાજની આશાઓ ક્યારે ક અલગ હોય છે પરંતુ તમે જેમાં ખુશ છો એ કરવું જરૂરી છે . હું તો ખૂબ સહભાગી છું કે મને સંગીત ક્ષેત્રે આટલું કામ કરવાની તક મળી છે . સૌરાષ્ટ્રની કલા અને સંસ્કૃ તિ બાબતે યુવાઓ ને આપ શું સંદેશ આપશો? હું એવું કહીશ કે આપ કોઈ પણ પરિસ્થિતિ કે પ્રદેશમાં હો, કલા કે સંસ્કૃ તિ ના ક્ષેત્રમાં જો કારકિર્દી છે તો એ જ તમારી ઓળખાણ પણ બની જાય છે આથી એને ક્યારે ય બંધ ન કરવું; ક્યારે ક ઓછું કામ થાય પણ બંધ ન કરવું. ઓછું વિચારો અને કામ વધારે કરો ! એ જ સંદેશ છે . 'ખબર' બાબતે આપનો શું અભિપ્રાય છે ? ખબર ખૂબ જ સારું કામ કરી રહ્યું છે , અને અનુભવ સાથે વધુ શીખવા મળશે. તમે સોશ્યિલ મીડિયાથી મંડીને વિવિધ દેશની વિવિધ સંસ્થાઓ સાથે જોડાઈને આ માધ્યમો દ્વારા તેને વધારે લોકો સુધી પહોંચાડી શકાય. તેમજ એમના અભિપ્રાયો પણ મેળવી શકો છો જેનાથી તમને લોકો શું જોવા અને વાંચવાની ઈચ્છા ધરાવે છે એ જાણવા મળશે. તમે અનેક કલાકારને મળી શકો અને હું ચોક્કસપણે કહી શકું કે સૌરાષ્ટ્ર અને કચ્છના ઘણા કલાકારોને તમારી સાથે જોડાવાનો આનંદ થશે. આગળ જતા આ મોટુ ં વૃક્ષ બનશે.

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SHRI ALAUKIKA RAJE KHACHAR Educator | Former Principal , Rajumar College Rajkot Shri Alaukika Raje Khachar belongs to the royal family of the Gaekwads in Baroda and is married in the Royal family of Khachar in Jasdan. Always surrounded by a rich repository of cultural heritage her interests lies in imparting education to the young minds. Below is a short conversation of the Khabar team with her.

Growing up in a cultural city like Baroda, that too coming from the Royal family of the Gaekwads, How do you think your childhood and your education has helped shape you?

So you know, many people say that they're born with a silver spoon in the mouth kind of thing, but I think I was born with a whole cultural garb on me. It was like that. Maybe you all are young and may not know, but my father (Ranjitsinhji Gaekwad) was an artist and he was also a musician. I grew up with that kind of a culture wherein my mornings I would be woken up with different kinds of Ragas and all that. I mean, I was a princess. I was encouraged to learn dance but also being in Baroda where it's a cultural city and, my family had got these dancers from Thanjavur. So the Bharatnatyam dancers had come and we had this whole Tanjorkar family at Baroda and I learned to dance from them. Art was very much encouraged in my house, right from the beginning. My father never forced me or never forced us to draw something like maybe nowadays the teachers, in a typical school would say that make the rose red and make the sky blue kind of thing. We were never told that we were allowed to make the sky orange or grey or black or whatever we wanted right from the beginning.

So I think that was kind of openness that I grew up with, again textiles, my mother was into restoring Chanderi and Barodi Shalus. So that part of art also, I was introduced to, and my aunts, my grandmother, they were all into embroidery. So our house was always full of handicrafts and the appreciation for many things like that.

I grew up with all these around me and of course taking a lot of these things for granted when you have too much of it and you see so much of it, you don't appreciate it also at sometimes, you know, like that.

That is a very interesting metaphor. You just mentioned that you could colour the sky in any colour…

Would you like to talk about your formal education?

So my education I studied for a very few years in Baroda and then I was in boarding school in the north. So that kind of took me away from the culture part of it, but whenever we came home for vacations and we used to have vacations in winter, so those three months, I used to be in Baroda. We were always thrown into all the arts and crafts and everything. The best performances and all always happen in winter. So, in the Darbar hall in Baroda, we would have the best artists coming to play. We would have Zakir Hussain, his father Ustad Alla Rakha, Amjad Ali Khan I mean, they used to be in and out, you know, like coming to the house and having their programs in that typical Indian style. So again, I repeat myself as a child sometimes you don't appreciate these things, you don't appreciate that these people were coming to and then as a growing young girl, the only interesting thing was to take everybody's autographs and all that. I remember Shobha Gurtu, she was singing.

So all these artists, when they used to sing they would purposely try to make the children interested, do a lot of expressions and things like that to involve younger people, but it was great fun to listen to them, to listen to the parents talk about them.

So with all of this as a backdrop, how did your journey as an Academician begin?

Relating it to, again art appreciation. I think I was always kind of a teacher, you know, how some are born teachers kind of thing. So, I was a born teacher and I would want to teach people to learn myself. That was my method of learning. I started I think working with children and I got into the field of education. I did my master's in child development from the university in Baroda. So after my graduation, I think I got in touch with a lot of different types of people, a lot of different types of children because we were exposed to children with special needs, very exceptional children who would do very well in studies, children from poor homes, children from very rich homes. So that's how my journey started. And my teachers at MS University, encouraged creativity, which was very interesting because I think there's a streak of creativity in everybody, but we don't allow it to come out. They would leave us with open-ended questions and we had to think and answer like that. We had a semester system then, which was not being followed anywhere at that time. So for a semester system, you have to work for the credits. So that has a lot of things like you can give your exam, not necessarily in a paper way, but you can even have created something, That encouraged us a lot, And helped us to be creative and express in different forms of art. It may be drawing or plays or puppets or, you know, things like that. That's how my education journey started actually.

As you are elaborating about Baroda, and then shifting to Jasdan after marriage how do you see that?

Um, my life did change a lot because Baroda it's a bigger city. I was driving, I was going to college. I was going to the slums and working; I was going to the villages and working. So, when I came here to Jasdan, I was not, I mean, I don't go out of the house much. Unless somebody invites me to the house and I go to visit them, otherwise, I'm in the house. So, I had to make that kind of adjustment but I think I was not socializing so much, you know, at that point of time, neither were there so many shops and eateries, where girls would be going to all these restaurants and all, we didn't go so much but one thing what happened for me was that I had my children, my two boys. Let me go back a little bit before that, for me, teaching somebody is like my food, you know, I can't eat without teaching somebody. So, uh, I started teaching my maids, first of all, and they would

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SHRI ALAUKIKA RAJE KHACHAR teach me because I didn't know Kathiyawadi and they would laugh at me because I would make such mistakes, calling different names of vegetables, especially the utensils in the kitchen, each one has a specific name and I didn't know that much. So my Gujarati was very different. There were instances when they were teaching me so much, so many things, you know. They would say in Kathiwadi “daat ave che" and I would be like what they are trying to say…. Someone is teething? But later on, I realized it meant to laugh. My husband’s cousins daughter went to a nearby government school, she was in the fifth standard or sixth standard. So I started calling her to teach her English and then within a month I had like 60 children from her class, the whole school was here in my Veranda. So I used to have all these kids coming and I would need no blackboard, just one chair. I would be sitting and holding my pathshala. They were my window to the outside world because I was not going out of the house. They would bring the news to me. So that's how I started basically.

When you started, you taught these 60 students versus now in 2021, do you observe these differences in the education, the way the education is being imparted? Particularly how these students approach our culture from childhood, because of their different backgrounds. They're from rural Saurashtra. So what changes in perspective towards this did you observe?

For them you know, culture is a way of life. It's not something special. It was like there was no point in wearing nice Saris. I was newly married. I had all my beautiful Saris but they were not bothered about that. They were more appreciative of the person, the human being, you know, rather than all these things. And then slowly, I think I also started getting by them and listening to all their talk and understanding their perspective.

So ma'am have you tried to adapt the general teaching system of whatever is going on currently? What are your points of view on that?

The main thing I feel is that the course content is the most important. As far as parents are concerned, you can't get away with anything. At Rajkumar College we started working not only with the pre-primary but also the primary section and that is when we used the culture of India as a basis for teaching everything else. So that was a backdrop, you know. So actually try to teach values through this. And, we had done one for the classical dances of India. We did exhibits of the textiles, which was very interesting because We introduced Patola, where everything was from Rajkot. We had also got the weavers to be there and so that is how we used this as a backdrop to teach social studies. So social studies became very much more interesting to the children and for the parents also, instead of having that regular stage type program, where they performed all those dances and all that, we had like a first-hand experience of these things, from which the children had learned a lot. The children by then had learnt what is Bandhini and what is Patola. They knew what has weft. They knew what is warp. They could talk really in detail about tie and dye. So very often I feel there is a big resource pool, you know, in every school, which goes untapped.

What are the crises or difficulties you observe in today's education system? And this also comes from the fact that you come from the place of Lovekumarji Khachar, who was an environmentalist and activist for regional birds and animals. Most of these things that you know are not taught in schools today. What do you want to say about that?

The difficulties in today's world, actually I should not blame the education system, because if you go through the board books, they are very much rooted to our environment. They are not something very different. It's

just the kind of experience that, as a teacher, how far can you take it with the children? As you are talking about the environment, actually my strong point after coming to Jasdan has been integrating the environment into the curriculum and we have had children being taken for a nature walk every week. They walk, go around the garden or the Veranda and they can see these birds and flowers. We would ask the children to identify Champa flowers and bring them so that they start recognizing things. Now the teachers are just rushing through the course. They think finishing the course is most important, not realizing either sense of the course, which about three or four years ago, the government had changed this thing distinctly. My second standard children every year, because we live in a cotton-producing area they go every year for cotton picking. I send them to the farm, where they go cotton picking. They take the cotton from there. Then they go to the gin, then they do the thread, they see the genesis of the cotton and the oil seeds. They see the oil is made from the oil seeds. Then with that cotton, they go to the weaving village, which we have here nearby. They see the whole process, right, from picking the cotton to weaving the clothes and they do this only in a matter of two or three hours after which they're back in school. So it doesn't take that much time. With LoveKumar Khachar ji‘s guidance, we have taken up a lot of environmental activities and projects in school where children have written letters to the local government body if the water pipe from the lake is leaking. So they actually went walking to the source of the lake and walked to the school and then on the way, whatever they saw the leakage and all that they wrote to, and in the process, you know you also learn to write a letter so yes there are various modes of imparting education today which can interest the children and they grow.

Ma'am, how has your family been in terms of support and inspiration throughout your professional career?

As I told you, my parents have supported us in whatever we did with education and everything else. Also when my children were born my husband suggested that I start my school you know. So they did support me a lot in that. Like my husband was sure about it, that you have to do it, you know? I had a lot of support and then also my mother-in-law, my grandmother-in-law, she was there at that time. Even when I was in RKC here at Rajkot my mother-in-law supported me a lot. After all, she was looking after the house because all of these things are important as the balance of everything goes, we have a lot of religious festivals. We have to do a lot of things because we come from a Royal family. So sometimes we are doing things for the town, also, you are like a front face for the town. So there are a lot of things which we have to do just because we are so and so. My mother-inlaw was very supportive with all that because she was staying here in Jasdan and holding the fort while I was in Rajkot.

How do you see Khabar as a young initiative helping promote the regional art and culture of Saurashtra?

As I said, for every group of people, when you gather people, it is a resource pool forced upon. So within your group itself, you must have a large number of resources which even you maybe not knowing, you know, so when you take up, you do certain things like you started this Khabar from that you know that there are people who can write very well in your group. Or some people actually know a lot about, lets say the environment already. Some people already know about textiles or whatever the topic is. So that way you will have a big resource which can be used for educating children and educating people in general about our culture. I saw, you know, when I was in Baroda on one visit to one of the museums, I saw the school children were being

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brought to show the museums and in our country, We never take the children to a museum visit. And, uh, so then we had started a museum in Hingolgadh which was about culture, all the Kathi culture, the beadwork, horses, all of these things are a part of our own culture. So we had started a museum here in Hingolgdh, I used to see that people used to just come and they were not interested. Children would come like lines of children would come. So we used to tell them that at the end of the round, when you finish the round one who has all the details, we will give them some prize or something, so the children would then notice the things they would read, everything carefully. They would find and they would discuss, you know, about whatever it was like the different vessels. I have one example right here in my house. My son has done his master's in risk and hazard management. Okay. So that is something different. Now he is into restoring heritage property. So like, that was like a calling for him. It has suddenly happened and he's doing a wonderful job of it, you know? So, uh, an appreciation for things he's, there are things which he shows me, which are, which now I appreciate, yes, I have not even noticed this kind of thing, and it's a journey. It's a discovery, a journey of discovery. When you learn so much about your culture and art, it's, it's a kind of, you feel proud about it, you know? Like I was saying the same thing I'd done in the RKC also we had for the third standard or something, there was a topic like a museum. So actually the children had to bring something from their house, which was old and something, and talk about it, you know, and then they created a museum so that you feel you should feel pride for whatever you are. I mean, from whichever community you are or whatever, all communities have reached a kind of a stage, then everybody goes through ups and downs. You know, it's not like that, but I'm sure that every community has something to be proud of and the children should be made to feel proud of it, to feel proud of their heritage. I mean, that's so important. I mean, you are the young ambassadors to go anywhere abroad and everything. You should feel that we have got so much.

Moving forward towards the concluding question of the session, being a female professional, you briefly talked about how life changed after marriage, So it is often seen that females sometimes even have to reduce the amount of work, probably skip at all or stop working. So it is a crucial part of worklife balance, which you mentioned as well. So what, what would your message be to the young female professionals in this context?

I know, I think I was not interested so much in sports. Otherwise, maybe I might have felt, but from my family in Baroda even my aunts, that is my father's sisters have played tennis. They've done riding and everything like that. So like, I was not denied anything at that stage at least. But I feel women are the powerhouse for the culture and the heritage, you know, the kind of passion we feel for most things. I feel men do not feel, so passionate about it. You know, whatever it is, yes, they feel passionate about their work. If they are musicians, they feel passionate about their music. I feel I should tell the young professional women who are the most important resources in your house itself. And that is your family. If your family is supportive, then everybody kind of shares the work and does everything right from the beginning. If I need to speak about my one point to mothers, you know, to tell them not to be unfair to the boys. It's the boys who are suffering. It's not the girls because the girls, you are training, you're training them to cope and contribute to everything but in that way you are making our boys handicapped. So girls are stronger and are raised to have their voice. Today girls can dream and do anything.

SCENES FROM A NIGHT AT GARUD GARBI Garud Garbi, Ramnath Para, Rajkot Visual storytelling through dance, music and other art forms is a way of carrying forward our intangible cultural heritage. A most historic narrative is observed at this place during Navratri when the whole locale transforms into a fair. Historically as the folk tale goes, children are sent down towards the female diety in a Garud and in return they are blessed with health and prosperity throughout the year.

Approach to the garbi is a lively street lit with colourful lights and local vendors.

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SCENES FROM A NIGHT AT GARUD GARBI

Child dressed as a female diety, blessing the crowd

Gradually people gather in large numbers by midnight for the show

The garbi is conducted by talented vocalists whose narrative storytelling of the dieties engages the audience

Later on young dancers perform garba around the stage all dressed up in vibrant colours

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Children being sent up on the upper floors of the temple to enter the garud

As per the tradition, they are later brougt down on the garud to the garbi chowk and in return the diety offers them blessings and good health

THOUGHT-SCAPE

Untitled by Suresh Raval

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