Birthday celebrations at the gurudawara sahib

So yesterday on our village tour we were invited back to the village of Manakpur Sharif for the celebration of the 550th birthday of Guru Nanak. So Rachel and I headed back today to partake of the celebrations.
We were welcomed into the gurudwara sahib by the same young man that guided us yesterday.

We went and sat inside listening to the young children reciting passages from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book which is the collective teachings and writings of Guru Nanak and other gurus.
It was a very moving experience, the women on the left hand side created an amazing visual symphony of colour. The gentle murmur of quiet conversation added to the overall peaceful feeling. The men’s side was nowhere near as occupied but I believe that a lot were downstairs cooking for the hundreds of attendees. Was quite a sight watching three of them making rotis. A group were making something with milk and there was a curry as well. Huge pots and pans.
I was lucky in that my guide was giving me a running commentary on what was happening. After about 30 mins he invited us on a village tour. On the way he met up with a friend of his who spoke a little better English and gave us an amazing history tour of the village.
Way back when (around 1600), the Mughals settled this area, this can be observed in the old architecture and the size of the bricks used.

The inner portion of the village was the fort and you can still see original walls and houses making up the outer wall.

This was to protect the inhabitants from the warring neighbours. From this time there was a large Muslim population that lived in the village and surrounds. They arrived here as they were looking for land to cultivate as most of them came from an area of high forestation and rather than cut this down they moved to somewhere better.
On August 15th 1947 with the partition of British India into two independent states, India and Pakistan, the Muslims headed off to Pakistan and the Sikhs moved from Pakistan, essentially swooping villages. So although there are Muslim mosques in the village the majority of the villagers are Sikh.
So we wandered around looking at the little shops, haberdasheries, snack shops and other assorted places of retail selling goodness knows what.
We then arrived at the home of one of our guides and he showed us around. A typical Punjabi house complete with Neem tree outside. Useful for keeping insects away and the best toothbrush in the world. A small branch, chewed and used to brush the teeth. Best oral hygiene ever apparently. Been used for centuries and now after 60 years of toothpaste we are going back to the old natural ways.... go figure. As our tour guide said,’we all believed what the toothpaste companies said’.
Our young man is a very talented manja weaver.

This is the art of the woven bed. The one that we saw was a beautiful example that he had made.

He learnt from his mother and grandmother and is very talented.
From there we moved next door to ‘uncles’ place where we explored a very old building that gets used 3 times a year for movie sets. It still has the original paintings on the walls

and is a very good example of Moghul architecture. The domes are excellent for keeping cool and the thermal mass of solid brick help

both in winter and summer.
We also saw some old tools of the kitchen, including a grinding stone and a butter churn.

From there we headed up stairs to the rooftop, where we looked out over the Muslim mosque

and the rest of the town.

From there it was a wander around some more of the town and then an invitation back at any time and to feel free to enter into anyone’s home and we would be welcomed. It was so wonderful to have these two men taking time out of their day not only to show us around but to give us a very personal invite into their lives as well as the history surrounding the village. Just marvelous.

Earlier this morning the dogs were setting up a racket and hearing that it was the “we have something bailed up” bark I went to investigate. Sure enough they had something bailed up alright.

On the roof of the changing rooms for the swimming pool was a rather large Rhesus Macaque (pronounced makak).

He (definitely a he) was not a happy camper and was quite aggressive when I got closer to take his picture.
Some time later the tree pruning brigade came and told me that he was in the tree outside my room,

so more photos were taken as he left the property and headed into a bit of bush behind the farm.

Difficult for him due to the barbed wire and glass on the top of the wall but he managed.
Never a dull moment here at Aura Farm and Pottery. 

The Day After Yesterday

An interesting weekend was had, Saturday was a bit of a “what the heck am I doing here” day, but managed to sort that out after a nap and some meditation.
Started to walk 5 times around the property, around 1km each morning, which is helping as well.
Sunday was much better, achieved some interesting things, some that worked and some that didn’t.
Managed to find another snake, this time it was about 3 inches long, but still a Russell’s Viper so we carefully persuaded it to head out into the garden. I thought I had taken a picture of it but it turned out very blurry so bad pic of this snake.

The gardeners are having a load of fun trimming trees,

Heath and Safety is a long way from home here.....
So I managed to create some leaves to make a vase, but it didn’t look right so I changed my plan and this is the work in progress.

I also managed to throw some interesting things,

mainly concentrating on on centering, they were firm enough for me to turn some feet on them.
Went for another walk to the village today after lunch with Rachel and Katherine, was very different today. Seemed like a totally different village with different things open and others shut.
Found the mill,

where everyone gets their grains, pulses, etc milled into flours, was offered tea, coffee or milk there.
Found a lovely family with a goat.

Visited the Sikh temple again, and this time had a different parshard today and then after leaving we were offered coffee. It was very milky and very sweet but very nice.

We also were invited back tomorrow

for the celebration of the birthday of the first guru, Guru Nanak.This is one of the most important days in the Sikh calendar.
On our way out I finally had an answer to one of my questions around buffalo feeding inside courtyards. There was an open gate with a cart of what looked like corn plants,

with a cutting machine with a pile of cut up plant material. When I started taking photos the owner invited us in to look closer and take more pictures.

Tea was offered as well.
On the way back the smog was pretty severe but the sun setting over the brick kiln was a cool shot.

So that’s it for today, getting a trip to the brick kiln organized in the next couple of days and also a trip to see some buffalo milking.  The girls went to get some fruit and managed to visit the place where they make jaggery, so I will be going to have a look too.

Safe travels everyone.

Another day in Chandigarh

Today started with a huge thunderstorm right above the farm it was flashbang!! At 5am followed by torrential rain for 15 mins. Very rude awakening.

So went down to the studio and wedged up 20 balls of clay before breakfast to throw today.
Another lovely person has arrived for a stay here at Aura, she is Rachel from Tennessee.

She is a chef and is on a year long trip around Asia.
She wanted to do a trip to town, and I needed some shopping so we hitched a ride into town again with Ada.
We walked around the Sector 17 markets,

I purchased a nice blanket for the train as the weather is cooling down here. Managed to bargain the price down ok. There were some awesome tailors and men’s clothing shops.

I do like the one on the left, if only I had somewhere to wear it to!
Some interesting signs.

And cute eateries.

And some banyan trees.

Which are the national tree of India.
We wandered for quite a while

and eventually had enough so got an auto to the Elante Mall. The mall is the second largest in Northern India and the 4th overall, behind Lulu in Kochi, Select City New Delhi and Phoenix Market Mumbai.
Managed to achieve my first Uber ride albeit after getting rejected on the first attempt and managed to find out why I couldn’t make the Uber thing work on my arrival. You need to pay by cash! Thanks to Rachel for her help in setting me up properly, and the man who helped us in the rain at the mall, trying to find our ride. Tejwant our driver actually came and found us and I was impressed. He was very good, and had a little English so we chatted about where we were from and he has a cousin in Toronto, spent time in Germany and he pointed out all the relevant sites. 

So a short blog tonight but am ready to throw 20 pots in the morning!

Safe travels everyone.

Snake on a plane? Or on the driveway

This morning it rained!
Well it started at some unearthly time this morning after a rather interesting occurrence. I was woken by a real cacophony of sound, probably birds in the trees outside my window. So I lay there listening to them and suddenly they stopped. Dead stop, no ease off or anything, just all together stop. 15 seconds later the heavens opened. Didn’t last long at that rate but it eased off to a gentle rain up until 8am, then showers until lunch and then sort of fine with sunshine during the afternoon.
So off to the studio where I wedged 10 balls of clay and sat down and threw 10 cylinders, trying to get some sort of consistency.

I managed to get most of my wall thickness consistent.
The pruning outside the accommodation is coming along well.

On our afternoon wander just outside the gates we came across Prince (pronounced Prance) and the property manager (must find out what his name is tomorrow) holding another snake skin!

Had a close look and the entire length was intact as a tube and the only head was split. Awesome.
Down at the local shops on the highway I went to get some more coffee, this is sold by the sachet.

Last time I was here the young man wanted a selfie with me, so today I returned the favour and asked for a selfie back.

 Loads of laughs and handshakes and fun.
On the way back I noticed a stand of bamboo on the edge of the property, so I managed to borrow a machete from the gardeners and chopped a stem to make some throwing tools. Really thick bamboo and splits beautifully.
To end the day, we now have another guest here, a young American woman who is a chief, Chris leaves for Delhi and the Tajh Mahal before flying home to England on Sunday, Anamika heads back to Delhi as well, so they are going to travel together.
Just as I am finishing this off the heavens opened up again.

Safe travels everyone. 

The village of Manakpur

A slow start to the day this morning, managed to get Monday’s post sort of completed with adding pictures, still working on the Rock Garden album.

We were organized to go for a walk to the village this morning at 7am but a certain person who I shall not name didn’t wake til much later, and it wasn’t me!

So we headed off to the studio after breakfast and started work on a design for a series of lamps for around the gardens.

Chris was doing some blindfolded throwing which was videoed while Anamika and I created a template after much discussion and miscommunications but we got there in the end. I am hoping Anamika took some pics that she can send to me and I will add them. 

Template for outdoor lamp

After rolling a large slab of clay we cut the shape and started the drying process. 

After lunch we started to shape our lamp but soon realized that we had mistimed the drying and it split, but the good news was we had a look at what was happening and decided to do it in two pieces rather than one to make it easier. The double curves are going to be a bit of a pain.

So after that we revised our template and then headed out for a walk to the village of Manakpur around a kilometer up the road.

The village has a population of around 3000. 

We entered into the Dargh Sharif Muslim mosque after donning headscarves and removing footwear. Was a very old mosque and has been used as a backdrop for many Bollywood films.

Quite dark but rather awesome. A peaceful place for sure.

We then wandered around the village heading for the Guru Dwara Sikh Temple and managed to find it after many twists and turns. There was some sort of celebration happening across the street with very loud prayers, songs and music.

Wandering the streets

We were guided inside after donning skull caps and removing footwear.  The temple was very different being much more open and airy. Again the feeling of peace and tranquility was very present. As we went to leave we were offered Kara Parshad, a sweet which is offered to all visitors and is understood and experienced as a blessing from the Guru and should not be refused. it was very sweet and enjoyable. 

As we left the temple

Guru Dwara Sikh Temple

there were a group of youngsters one of whom was asking me a question. Luckily Anamika was able to translate. The young lad wanted to know what country we were from so it was New Zealand and England. They went away smiling after I asked for his name, introduced myself and shook his hand and those of all the other young boys present.

It was an interesting walk. Manakpur is an agricultural village with a lot of cows that are raised and fed in the courtyards of the homes

as many cannot afford to either buy or lease land for grazing as there is a huge demand for food production and so pretty much all available land is cropped, rice and sugar cane being very common in this area.

As we got back to the outskirts of the village it was apparent that school was out for the day, Manakpur has a large school on the outskirts.

The bus arrived heralded by the ubiquitous horn honking and there were 2 autos there to take the children home to other villages. There was one for girls and one for boys and were they crammed full of children!

On the way back we passed some interesting transportations.

and got a wonderful wave and smile from a motorcyclist that I had waved to the day before.

There was an interesting object on the side of the road so being me I went over to have a look and low and behold a shed snake skin.

Now whether it had been picked up earlier by someone and put in the bag, or had used the bag as assistance in shedding it’s skin, we couldn’t decide. We left it there anyway. It was the first time Anamika had seen a snake skin. 
Further up the road a motorcyclist stopped beside us and asked if we had enjoyed our visit to the village. Very much, dhanyavaad (thank you) 
So an interesting day and many more to come. I can see a number of days in the village in the weeks to come. 

आपका दिन शानदार गुजरे

aapaka din shaanadaar gujare

Have a great day

Rock the casbah...or juice bar

Today dawned beautifully and I spent most of the early morning trying to sort out an album for yesterdays pictures and get some posted at least but the internet was playing up again this morning.
So we all headed off to the studio after breakfast and I completed 4 nice coiled feet on my large platter and flipped it and managed to get it looking nice and smooth without any breakages.

My awesome 45cm platter

In the middle of this the power went out  (a very common occurrence here) and we were told around three hours. So we carried on apart from poor Chris who was trying to do a blindfold throwing exercise on an electric wheel. So she started another box as Anamika and I went hunting some more leaves for platters and bowls. There are a great selection of shapes and sizes here. 

When we had reached a point we could pause, lunch arrived and then as the power was still off we decided to wander down to the local juice bar at the end of the road. Anamika was tasked with being our heath and safety  officer. She gave the OK and we watched as the two gentlemen squeezed the fruit and created a rather nice thirst quenching drink. No ice!

Fresh squeezed juices.

The drink comprised of orange, pomegranate, pineapple and apple.
I did see kiwifruit there and asked where they were from. Italy it seems.
While we were sitting there a rather interesting vehicle came up the road....

Who need a truck...tractor does well enough!

One for my mate Daniel. 

We wandered back and continued on pottering around doing some design work for a series of outdoor lamps for the studio. Trying to decide what was the best method, slab or throwing and During this time the power came back on so we did try to see how high we could throw and.....not very high currently!  They need to be 12cm diameter and 35cm high. A bit of fun trying though and some interesting pots were created, will take some pics when we stop laughing.

So we decided that slab would be the way to go so made some quick and dirty examples using a piece of downpipe to check sizes etc and will continue on tomorrow.  

So a rather productive day, had planned to get on the wheel this afternoon, but with the power off, that was a non starter, so tomorrow’s exercise will be back on the wheel with some pointers from Anamika.

Safe travels everyone.

ਸੁਰੱਖਿਅਤ ਯਾਤਰਾ

Surakhi'ata yātarā