Notes from India (6) The Importance of Indian Villages

10 April 2024. Images from the rural Luni district, some fifty kilometers west of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Sixty five percent of India's 1.4 billion population live in rural villages. When India gained Independence in 1947 after two centuries of being plundered by The East India Company and later, the Raj, her people needed to be put to productive work. Industrialization was not an option for a people subsistence living on agriculture. Gandhi admonished Indians to start cottage industries. He set the example by adopting wool spinning as his own cottage industry skill. While India has evolved significantly since 1947, cottage industries remain an important economic activity where dignity in work and production are imbued into villagers throughout India. You cannot know contemporary India without knowing her villages.

Muslim kids from the potter's (see below) extended, multigenerational family. In former times, such kids ogled with awe at the images I took of them that I showed back to them on my device. This time, the children were curious to see the image, but it was no big deal. This time, the kids had their own smart phones and they wanted to take my picture. I muse that with their smart phones, these kids can take an Econ 101 course from John Taylor at Stanford. Tech. A tool for India rising.

Jain ascetic walking along the road looking carefully to avoid killing any living thing while he walks. The mask is not to inhibit virus transmission. Rather, it is worn to inhibit breathing in, thereby killing, flying insects.

Hindu women carrying grain. A few feet further on, from where I captured this image from the safari Jeep, the women grinned through their sheer veils and gave me a friendly wave.

I should have waited another few seconds to capture this image of villagers on their way to a religious fest of some kind. In the trailer, the women, all wearing the same magenta-colored chadors/saris? were facing to the rear. Facing forward were men, dressed in white, with turbans, like the fellows on the tractor. The tractor is a Massy Ferguson, manufactured in Rajasthan. We see a lot of these tractors, used for purposes beyond farming, as can be seen here.

Above: Potter and potter's wheel. One of the most amazing pieces of basic tool technology I have seen. The stone potter's wheel rests on a small fulcrum underneath. The wheel is turned manually by the potter with his arms and hands. When the wheel gathers some speed, the potter places the end of stick at left on the wheel and then aggressively advances the spinning speed of the stone wheel as though he were frenetically churning butter.

Weaver shuttles wool thread through loom to weave a pattu segment. Two segments will be stitched together to form a square mat like piece of cloth that has multiple functions: rug, blanket, shawl, wall covering etc.

Shoemaker uses awl to penetrate hard leather soles of work in process shoes. I ordered a pair of these traditional slipper/shoes. The shoemaker brought out his blank page notebook to outline my foot but my foot didn't fit on the page. He found a newspaper, which did the trick. Guide Raj, who also ordered some shoes, will make sure the shoes catch up to me somewhere.... Ahmedabad, Delhi, or back home. I ordered the shoe similar to the tan, unadorned shoe at the bottom of the image.

Intricate stitching of filigree gold thread into an odhni. An odhni is considered a symbol of modesty and compliments the overall look of a salwar kameez or lehanga choli.

Smithing rudimentary farm tools: scythes, axes etc. While I stood watching, the woman (the smith's wife?) brought the hammer down at least fifteen times. A woman's work is never done.