Picto Diary - 10 April 2024 - India's rural 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. Our TravelScope guide, Raj, who has guided many of our India trips, looks on.

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.

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.

Addendum

Steve

The pictures you have sent are great. The picture of a family on a motor bike reminded me of Vietnam. In Ho Chi Minh City, you see families like this in the hundreds daily.

I hope Jake and family are having a wonderful time and are learning a lot about India.

When I was growing up, we were taught some of the Indian history. We were told that the British set up government departments and bureaucracies in India for the first time. However we were told that it was not until Britain handed the country back to its citizens that those government agencies became true massively extensive intolerable bureaucracies.

The Pope,
Eufaula, Alabama

Hunger in America is due to ignorance alone. For $1.75 you can have delicious lentils from Costco easy to make just open the package and heat or heat in the package in the microwave and if you want to stretch it, you put boiled rice. By chance, that’s what we had for dinner tonight . Dinner for three of us at a total cost of $5.00. Because American women don’t know how to cook or don’t have time, children grow up on easy to get junk food. There are prepared packaged lentils containing garlic, onions tomatoes, etc. give you everything you need to live on.

Comic Mom,
Park City, UT

So glad you are both in India with your lovely family. What an adventure for them.Stay well safe and keep enjoying yourselves.

LaPsy,
Los Angeles, CA

Thoughtful review, thank you.

Two questions:

1. The China–India situation. What is the street talk? Might a conflict with China unify India more tightly?
2. What is a good book to read about the history of India? I have read two:
The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple
Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre & Larry Collins

10 Best Books on Indian History You Must Read

Safe travels,

Panama,
Los Angeles, CA

Steve,

An interesting view of India; but is the city/rural Indian divide so much different than the coastal” elite”/ “flyover country” divide in the U.S.?

Ahn Rhee,
Larkspur, CA

Steve… Smart and interesting. Bumped into Steve W. who was in in India for years [with] NYT and edited Senator Moynihan’s papers. He said then ambassador Moynihan's letters from Delhi were great. (Carols uncle Ellsworth Bunker was also ambassador to Delhi).

SFS,
Washington, D.C.