The weekend began with a very interesting lecture at the Bangalore National Gallery of Modern Art, which opened just before we left Bangalore in 2009. It is a very beautiful old building, on a large piece of property in the centre of the city.

The lecture was hosted by Tasveer, and given by a well-known photographer Karen Knorr.

Saturday was the 20th annual Karnataka Craft Council exhibition, which was opened by the famous Mrs Big B - Jaya Bachan.

The inauguration was well attended, with many women in a spectacular array of saris arriving early. The Indian interest in and respect for the film industry was well-illustrated by the frenzy of her arrival, and the large number of camera phones in use, along with the bevy of professional news photographers.

During the inauguration ceremony, a puppet re-enactment of the garnishing of Ganesh was put on using traditional puppets.

Once the ceremony was over, it was a total free for all to get into the exhibition, view the textiles on display, and spend, spend, spend!

It's the end of my first week at the Weavers' Service Centre, and I feel as though I've learned a lot, despite the informal, low-pressure method of teaching. Mostly, it's been from being given a bit of book learning, and then watching what else is going on around us, and trying to relate what I've just been told to what I can see.

The pace of my day is very different. I have a slow start to the day, and leave for the weavers' centre at around 9:30 or 10. Although it is only about 12 km from home, the drive can take anything from 45 minutes to an hour or more, depending on the traffic. My driver picks us up, and we hope for an easy journey. When we get close to the centre, we are dropped at the corner nearest to the centre, and walk from there. (The car and driver take the long way around, and spend the day parked in the driveway at the centre, ready for us to leave.) The sidewalk is a hazard to be avoided - covered in all sorts of unsavoury things, so we walk in the road. Although the centre opens at 9:30, we do the Indian thing, and arrive at around 10:30. Most mornings, it has been fairly quiet, with a few small things going on. Our teacher, Mr Vijayan, comes and goes during the day as he has many responsibilities.

We spend time here and there being schooled in the theory and documentation of weaving and loom setup. Inbetween times, we talk with the weavers and dyers.

In addition, we have been able to take our own textiles in to the centre, and ask for advice or information on the pieces. I found out this week that a beautiful scarf I bought in Cambodia earlier this year is really polyester, not silk. If nothing else, this training will help me to be a more discriminating buyer!

At the end of the day on Thursday, the centre was given a commission to produce a sample for a prospective overseas order for a commercial textile business. The weavers are required to set up a small loom with thread provided by the contractor, and weave a 10 inch sample which will be used in the bid for the contract.

Contrary to the other work going on, this has been effected very quickly, and the setup began Thursday, and was nearing completion by the end of the day Friday.

We should see this sample completed on Monday.

Getting started with the Weavers' Service Centre

I arrived in Bangalore on Saturday night, after a  long series of flights from Cairns that began 40 hours before. The airport seems a bit busier, and dirtier, with the same old crowds outside overwhelming any new arrivals. I have a car and driver hired from a car rental company, and Nishant was waiting for me in the press with a name board which enabled me to find him. My car is a very small Maruti Suzuki which enables us to park anywhere and slip into any space. (Not that the size of the vehicle really seems to inhibit this behavior on the roads here :-) ) Nishant is definitely not Ashu, our old driver, but I have hopes of whipping him into shape during the month I'm here. :-)

I am staying with friends we met while living here, in a lovely house just 10 minutes from the center of Bangalore, assuming no traffic. Such a description is really meaningless, as the traffic is even worse than it was when we lived here. Once again, I'm very glad not to be driving, so that I can just look out the window and enjoy the passing scenery, without having to worry about avoiding other vehicles. Chandra is being a wonderful hostess, as well as accompanying me to the Bangalore Weavers' Service Centre and acting as my interpreter as required. She is very connected in the handicrafts area, and arranged this month's training for me, as well as feeding me fantastic Indian food every day, and making sure I have everything I can have to enjoy my time here. 

Today was our third day at the Weavers' Centre. They are a government organization whose role is to support the weavers, dyers and block-printers in Karnataka by providing training, helping solve problems, working on new designs for textiles and passing them on, and also to take commissions for special work. The man who heads up the center has a Fine Arts degree from a good university, and speaks excellent English. We met with him, and then were introduced to the head of the weaving section, who speaks English, but with a heavy accent. He and I need to listen hard to understand one another, but I think it will get easier very quickly. There are quite a few people employed there, although I don't know how many yet, who seem to have rudimentary English skills. Lots of people seem to wander in and out. I hope to be spending 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks learning as much as I can from him and his team of weavers.  My goal is to find out all I can in this time about the weaving industry here, and to learn the basics of weaving. 

There are bobbins, hanks of thread and weaving cards on all surfaces, as well as pieces of equipment and other extraneous items.

So far, we have spent time with the head of the weaving department, identifying the components of a loom and the absolute basics of weaving. We have had a chance to talk to the weavers and dyers, as well as the designer. They are extremely open, and have a lot of experience, so can answer all sorts of questions. In addition, we are shown samples to illustrate things they try to describe. Most of the talk has been in Kannada, the local language, with some translation for my sake.

We can watch them work, or study from the textbooks which are kept under lock and key (we've only had access to a couple of them so far). Our main teacher has been out of the office for the last two days, so we have had to spend our time wandering around asking questions. There is no schedule, so we're at the mercy of their time and their normal pace of work. Start at 9:30, lunch from 1 to 2, finish at 5, tea twice a day. Hopefully, tomorrow we can get "Sir" back and get closer to getting our hands on a loom!