Platformtwo

The traffic in India is really bad. They have every kind of transportation,
and it’s hard to imagine how bad it is only with a photo…
you should see the movie clip.
The sound of horn never stops, even at night.
traffic.MOV
The sound in this film really reminds me of India…

very eco-friendly….
The “taste” of ceramic cup is really special.
When you drink the soup in ceramic cup meanwhile you “taste” the ceramic cup.
It reminds me the feeling that using wood spoon to eat yogurt.

We drank 4~5 cups of chai everyday, at different time, different places.
The chai at different places has its own flavor. They are all different…

anyone in Jaipur who wan’t to pop by this shop, here is the sign and business card (may need to read hindi).

this is the owner of the shop hand making a stencil by hand from shim steel all cut with hammer and chisel.

a couple of the stencil he made.

the shop also doubles as a locksmiths.

Masala Chai

1-1/2 cups water
1 inch stick of cinnamon
8 cardomom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 cup milk
6 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any unperfumed loose black tea

Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardomom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn ff the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.

(Madhur Jaffrey’s)

to get into the true spirt of india you must drink no less than five cups a day. 

Here is Santosh demonstrating how people in India say yes by wobbling their heads.
SANTOSH1.MPG

Greetje and me went to visit the marble workshop which was about 30 minutes drive into the south of Jaipur. They had a really nice house there where the family lived with the workshop to the rear of the property.

The men loaded a huge piece of marble onto their lathe and proceeded to turn it into Greetje bowl. I loved his health and safety outfit - a scarf tied round his head to dull out the huge noise and a pair of everyday specs - there were chunks of marble flying everywhere . . . It didn’t take him that long to turn the rough outside shape and then then to extract the middle section of the bowl.
As he turned the bowl we were invited inside the house by the women - it was amazing - everything was made out of marble - including the tv stand and clock.

The marble carving technique is a slow, but very precise process. The process is especially slow when the type of stone the craftsmen work with is tough. Because of the slow and expensive process, the students choose to create an object by marble turning. In this manufacturing technique the stone is turning in a lath and the craftsman carves in a spinning stone. With this technique you can only design a symmetrical object, but the process is easier, faster and cheaper. With the objective of creating a new market for the handcraft people in mind, this production technique seemed the more viable.

One of the nicest things about India . . .

One of the highlights of our India expedition.
Camels have big teeth, smelly breath and huge feet.
We were lucky enough to take a ride on a cart pulled by this camel. Quite a wobbly ride but fun all the same. I think Martino had the best view.

As the favourite medium for Indian sculptors and architects, marble has become a cultural symbol of tradition and refined taste. Its extremely varied and colourful patterns make it a favourite decorative material.
In folklore, marble is associated with an astrological sign. Pure white marble is an emblem of purity. It is also an emblem of immortality, and an insurer of success in education.

9 men work on rejoining a severed a power cable, while still live. to test what is live a light bulb with trailing leads was used, if it lights don’t touch. 

The repainting of a water tower at Mumbai airport, notice the rope ladder to gain access to the top. 

A couple examples of Indian  electrics - plugs are an optional extra. 

A home made gas welding torch made from two fire extinguishers. 

Unfortunately we failed to record the most extraordinary sight of the blacksmiths wife sitting cross-legged by the anvil using a sledge hammer to shape a piece of metal but at the same time,  in her lap was, a completely unphased, breastfeeding baby - true multitasking.

It has been a real shock to be back in the home of the health and safety officer… 

All the material the lohars worked with was scrap material which we had to buy from from the local scrap yard. All material is sorted buy size and shape and loads up to 1000 kg can be delivered to your door same day by rickshaw! 

A few products with their makers.

Last but not least, the very last thing to be made, Martino’s adaptation of a nut cracker, only suitable for coconuts though.

Indian Yellow is a brilliant golden yellow pigment which is supposed to have originated, as the name suggests, in India. It is supposed to have first been used in Europe by Dutch artists and by the end of the eighteenth century being widely used across Europe. But beautiful as the pigment was, it was reputedly foul-smelling in its raw form (hard, dirty yellow balls of pigment) and the origins much speculated over. The debate was supposedly settled in 1883 when an investigation found that it was created in one village from the urine of cattle fed only mango leaves. By 1890 enough anti-cruelty legislation had been passed to make the supposed practise illegal and by 1908 the colour was no longer available. If it had ever been? It remains an enigma……

We were warmly welcomed to a strangers wedding . . .

Me and Shai were nearly married off to the grooms two brothers. . .

The whole of Jaipurs sky was filled with beautiful paper kites

blackkite_bluesky.MOV

In India, where the Indian fighter kites were invented, they are flown daily from Rooftops and during the “Kite” season at large festivals. The line used is called Manjha, a glass coated line, and each flier attempts to cut every other kite out of the sky. The last kite flying is the winner.