Pochampally & Venkatgiri

Somewhere in 1983-84 SHE said her most favourite dress is saree. Since then I am in the quest of saree. Now about a year back SHE said her most favorite sarees are Pochampally and Venkatgiri. So I was busy collecting all information on Pochampally and Venkatgiri sarees! Now, don't ask that silly question; who is SHE, because I am not going to tell that! (but she is NOT my wife for sure).

I have this big bundle of information of varieties of sarees. Now obviously my favrite sarees are : Paithani (can we call it 'saree'?), Dhaka cotton, Pochampally and Venkatgiri. So my original liking is Paithani and Dhaka cotton. Other two are obviously renect additions because SHE like them!

As I said elsewhere, my obession for Paithani is quite old. I developed interest in Dhaka cotton sarees when I was in Calcutta (now Kolkata) for one month in March-April, 1986. According to my information, Dhaka cotton sarees are of two type. One that need starching and other which does not. Obviously the Dhaka cotton sarees which need starching are cheaper and have single but great disadvantage that after wearing, the lady look like a baloon! For this reason, many ladies do not prefer that. The other variety is preferred by many ladies and of course, by Bengali ladies.

This reminds me the old and very famous shop "Aadi Dhakeshwari" at Gariahat in Kolkata. (I hope the name of the area is correct). There I saw one old photograph of Satyajit Ray and Suchitra Sen selecting sarees for one Bengali film which Satyajit Ray was making. Since then, whenever I saw Suchitra Sen in any film, I believed, the saree she is wearing must be from Aadi Dhakeshwari!

I was very much impressed by the simplicity coupled with elegence of the shop. I purchased two sarees there. One for my mother and believe it or not, one for my would be wife, who was nowhere in sight. (That was in 1986. I found my wife in April, 1988) When I returened home and shown two sarees to mother and told her for whom the other saree is meant for, she was amused. She said then do something to find wife.

I was just a young man in his mid 20's. When I paid for the sarees, the elderly gentleman on the counter stood up with folded hands! I was shocked and very much impressed too. I never came accross such thing in Mumbai. I was equally impressed at only one more saree shop. That is Nalli at T. Nagar, Chennai. The only difference is, at Nalli, I went after marriage!

There are about 40 villages within 70 k.m. radius of Hyderabad including Pochampalli, Koyalagudam, Puttapakka, Elanki and Chautupal where Pochampaali cloth is woven. Pochampally is in fact famous for pure silk sarees. They have their own designs and are known as Pochampalli Sarees. The colours are mesmerising. Even more astonishing is the simple methods they use to produce such majestic sarees. These are also known as “ikat sarees”.Along with the traditional parrot, elephant, diamond and flower motifs, the ikat saree designers these days are developing new and modern designs to go with the current trends of the market. The term “ikat” stems from the Malay - Indonesian expression 'Mangikat' meaning to bind, knot or wind around. In principle, ikat or resist dyeing, involves the sequence of tying or wrapping and dyeing sections of bundled yarn to a predetermined colour scheme prior to weaving. Thus the dye penetrates into the exposed section, while the tied section remain undyed. The patterns formed by this process on the yarn are then woven into fabric. There are three basic forms. First is single ikat, where either wrap or weft threads are tied and dyed prior to weaving. Second is combined ikat, where wrap and weft ikat may co-exist in different parts of a fabric occasionally overlapping. The thirds is double ikat which is by far the most complex form. Here both wrap and weft threads are tied and dyed with such precision, that when woven threads form both axis (x-y), mesh exactly at certain points to form a complete motif or pattern. No written document is available about the origin or evolution of the ikat technique in this region. It is widely believed to have developed around the turn of this century.

The oldest centre is 'Chirala', which is situated on the rail route between Vijayawada and Chennai. This was once known to produce the famous cotton 'Telia Rumals' or 'Chowkas' woven in pairs admeasuring 55 to 75 sq. Cm. Characterized by their bold, geometrical motifs, in red, black and white, offset by wide single coloured borders, they were used by fisher folk and cowherds as loincloths, lungis or turbans. In the 1930's they were exported in large numbers to Burma, Middle East and East Africa where they were known as Asian Rumals.

Over the years, I learnt how to identify Pochampalli saree. At the same time, I must admit, now a days it is very difficult to identify because designers have adopted many new design techniques with the help of CAD/CAM. It is sort of fusion of various styles which is being adopted and manufactured with the help of computerised machines.

ॐ नमोजी आद्या.........

(First four lines of this eternal song is my mobile caller tune)

ॐ नमोजी आद्या । वेद प्रतिपाद्या ॥ जय जय स्वसंवेद्या । आत्मरूपा ॥१॥ देवा तूंचि गणेशु । सकळमति प्रकाशु ॥ म्हणे निवृत्ति दासु । अवधारिजो जी ॥२॥ अकार चरण युगुल । उकार उदर विशाल ॥ मकार महामंडल । मस्तकाकारें ॥३॥ हे तिन्ही एकवटले । तेथें शब्द्ब्रम्ह कवळलें ॥ ते मियां श्रीगुरुकृपें नमिलें । आदिबीज ॥४॥ आतां अभिनव वाग्विलासिनी । जे चातुर्यार्थ कलाकामिनी ॥ ते श्रीशारदा विश्वमोहिनी । नमिली मीयां ॥५॥
	-	संत ज्ञानेश्वर

Jagdamba.......

Just how much one could be serious about his business? Well, the question is thought over, analysed and discussed by many management experts all over the world. When I studied management, this question was very much there and we too deliberated on that. Over the years, I found simple answer to that. One has to just "love" his business or job. This single word "love", according to me, covers all aspect of diligence, foresight and planning of business activity. Above all, it covers devotion. I came across many articles, where it is said that if you love your job, you never think you "work". The work becomes your life and you follow it with full devotion.

Yesterday, being Friday evening, I was out as usual on my scooter. Mostly I go in the old city to roam around. (old city means the walled city of Auranzeb's time which was enclosed with huge, tall and long wall having 52 gates i.e. darwjhaas.) 

While coming back I stopped at the good old dairy which was favorite of my mother. She trusted only that dairy for all her needs of curd and khoya. Mostly she used to make that at home but in case of need, she would accept it only from that dairy. One unique aspect of that dairy is that it also sell fresh cream. Yes, cream. One hardly finds fresh cream for sale in any diary outlet. I was studying in Mumbai then. But whenever I came down to Aurangabad for vacation or for short trip of 2-3 days, it was mandatory to visit there and get some khoya just to eat as it is. Since last about 40 years the dairy is same. No change in furniture at all except addition of one deep fridge.

So what about that? Yes, in that dairy, you will find on the front wall, as usual a line of photo frames of various deities, which is common in any old fashioned shop in Maharashtra but along with those frames, there are number of photo frames of buffaloes! Full size photos of buffaloes! Just see how much he "love" his business!

Paithani

Paithani........the ultimate feminine wear of India. There is no match to Paithani in India even today. Perhaps every Indian woman who at all love to wear saree (and there are few left in that category now a days I believe) have strong desire for Paithani and dream to have at least one in her wardrobe. I know few ladies who have more than one, but the number of ladies who have none is more!

According to me, it is wrong to refer to Paithani as saree. It is not saree as what we commonly understand. The correct word is "shaalu". Yes, Paithani is shaalu and not saree. It is simply Paithani.

But let us first understand what is Paithani. I mean what is real or authentic Paithani. I ventured in the study of Paithani during 1990-93 (of course with the kind consent of my wife!) and found many interesting aspect of this ultimate Indian feminine wear.

Paithan is a small town near Aurangabad about 60 kms. in north-west. The name is derived from this town. The shaalu woven in Paithan...so its Paithani. Paithan was known as "Pratishtan" in ancient India. It was capital of Satavahanas whose one of the famous Rules was Shalivahana.(200 BC) There are number of stories of the immense wealth of the people living in Pratishtan. At that time, it had been an international trade centre for silk and zari. It was exporting cotton and silks to the great Roman Empire. During the 17th century, Aurangzeb patronized the weavers and the designs in this era came to be known as "Aurangzebi".

The art of weaving Paithani is more than 2000 years old. There are very few families left in Paithan who know the art of weaving Paithani in authentic manner. I know there are 5-6 families in Paithan and 2 families in Aurangabad who still weave Paithani by old method i.e. all by hand!

In recent time, Paithani was at the peak of its popularity during the reign of the Peshwas. The Nizam of Hyderabad was also attracted to the Paithanis and made several trips to Paithan. His daughter-in-law, Niloufer, is believed to have introduced new designs of border and pallu (padar in Marathi i.e. outer end of the sari). During the period of Nizam, the men wore the stole over their dhoti and kurta, while their women were resplendent in Paithani in weddings, festivals and religious ceremonies. As with most of the traditional arts and crafts of India, Paithani too suffered a decline under the British Raj. Once there were over 500 families practicing this hereditary art which required high technical skill and aesthetic sense, and tremendous discipline to do the slow, tedious work. I have seen that a normal Paithani takes about 2 to 3 months to complete even if all the raw material is in hand. The actual waving takes so much time. The time to complete increases as per the complexity of the design.

There are mainly three type of silk threads used in making Paithani. They are 1) Charkha - this is widely used. It is cheap, dull and uneven. 2) Gatta : Fine quality silk, thin shear, shiny, smooth and even. 3) China silk : Extremely fine and very expensive to use.

Due to proximity to the Ajanta caves, the influence of the Buddhist paintings can be seen in the Paithani motifs. Commonly used motifs are : Kamal or Lotus flower (on which Lord Buddha sits or stands) as shown in Ajanta paintings, Hans, Ashraffi, Asawalli (flowering vines) this became very popular during the Peshwa's period, Bangadi Mor, peacock in bangle, Tota-Maina, Humarparinda (peasant bird), Amar Vell, Narali, etc. Small motifs like circles, stars, kuyri, rui phool, kalas pakhhli, chandrakor, clusters of 3 leaves, are common for the body of the sari.

Pallu (or Padar in Marathi) of Paithani is the matter of "concern" for every woman buying Paithani. The prominant part of Paithani is therefore its padar. All ladies, who I accompanied to buy Paithani, were very fussy about this Padar. So I ventured to find out what all the fuss is about and landed with loads of information. The padar are mainly of this type : Muniya, a kind of parrot (popat) used in borders and always found in green colour with an occasional red touch at the "chonch" (mouth), Panja a geometrical flower-like motif, most often outlined in red, Barwa 12 strands of a ladder; 3 strands on each side, Laher design is done in the centre to strengthen the zari, Muthada, a geometrical design, Asawali a flower pot with a flowering plant, Mor (peacock). The mor is very popular now a days. Honestly, padar of Paithani is not a matter of description, its a matter of experience. dekho toh jaano.

Making of Paithani is all about using natural ingredients. Cotton or silk, gold, silver, precious natural stones, pearls and above all natural colours. Yes, the colours used to dye the yarn is derived from vegitables. The dominant traditional colours of vegetable dyes are Pophali - yellow, Red, Lavender, Purple, Neeligunji - sky blue, Magenta, Motiya - peach pink, Brinjal - purple, Pearl pink, Peacock - blue/green, Yellowish green, Kusumbi - violet red, Pasila - red and green, Gujri - black and white, Mirani - black and red, I must add, purple is rather known as "baingani" means like baingan.

I had the privillage of knowing many things about Paithani from none other than my grand-mother. (my mother's mother). She had few authentic Paithanis in her wardrobe which she carefully kept wrapped in full white pure cotton cloth cover. (mul-mul). The secret of identification of perfect natural baingani colour was explained to me by her! According to her, Paithani HAS to be of 9 "war" and NOT 5 "war". She said all these girls who wear 5 war Paithani is all rubbish! (now here, "girl" means any woman who may be even the age of my mother!) The Paithani which was ultimate in her collection was the one she wore in her marriage and which obviously was given to her by her father. That is the ultimate Paithani I have ever seen. Other few I remeber is one kept in Mubarak Mahal in City Palace museum in Jaipur and one in New Palace museum in Kolhapur. It is not known to whom those Paithani belonged. But they are in fairly good condition.

Many times, I was caught unawares and was commanded by my mother to accompany some ladies of my family to buy Paithanis. Once my aunt came down from US and commanded that I must accompany her to select and buy Paithanis at the house of the Paithani weavers. Those particular days were the days of my life fully testing my endurance! I realized what Bhagwan Shrikrishna described as "sthitapradnya" in Bhagwadgita. (Chapter 13 of Dynaneshwari). The person who shows around the Paithani and actually make all these ladies to buy one or even two when they infact intended one, is the real "sthitapradnya" I must admit.

Now a days I often see banners and ads about something called as "Yeola Paithani". I don't know what exactly it is. But one thing I am sure, that can not be authentic Paithani for the simple reason that at the price which they are being sold, it is impossible to make real Paithani with all that natural silk, gold/silver zari and forget about diamonds, rubies even simple natural pearls.

All in all.............Indian woman's desire for shaalu or rather Paithani is aptly described in the famous Marathi song thus ..... पदरावरती जारतारिचा मोर नाचरा हवा ... ग आई मला नेसव शालू नवा .....

Tank Bund or Hussain Sagar

After posting the Ghazal "tumhare sheher ka mausam...." there are scintillating memories of Tank Bund area in my mind. From 1984 to about 2000 I was studying the history of Deccan with specific reference to Golkonda-Qutub Shai-Asaf Jahi-Berar. I wanted to find authentic information about the area I was born and where my ancestors lived. My family belong to Berar. We have our ancestral agricultural land and home in Berar. Berar was under the rule of Asaf Jahi from 1724 till 1948. In between, the Berar area was taken over by British under a treaty with Nizam, but the Ruler was Nizam and British were administrators. The eldest son of Nizam was designated as Prince of Berar. I will write about Berar in detail some other time.

The Tank Bund area of Hyderabad in my mind is of 1984 and thereabout. Then the Tank Bund was relatively calm and quite. The traffic was there but it was not nuisance. The area was rather romantic I must say. Particularly in the evening, just before the sunset and few hours thereafter, the area was full of cool breeze flowing from Hussain Sagar carrying peculiar scent of "saahil" mixed with "Gulmohour". No wonder, the mahaul used to instantly push me in romantic mood! (Though I never had any aashna!)

The Hussain sagar or Tank Bund as it is popularly called, was built on a tributary of the Musi River during the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah in 1562. It is actually a dam which is fed by the Balkapur river which branches off from Musi about 32-33 miles from Hyderabad. The Bund links the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and is named after Hussain Shah Wali. The Bund is about one and half miles long and covers an area of about eight square miles. On either sides of the Bund, Ibrahin Quli Qutub Shah built two sarais. On the Secunderabad side, there are four sluices to regulate the level of water in the dam. The construction of the dam was entrusted to Hussain Shah Wali who was son-in-law of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah. His tomb is located on today's Golkonda-Mumbai Road.

In the 19th Century, drinking water from Hussain sagar was supplied to Residency area but it was discontinued after commencement of regular water supply from Osman Sagar in 1921.

There is an area on the other side of the Bund i.e. opposite to the lake, which at that time was muddy perhaps because of seepage of water from Bund. Due to the muddy soil, it became breeding ground and heaven for mosquitoes. In Telugu, mosquitoes are called "Domal" or "Domul" or "Domulu" or something like that. So the area came to be known as "Domal Guda" - area of mosquitoes! Later, the seepage was stopped and the area became dry but the name stuck! Today it is one of the posh locality of Hyderabad. Due to the advent of technology, and particularly this internet, I have one friend on Orkut who lives in Domalguda. She has beautiful bungalow and lives there with her husband and two wonderful kids.