Bhuj, the head quarters of Kutch utmost represents a barren heavily bombed Afghanistan desert. However all flights to Bhuj are always full, highly priced and packed with atleast 50% foreigners. Bhuj is  another –only heard of but never in news- place for all of us in India. But not for foreiners. They keep coming here in droves for two things: 1. Seeing nature in its barren best-  , the Great Rann of Kutch popularly known as white desert & architectural wonders within the old walled city running over hillocks like the Chinese wall, a pristine beach at Mandvi. 2. for the world famous  hand embroidered merchandise. The white desert is to be visited on a full moon night  - just like the TAJ to enjoy its beauty.

I have already  mentioned about Kutch food and people in my earlier post on Akrimota (2.2.13).  So there’s nothing about  food in this post. There’s also nothing about the tourist spots in here.

Whenever I cross Bhuj to Akrimota, I used to come across boards highlighting clusters of crafts units in surrounding villages. There was a huge ad for one shop named Shrujan. On a Sunday after 6 years of travels to Bhuj, I decided to find what it was all about.

I first visited Shrujan near Bhujodi which was a chic boutique specially for foreigners. It had all types of dresses and linen with the famous hand made kutch embroidery styles  The motifs on the dresses were small and sparse and were extremely expensive all priced above Rs.3000/- A chudi which had nothing but few hand embroidered motifs was tagged at Rs. 7000/- I realized that this was not my place. Shrujan was supposedly set up to preserve the art.

I then went to the nearby Bhujodi village with a cluster of shops, also  purportedly set up to preserve the dying & world famous  hand embroidered wears. There are quite a few such clusters around Bhuj. Everything from hand embroidered, mirror embedded, scarves to shawls to dresses, to carpets, sofa & bed linen, were available. They were much cheaper than Shrujan but still did not fit the pocket.  I then settled for a few brightly coloured cotton hand bags and purses with embroidery and mirror work as this was what I could afford for its prices. However the pieces were excellent for own use and giveaways.

I was getting disappointed as the budgets seemed to stop my journey of discovery. While I was beginning to return, I noticed  a small shop on the road which was not part of the cluster. I decided to take a final chance.

It was a one room shop and  had a short courtyard behind it followed by the shop owners house. It was the shop owner who started unravelling Bhuj for me.

He first introduced a cotton  piece as purely printed of vegetable dyes a speciality from nearby Dhamanka village. The second piece he introduced was bhatik – or block printed cotton one from Anjaar. Next was the applique or patch worked dress material. He then showed cotton dress materials with fine and rich embroidery, some with animal / bird motifs. Small pieces of circular mirror were stitched in these. Some had only parakeet motifs in different designs  . I understood later that around 7-8 embroidery styles were being practiced in the surrounding villages and this was what the world was wanting to buy. The prices were extremely affordable. The collection started impressing me and ended up buying around 8 or so dresses for the house womenfolk back in TN .

Kutch’s speciality is its rural cotton hand spun & hand loomed fabric. Tough and long lasting. Much much better in quality than the thin mill based cotton (Bombay Dyeing bed sheets ) ones. The hand made cotton is inexpensive and vegetable dyed earthly colours are never fading. The cotton with hand /block prints are then worked upon with embroidery or a small piece of designer strips/patches  ( like the veg dyed dress material with a centre patch & shoulder piece embroidered in the Jat Garasiya style  that I bought)  so as to make it into a decent ladies office   wear of sarees, chudis, tops, skirts etc.. Most may not be suitable as a current day party wear.  Embroidery at Kutch  nowadays is also being done on satin base to suit to foreign needs,

Around 1989, on a hot afternoon while at her house, my school classmate Lakshmi kept wondering how names were derived and formed. She was particularly referring to Britannia, Horlicks, Cadbury etc.  In those days I never agreed to anything she said and thought that the sun’s heat was having its effect on her. However the question kept coming back whenever I kept discovering the meaning of names for the rest of my life.

Most swanky malls across India has one shop in common- A footwear shop cutely named Mochi. Well, Mochi is actually the name of a Kutch tribe who were essentially cobblers to the royal families. They comprised of Hindus and Muslims and were famed for making ornate shoes with embroidery etc. Currently serving foreigners. Wonder who wears such ornate shoes nowadays!!

While searching for unique hand embroidered and ethnic specialty cotton fabrics look for small stand alone shops. Avoid shopping clusters that are set to preserve the skill as they are expensive.