Shopping spree…

Today we decided to take a break from the research to instead hit up the boutiques. Kutch is famous for its handicrafts and Alice’s pockets were on fire after receiving the FARE scholarship! We had heard about a wonderful co-operative during last nights dinner conversation with an Australian couple, who said “they have some of the most beautiful embroidery I’ve ever seen, and believe me I’ve seen a lot.” No map in hand, and speaking only English we jumped a rickshaw who ushered us into the back with a reassuring nod. He sped off out of town to a nearby village (10 minute journey), then dropped us in front of a gated building with no sign. Confused, we walked in and found two ladies sitting at a desk. They spoke no English but it didn’t take long for us to realize we were in the wrong place. Eventually they went and found someone who did speak English, and this woman walked us out of wherever we were, and gave proper directions to our rickshaw driver, who then drove us back to town, and then to another signless building which we discovered was a government office building. Somewhat frustrated we found another English speaker who gave a new set of directions to the rickshaw driver and we sped off one more time.

He drove around some narrow winding streets till he found a gated house that was locked.  Being the wrong spot again we decided it would be best to pay him and look around ourselves – he wanted 40 rupees to get there originally, but having been a longer route I gave him 50 – he then demanded 80 saying that he had taken us there and back. Seeing my stress Alice jumped in,  “Don’t spazz Owen.” Reminded of my obnoxious outburst in front of the Gandhi ashram, I kept calm, and asked the driver why he hadn’t told us he didn’t know where it was. He replied “80 rupees. Please.” We ended up paying to avoid another of my trademark outbursts.

Walking the rest of the way we asked people for directions each couple of blocks and within 10 minutes we found our goal – Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan. KMVS works with women in Kutch providing micro credit loans, promoting education in terms of health and legal issues (ie domestic violence). They have also begun a tourism project where a local village has created a hotel/resort of sorts. Their aim is to create a culturally friendly kind of tourism whereby the tourist and villager learn from each other.  We met 2 American students working for the organization on fellowships – they were very informative and helpful and should turn out to be very good contacts! The long journey paid off… and we hadn’t even started shopping!

After taking up much of their time we went to visit the retail arm of the organization – Qasab. There we met a very nice guy, Punit, the marketing coordinator. He began by explaining the history of the organization, and how they went about helping women through micro credit loans, higher wages, etc. He explained how mass production, and lower wages led to the degradation of the art form. Women would work to produce the highest volume, as well as the smallest pieces. The desire to make a profit led to the production of smaller, less detailed pieces. With the increased margins, and marketing provided by KMVS/Quasab the women have the opportunity to work on larger more exquisite pieces. In this way they earn more money, and further develop the standards of art and production. The difference between the items sold in their shop, and those sold in the street market was pronounced.

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