Category Archives: Business & Economy

Lucknow guava thriving in Arunanchal Pradesh

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

The local guava that starts fruiting here in two years has started yielding fruit in Arunachal Pradesh in only nine months, much to the amazement of the local administration, district horticulture officer and others.

“Commercial guava cultivation is new to this state and it is not a common crop for cultivation.” (HT Photo)

Believe it or not, the local guava that starts fruiting here in two years has started yielding fruit in Arunachal Pradesh in only nine months, much to the amazement of the local administration, district horticulture officer and others.

More than one lakh guava grafts of ICAR-CISH developed varieties reached Yachuli, 80 km away from Arunachal capital Itanagar, during the rainy season this year. Flowers and fruit could be seen on these plants this month, claimed Shailendra Rajan, director, Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture.

Rajan credited this to the efforts made by progressive farmer Likha Maj by supporting tribal organizations Agro Gramin Limited (AGUN) and Green Gold, Naharlagun (Arunanchal Pradesh) in collaboration with ICAR-CISH, Lucknow for establishing guava industry in the north-eastern region for the benefit of farming communities comprising mostly of tribals.

Likha Maj took the initiative to transport grafts from Lucknow during the rainy season, when it was difficult to reach there by truck due to landslides and damaged slippery roads, he said.

A team of 10 youngsters took to planting and rearing these grafts in more than 100 hectares and made all efforts for their survival under highly difficult conditions.

“Commercial guava cultivation is new to this state and it is not a common crop for cultivation,” said Rajan.

After seeing such a huge plantation, about one hundred farmers were interested and started planting guava varieties transported from Lucknow.

“Maj has not only planted guava grafts but also motivated several farmers for starting its cultivation so that a sizable production takes place and the produce can be utilized for processing as a food park is in the process of approval,” director CISH said.

ICAR-Lalit, a variety developed from Lucknow, can play an important role in this area when the processing unit is ready, as it is a prime variety being used for making pink pulp from guava further used for different products as well as export.

Thousands of hectares under Lalit have come up in AP, Maharashtra and Karnataka and other states but for the first time this effort was made in the extreme North-East conditions.

The farmers regularly exchange views with scientists using plant photos taken in the field. Smartphone has played an important role in establishing linkage between the scientists from CISH-Lucknow and tribals in a remote area of Arunachal Pradesh.

CISH Lucknow has not only provided grafts but is also helping in establishment of a modern guava nursery in Arunanchal so that problems faced in graft transportation are eliminated and the good quality grafted material is available at a reasonable cost to be distributed to different parts of the north-eastern region.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities> Lucknow / by HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times,Lucknow / December 28th, 2017

Lucknow to get its first smart bus shelter

Business & Economy, Records, All, Travel

Lucknow :

The first smart bus shelter in the city is coming up on Ashok Marg. It’s nearing completion and will be opened for public on Saturday. It has been done under the smart city project. It will also be the first smart bus shelter in the country to have an e-toilet with water recycle plant.

The smart shelter will have a host of features and facilities for commuters including display of real-time information about arrival of buses, route details, availability of seats, e-toilets, ATM, water vending unit and mobile chargers.

Equipped with GPS and intelligent traffic management system, the bus shelter will have boards that will display the bus route, digital map and weather forecast along with basic information about arrival of buses.

The bus shelter also has a 24-hour power back up.

Naveen Agarwal, managing director of the firm that will construct these shelters said that 200 smart bus shelters, each costing around Rs 39.84 lakh, will come up in the city.

Smart city project general manager SK Jain told TOI, “The Ashok Marg bus shelter will be opened for public use from Saturday. While all other facilities will start with the inauguration, the electronic information system will be made functional after all the transport is made GPS-enabled. In the first phase, 100 such shelters will be built in the next year.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / by Vidita Chandra, TNN / December 19th, 2017

IIT Kanpur graduate launches new company in Seoul

Business & Economy, Education, Nri's / Pio's

Seoul :

Pankaj Agarwal, a 35-year-old IIT Kanpur graduate, has founded a start-up company, TagHive, with a few like-minded professionals in Seoul to pursue his passion for improving education. His mission is to revolutionise everyday experiences with a smart tag solution — a combination of a button type tag, a smart app and back-end analytics that are targeted at reinventing interactions for kids at play and at school.

Based in South Korea since 2004, he had earlier worked with Samsung Electronics. Samsung encouraged him with support for his endeavour. TagHive is a technology company that was spun off from Samsung Electronics in April this year.

TagHive’s new solutions are TagPlus and LEAP. While TagPlus, an award winning solution, is the world’s first toy-centric social network for kids, LEAP is a low cost clicker (Classroom Response System) along with an app (iOS and Android) that will keep students engaged, parents informed and help teachers effectively manage their classrooms.

Speaking to TOI, Agarwal said that TagHive will commercialise LEAP in South Korea in the first half of 2018 and enter the Indian market in the second half of 2018. “We are looking to partner with schools in India willing to ride the new wave of affordable smarter classrooms,” he said.

TagHive pilot tested the LEAP solution in Ambience Public School in New Delhi, as well as in South Korea, with encouraging response.

Some of the key features of LEAP are “one-click attendance” which reduces the morning chaos of recording attendance with students simply clicking their tags. Teachers can now utilise the time saved more productively in teaching more, Agarwal said.

LEAP allows teachers to have an accumulated score for their students on a daily basis and the students will be given incentives to improve their behaviour. It further allows teachers to create their own quizzes and polls for various subjects. Students can record their responses by clicking their tags.

“Teachers can view all student records like attendance, score and quiz/poll results for one day, one week, one month or for the whole semester,” said Agarwal. It also automatically sends students’ performance updates to their respective parents. Parents will also have an app where they can track their kids’ progress in real time.

“I have a 10-year-old son, and I want the best for him,” said Agarwal.

Agarwal is the founder and President of IIT Alumni Association of Korea (IITAAK). He also has an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School. He said IITians have left their mark in most parts of the world and IITAAK wants to replicate that in South Korea and strengthen the reputation of brand IIT.

“We hope that this will not only make our lives here more meaningful but also help in forging more productive cooperation between South Korea and India,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> NRI> Other News / by Oinam Sunil / TNN / December 11th, 2017

Nutan Rathore youngest mayor in UP

Business & Economy, Leaders

Agra :

By winning the Firozabad municipal corporation election, Nutan Rathore has not only became its first mayor but also the youngest in the state.

Firozabad was upgraded to a municipal corporation in 2014 but elections for it have been held now.

Rathore secured 98,932 votes and won by a margin of 42,392 votes from her AIMIM rival, Masrur Fatima.

After completing her MBA, she worked with NGOs. Before getting associated with Mahila Chetna Manch, Bhopal, she also worked with Oxfam India.

Talking with TOI, Rathore said her education and working experience with NGOs would help her in meeting the aspirations of the people and fulfill her responsibilities as a mayor. “For understanding the problems of people and for doing development work, proper management is require and my experience will surely help,” she said.

She said her father, Mangal Singh Rathore who has been associated with BJP for several years, is her political mentor. “My father was city president of the party and a district office-bearer,” she said. She campaigned for the mayor’s post under his guidance.

An elated Mangal Singh Rathore, who is a lawyer by profession, said he always wanted someone from his family to take over the political baton from him but he had never thought that it would be his daughter. “BJP’s slogan is ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’ but I wanted to extend it to ‘beti badhao’ for my daughter,” he added.

“When the seat was reserved for OBC woman candidate, I asked my wife to contest but she refused. Then, my daughter expressed her desire to contest and today, she has won,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Agra News / by DM Sharma and Anuja Jaiswal / TNN / December 02nd, 2017

Agra university plans uplift of ‘men of metal’

Business & Economy, Education

The long neglected nomadic ironsmiths or ‘gadiya lohar’ in the Taj city can now hope for a better life, courtesy Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, which is planning to bring them into the mainstream of society.

The university is working on a pilot project for their rehabilitation through various government schemes and is also planning to arrange for education of children belonging to this deprived community.(HT Photo)

The long neglected nomadic ironsmiths or ‘gadiya lohar’ in the Taj city can now hope for a better life, courtesy Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, which is planning to bring them into the mainstream of society through skill development programmes, apart from giving them access to housing and education.

These ‘gadiya lohar’ or ‘loh-pita’ (blacksmiths), who move from place to place in search of livelihood, are said to have a historical past and it is said their ancestors chose this nomadic lifestyle of their own volition. Earlier, they fashioned swords and javelins but with changing times, they now make axes, kitchen ware and iron tools. But the community still adheres to the old life style and can be found on the pavements during transit.

Ironically, while most other tribes have progressed, this community still languishes at the bottom.

The university is working on a pilot project for their rehabilitation through various government schemes and is also planning to arrange for education of children belonging to this deprived community. Through the project it aims to address problems like illiteracy, low income generation and use of obsolete technology in economic activities .

“We will begin by preparing a pilot project and conduct a survey about the status of these deprived families who live a nomadic life and settle on the road side while moving from one city to another. They work hard with their obsolete instruments to make iron tools and are yet to join the mainstream of society,” said Dr Girija Shankar, spokesperson of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University.

The university’s attention was drawn towards these iron smiths during preparations for its convocation scheduled in December, because a number of such ironsmiths are stationed along the outer wall of the university campus in Khandari, which encloses the venue for the convocation.

A close look at their plight gave the varsity administration the idea to work towards their uplift.

“We are working on possible measures which include education for children of these iron smiths, who can be part of the Modern School run by the university. They can be given access to various government schemes, including housing and their skill can be used as skill development initiative of the university. Various departments and faculties in the varsity can play an active role in this initiative,” said Dr Girija Shankar.

“Dr Arvind Dixit, vice chancellor of Dr BR Ambedkar University, is relying on departments, particularly those of sociology and social science, conducting courses like MSW (Master of Social Works) for taking up the cause as social responsibility of the university,” he said.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities> Lucknow / by Hemendra Chaturvedi, Hindustan Times,Agra / November 28th, 2017

Samsung Innovation Awards 2017 held at IIT-Kanpur to recognize young innovators with path-breaking ideas

Business & Economy, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

New Delhi [India] (ANI-NewsVoir):

Samsung India conducted the 7th edition of the annual Samsung Innovation Awards at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur in association with Entrepreneurship Cell.

Samsung Innovation Awards aim to recognize and reward innovations that have the potential to revolutionize everyday living and enable students to take their ideas to the next level.

The first prize went to the team that included Kshitij Jaggi, Kumar Shivang and Rishabh Sahu who worked on a peer to peer financial transaction app using Blockchain technology in a distributed environment. The vision of the team is to enable financial inclusion of chit fund subscribers with Circle, a mobile ?rst solution for organisers to easily manage the members, bringing in transparency in the whole process and creating credit history for all Indians.

Insomniatec, comprising students Kaustubh Mundra and Sankalp Rastogi, won the second prize for proposing a project that uses an infra-red camera coupled with computer vision technology to detect drowsiness in a vehicle driver while in motion and provides in-time alerts.

One of the projects, Muskan Solid Waste, consisting Hari Shankar and co-founder Mewa Lal found a special mention at the awards. This is a start-up that converts organic waste into high yielding compost. The technique used reduces time for composting and produces more efficient manure compared to artificial fertilizers.

The awards were presented by Dr. Aloknath De, Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute, India Bangalore (SRI-B). The winners were given cash prizes worth Rs. 2.5 lakh while the five finalists received merit recognition from Samsung.

Samsung Innovation Awards 2017 saw an overwhelming response, with eight teams getting an opportunity to present their ideas to the jury comprising Dr. Aloknath De from SRI-B and professors from IIT-Kanpur – Dr. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay from the Department of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering (BSBE), Prof. Sandeep Shukla from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kanpur.

Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore will engage with the award winners to further develop their innovations.

“Through the platform of Samsung Innovation Awards, we want to encourage students to work on innovative ideas in evolving areas of artificial intelligence, computer vision and IOT. When we see diverse and quality projects in these emerging technology areas, we can sense the pulse of our youth. Novelty of ideas, comprehensiveness in execution and impact of solution are yardsticks in selecting the winners. Samsung has been supporting deep-tech innovation at large and this year’s event in IIT-Kanpur is one such initiative,” said Dr. Aloknath De, Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute, India – Bangalore.

Cutting-edge innovations were showcased at the competition. The innovative product ideas and solutions presented this year ranged from a cloud-based healthcare data management system to an intelligence platform for law enforcement and defence agencies.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship ought to become an integral part of institutions of academic and higher technical learnings. We must quickly transform into an innovation driven society where young minds understand societal needs, carve out opportunities and take calculated risks to become job creators and leaders. We are happy that corporates such as Samsung are coming forward to help us create the desired ecosystem at IIT Kanpur,” said Sameer Khandekar, Associate Dean, Innovation and Incubation, IIT Kanpur.

The 2017 edition of the Samsung Innovation Awards was initiated at IIT-Kanpur campus six months ago through an open entry process, where students submitted their innovative ideas. The shortlisting process was led by professors from IIT-Kanpur and researchers from SRI-B, who also selected the eight finalists.

The final teams presented their ideas to the jury at the IIT-Kanpur campus. The winning project was selected based on the degree of innovation, feasibility, usability, relevance and overall impact on masses.

Conceptualised in 2011, the Samsung Innovation Awards seek to support and encourage young talent who have an innovative approach and look to improvise different systems and processes. Further, it aims to develop indigenous products and services for fulfilling mass needs thereby transforming lives and creating sustainable solutions for the benefit of the society at large.

Over the years, Samsung Innovation Awards have become one of the most eagerly awaited ideation contests at IIT’s due to enthusiastic participation from the student community.

The first edition was conducted at IIT Delhi and since then Samsung Innovation Awards have been held at other major IITs. The last edition in 2016 was held at IIT Bombay and had witnessed great interest and enthusiasm from students. Samsung continues to provide the next generation of Indian innovators and entrepreneurs an avenue to showcase and advance their engineering skill sets. (ANI-NewsVoir)

source: http://www.aninews.in / ANI / Home / November 16th, 2017

Where tradition is the spice of business

Business & Economy, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

If cameras had been commonly used in the early 19th century in Lucknow, the walls of this iconic shop would have been full of pictures ranging from Nawabi to British customers, claims Dheeraj Kumar Gupta, who sits at the counter at Mata Badal Pansari in Aminabad.

Set up in 1857, Madal Badal Pansari has neither lost on tradition nor customers. Known far and wide for selling hard-to-find ayurvedic medicines and other rare herbs, the shop has celebrity chefs such as Vikas Khanna and Sanjeev Kapoor as its regular clients.

“Khanna had also mentioned about our shop and spices he bought from us when he was interviewed by media during his recent visit to Lucknow,” says Dheeraj, the sixth generation of Mata Badal—the man who had set up the shop.

Dheeraj runs the 160-year-old store with his father.

Located in a lane in Aminabad—the market that sells everything from a needle to a sword—Mata Badal Pansari gets its name from the owner himself. When Mata Badal had set up the shop, the market was nothing but a huge park, says Dheeraj.

Both the Nawabs and the British were among the store’s regular customers. “Only if clicking pictures was as easy as it is today, we would have had the most interesting collage to display,” he adds.

As one walks into the store, the huge iron shutters at its entrance, high ceiling and the large storage space—it is rare to find such in a place like Aminabad—lend credence to its past.
“We get rare herbs from farmers in Darjeeling, Nepal, Goa and even abroad. We actually get ‘Multani mitti’ from Multan in Pakistan,” says Deepak.

Anyone who has ever lived in Lucknow would have heard of Mata Badal Pansari if not visited the shop.

Meetu Kumar, an HR professional settled in New Delhi, says, “Though I am from Unnao, my maternal grandmother in Lucknow would ensure that she always got henna for her hair from Mata Badal Pansari. I remember how my mother used to shop from them too for the best henna. Now, I get it whenever I land in Lucknow.”

Through all these years, the shop has not deviated from tradition. The interiors have not been changed and sales are only over the counter.

“We have customers visiting us from all parts of the country and even beyond. We have not thought of adopting online or other platforms to sell our products,” says Gupta. His younger brother, though a lawyer, makes it a point to participate in the family business too.

With its huge clientele, the shop caters to various famous personalities.

“Raj Bhawan has always bought herbs from us and so have most chief ministers. We have never tried or even thought of marketing the fact that we have sold herbs and medicines to famous people. To us, every customer is equally important,” says Gupta.

Mata Badal Pansari has never been into advertising. Its popularity and credibility have travelled far and wide mainly through word of mouth.

Swati Singh, a Lucknowite now settled in Bangalore, says she keeps a note of spices and herbs required in her kitchen in a diary but never buys them from just any store

“I have to get my spices from Mata Badal Pansari in Lucknow. Either I ask my brother to courier them to me or I buy them myself when I come to Lucknow,” she adds.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Lucknow News / TNN / August 20th, 2017

Dutch expertise for UP to increase milk productivity, conserve water

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Lucknow :

Dairy farmers and workers at Kanpur leather clusters will now learn methods to increase milk productivity and conserve water respectively, by the technology and expertise being brought in by the Dutch government. As a continuation of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between Netherlands and the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government in 2016, two new projects were launched by the Dutch Ambassador on Monday.

The Dutch delegation including ten companies with an investment interest in the state will be meeting up with chief minister Adityanath Yogi in Lucknow on Tuesday.

n a joint co-operation between Dutch company PUM, and Tasty Dairy in Kanpur, a centre of excellence will be set up, targeting an increase in processing of butter, cheese and ghee.

“Currently India processes only 10% of its milk into products and we hope to train the industry in increasing that to atleast 30% which will increase employment and economy,” said Dutch ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga, in a press interaction.

The second project launched on the day is a public-private partnership to clean up Ganges where methods for conservation of water both at source and in the processing of leather, will be shared with workers. “Atleast two workers in around 5000 tanneries will be given the skills that will indirectly affect around 2,50,00 people,” said ambassador Stoelinga. He added, “A lot of water is wasted in cleaning the animal hide off salt before processing can be done. If this is just rubbed off like powder,water can be saved.”

Pre-treatment of water before it reaches the treatment plant that would cut down on the toxic elements released into the river and using the process of electrolysis making lime usable and reusable for treating animal hide, are also part of the skills to be enhanced. Supported by the Sustainable Water Fund Programme (FDW) with a grant of over Rs 2.3 million euros, the private partner from NEtherlands is a chemical company, Stahl which will work with Indian partners including Ganga Pollution Control Unit, Central Leather Research Institute and the local industry association.

Netherlands also inaugurated the Consulate for Kingdom of Netherlands and appointed Sharat Thadani as the first Dutch Honorary Consul in Lucknow on Monday. Dutch ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga termed Netherlands as the first country to have its consulate in Uttar Pradesh. “This is a big state with tremendous potential and issues with water, agriculture and environment that Netherlands with its expertise can help ease out,” Stoelinga said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / by Yusra Hussain / TNN / November 13th, 2017

Royal Orchid Hotels Enters Kanpur Market

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All, Travel

Situated at the heart of the city, “Regenta Central The Crystal” is just a 45 minutes drive from Kanpur airport, 6 KM from railway station and situated in close proximity to the main shopping destinations.

ROYAL ORCHID Hotels announced the opening of a hotel in Kanpur‘Regenta Central The Crystal” and taking the number of properties under Royal Orchid group to 45.

Situated at the heart of the city, “Regenta Central The Crystal” is a blend of modern amenities and traditional Indian hospitality. The hotel is just a 45 minutes drive from Kanpur airport, 6 KM from railway station and situated in close proximity to the main shopping destinations.

The hotel offers affordable luxury stays with multiple dining options to choose.“Regenta Central The Crystal” offers an array of F&B options to chose like Red Olive – an all day dining restaurant serves sumptuous delicacies from around the globe, 360 Degreeze – is a roof top lounge which serves fusion food and offers breathtaking view of the city and Gravity – our upscale discotheque where people unwind to thumping rhythm and foot–tapping beats.

Chander K. Baljee, Managing Director, Royal Orchid Hotels said, “We have added four properities –Mysore, Ahmedabad, Dehradun and Kanpur – in the current financial year. We are on target to take the number of properties to 50 under the Royal Orchid Group before the end of this financial year. We will continue to pursue our model of management contracts to build our hospitality business”.

source: http://www.bwhotelier.businessworld.in / BWHotelier.com / Home / by BW Online Bureau / November 17th, 2017

The Chikan Chronicles

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, World Opinion

Paola Manfredi’s recently-launched book Chikankari – A Lucknawi Tradition is a rare document on the history, growth and beauty of the craft

It is a labour of love and the result of painstaking research. Chikankari – A Lucknawi Tradition by Paola Manfredi, an Italian, is a book that shows her close and long association with the craft.

Lucknow’s chikankari is known across the world yet very little research or documentation has been done. Articles or features have appeared off and on but this book is amongst the first of its kind, which aims to document the vast treasure called Chikan.

What makes the book extremely interesting is that unlike other books that tend to rely on second hand material, with exhaustive references and quotes, Paola Manfredi has filled her tome with passionate grass-roots level research. The narrative more in the nature of a personal journey, with all the quirks and street-smart practicality, makes the book refreshing. As Paola says in the book, it is not a scholarly or academic research but more of a documentation of the world of chikankari.

Paola questions the use of chikan as a word for embroidery, highlighting that it has a broader connotation encompassing haute couture, the fine art of making a garment, embroidering it and finishing it with finesse. She is no stranger to chikankari having worked with SEWA and several craftsmen. Her love for white on white embroidery also found a calling in chikan.

Paola came to India to work in textile exports and as she says, “If you like textiles … India is a heaven, an inexhaustible treasure trove.”

Travelling through Lucknow

Fascinated, she stayed on, researching, adapting and understanding. She has walked the bylanes of Lucknow, spending hours meeting nearly all the families of master craftspersons and talking to block makers, exporters and commercial businessmen dealing with chikan, Government agencies, NGOs. These interactions come through in her writing. Nowhere has the process of printing the design for embroidery been dealt with in so much detail. “I have barely scratched the surface,” she says. One perceives such humbleness throughout the book. The tone is that of a seeker — a person trying to find the nuances of the embroidery, the origin, the history and the answers to whys, hows and wheres. It comes to light in the documentation of the stitches as she wonders about the number of stitches that make up each piece of chikan work?

Each master craftsperson has his or her repertoire. After a lot of field work, she questions herself in trying to define the boundaries of the craft with its number of stitches and whether she is actually right in trying to pin it down? She has listed the various stitches with their common names in Hindi. The book also features jalas — the technique of creating lattice-like work on fabric.

She has dealt in detail the finishing techniques of daraz and turpai. Quilted chikan, rarely seen, has been illustrated with some beautiful pieces. She says, “I have seen a white coat made in this fashion, which has not been included in the book.” This work was popular in Bhopal.

She has also painstakingly sourced images. There is a beautiful painting from V&A of a woman embroidering what looks like chikankari. Also the superb work done on fine muslin is a sight to behold. The creation is so fine that capturing it on camera is difficult. But to her credit, it has been shot meticulously. The women who were the unsung part of this tradition and now make up a large majority have been given their due in the book.

Paola has touched upon every aspect related to the craft, even the dhobis, who wash the finished garments. The book is worth its weight in gold for the exceptional research.

How did your tryst with India begin?

I first visited India in 1978, and came to work in textiles export at the end of 1981. Indian textiles have such a long history. They reached far and wide in the world and are expressions of most amazing aesthetics and techniques. I have met many artisans, men and women, incredibly skilled in different needlecraft and soon realised that they could interpret and execute my concepts and designs.

Why did you choose to focus on chikan?

Since its inception, SEWA-Lucknow produced very fine needlework with a rather unique repertoire of motifs and stitches. I was particularly intrigued by chikankari that reflected the Lucknawi ethos. The mystery of its origin made it more interesting for me.

Searching for references on it, I was surprised to find almost none. This led me to look for old pieces in museums in India and abroad, in private collections and with antique textile dealers. The search led me to unexpected and exhilarating findings that strengthened my resolve to go deeper and deeper.

Are the traditional craftpersons still committed to pursuing this art that requires immense patience ?

Most of those doing chikankari are women living in rural areas, for them this is a good source of income, however meagre. To prevent them from giving up the craft, we need to support them. It is important to make them aware of their exceptional skill and be proud of their tradition. We also should equip them with modern knowhow to understand the demands of changing times.

How easy was it to work with the craftspersons?

It was a fulfilling experience. They not only gives a peek into the aesthetic process but also the challenges. Working with them was a constant learning experience. It was a journey of discovery of the many possibilities that one can’t even imagine.

Is there a regular team of craftspersons you coordinate with?

I closed my ari workshop in 2008, when I shifted too far to follow it up. When I began working on the book in 2012, I felt that I had not involved myself in any design and production activity to avoid misinterpretation and facilitate the research and access to the documentation I was looking for.

Your favourite chikankari stitch?

Difficult to say, as the textural complexity, typical of chikan, stems from the combination and permutation of different stitches.The craft’s vocabulary is amazing and each stitch has a part to play in different compositions.

Is the book a culmination of all your efforts or a beginning to do more on it?

I would say both. The book was important as it was like marking my first step. However researching on it brought up different questions and issues, not all of which could be addressed in this book. Not sure if there will be another book, but certainly I would like to answer some of those questions.

Anything particular about the book that is special to you?

There have been many special moments and I met some exceptional people while working on the book. I experienced an emotional undercurrent in their narratives. An incident that I will cherish is when I was presented a few old children chikankari kurtas, damaged, but precious craft pieces. I would like to emphasise the need to document craft traditions.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by Chitra Balasubramaniam / October 26th, 2017