Travel With a Couple

Solapur was once a bustling textile town. The Solapur chadder is famous even now, though the number of mills has dwindled and many of the looms have moved out of the town.

We wanted to visit one of those looms and speak to a few people and made our enquries, but only to realise that there are only show rooms and not any mills/looms around the town. So we were directed to the largest and the most popular one – Pulgam Textiles. We were not disappointed for there were some unique cotton bedsheets. The chadder certainly has its charm, going by the crowd thronging the shop, spread across three large buildings. The salesmen were friendly and had a knack of selling. And, we ended up buying a few.

Solapur chadder once got the fashion world sit up and take notice. James Ferreira, a Mumbai based fashion designer featured a fashion range at the Lakme Fashion Week 2006 and the models walked the ramp wrapped in Solapur chadder.(Photos from Sify)

(Solapur is 405 kms from Mumbai, via Pune)

It’s already jingle bells time at the ITC Grand Central! Last week was the ‘cake mixing ceremony’ – mixing loads of dry fruits with spices, honey, and fruit extracts. The mix is let to ferment for a month or so, for baking those delicious plum cakes for Christmas.

This year, the students of Akanksha Lower Parel Centre were invited for the cake mixing ceremony at the ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai. Saroj maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons were the celebrity guests for the event.The kids were so thrilled and charged up that they managed to convince their teachers to allow them to leave early from school. They were restless even while watching cartoons during the short wait time.

The excitement was palpable as they got ready for the ceremony in the ball room. As about 30 kids got into the act, wearing Christmas caps and palms duly tucked in gloves, the room soon got filled with a heady aroma of fruits and spices. The colourful mixture and the sweet aroma was enough to give an idea about how yummy the cake would be! The exhilaration soared as the kids fished out the two hidden coins from the mix.

Food cooked and served by women always has that special taste. We experienced this at Hotel Amantran at Solapur. The restaurant at Hotel Srikamal International where we stayed was undergoing renovation. The hotel manager gave directions for some good Maharashtrain fare and a certain Hotel Kamath for the typical Shetty food. We chose to have a Maharashtrian dinner.

When we entered the hotel, it was a pleasant surprise to see women taking orders and serving. The semi-open kitchen showed women cooking too. Only mini thali and limited meals were available. We ordered one each and relished the soft chapathis, rice, and vegetables.

The array of laddus too looked tempting. Since we already had our fair share of Diwali sweets, we chose to give it a miss.

Updated on 14th. Photos of laddu

“This island has to be saved for its trees, it has to be saved for its animals, it is a part of a reserve forest, it belongs to a project to save tigers, which is paid for by people from all around the world.” Everyday, sitting here, with hunger gnawing at our bellies, we would listen to these words, over and over again. Who are these people, I wondered, who love animals so much that they are willing to kill us for them? Do they know what is being done in their names? Where do they leave, these people, do they have children, do they have mothers, fathers? As I thought of these things it seemed to me that this whole world has become a place of animals, and our fault, our crime, was that we were just human beings trying to live as human beings always have, from the water and the soil. No human being could think this a crime unless they have forgotten that this is how humans have always lived – by fishing, by clearing land and by planting the soil.”

– The Hungry Tide, Amitav Ghosh

This is what came to our minds when we heard about the man-animal conflict at Nannaj. At a teashop in Nannaj village, we met two locals – Salim Ansari and Sohail – who help with the research on the ‘extent of crop destruction by blackbucks.’ According to Salim and Sohail, crop destruction by blackbucks is so extensive that many small farmers have given up cultivating their land. The only solution to this problem is erecting fences around the farm, which is not affordable by small farmers. Those who have the wherewithal to do this save their crops. The state government offers Rs 800/- per acre of damaged crop as compensation. To claim this money, farmers need to submit photographs as proof of damage and a host of documents. Still, this meager amount comes to them only after many months. The cumbersome and delayed process deters the farmers from claiming the compensation. They take the easier, but painful way of giving up farming and working as labourers in bigger farms.

Though the picture is not as worse as depicted in The Hungry Tide, the small farmers at Nannaj are getting deprived of their livelihood. Blackbucks need to be protected. Human beings need to live. What can be done? Is there an organisation that can help them build fences and restart farming? Our agriculture and allied activities growth is estimated to diminish by 2% in 2009-10 due to poor monsoons. Do we need more farmers to forego farming in this dismal scenario?

Nannaj is 25 kms from Solapur on the Solapur-Barshi road. Solapur is 405 kms from Mumbai via Pune. Nannaj bird sanctuary is a protected area and is known for the endangered Great Indian Bustard. The area has also a good number of black bucks who often grazes in the farmlands causing crop damage. A few researchers from a couple of universities have been researching on this.