Manek Kaka, Block Maker from Pethapur

A percussion symphony, the clackety clack of castanets tintinnabulations of metal ringing, punctuated by raw twangs of woven camel hair strings; no orchestra this, but the tumultuous sounds abounding the workplace of the makers of the block. Particulate wooden dust swirling motes dancing in slanting sun rays through slattern windows; craftsmen seated in non liquor sequences, precision tools delicately wroughting filigreed veins on living wood. Wafts of sawdust and oil intermingling with writhing tendrils of ‘beedi’ smoke permeating the air within the working kingdom of a wizened old man, all in white, thick bifocals, a roughshod shaven face, thin wispy hair on an otherwise sparse, pink head, trembling hands gesture as a coarse work shorn voice muses over the intricacies of a life well colorfully lived. This then is Maneklal Gajjar, the block maker, master craftsman extra ordinary, the last of the stalwarts of the Saudagiri Prints.

Pethapur is a village near Gandhinagar, which seems to have seen better days. There was a time, the place resounded with the cacophony of a thousand workshops with skilled ‘Gajjar’ artisans, weaving their patterns on blocks of wood to enhance fabric into the most fantastical of colors and shapes in design. The ghosts of the past haunt you as you walk down dusty streets to “Manek kaka’s” modest home and work place. Pethapur in the present; four artisans struggling to make ends meet in a fast paced world where appreciation of the art form is more of a connoisseur luxury.

A small room, long narrow windows, artisan’s tools lining on end three legged working stools on the floor, framed citations and newspaper clippings covering the walls and an old man wandering lonely. A thin film of wood dust covers an old weather worn table as a varicose hand clears a space on it, tracing circles with a forefinger. Manekkaka recollects his life and the romanticism of the Saudagiri trade with ancient Siam. The dowager Mankelal Gajjar can hardly see, his hands shake, he cannot work anymore but the inborn skill and vigor is still there as he chips away with a chisel and wooden mallet, gently urging relief patterns on a non descript block of wood while wiping away the veil of time to talk of his beginnings as he learned the trade at his uncle’s factory. Everybody and their grandfather were block makers then. Young lad were apprenticed with their neighbors and Maneklal was no exception, getting to know the vagaries of the wood block, to work on wood and metal, tracing paper designs on chalked surfaces, to emerge at last a master and creative innovator.

Laurels and hosannas to his craft decorate his walls, newspaper clippings, sepia tinted photos, the odd invite and then the craft festivals attended, apprentices trained and thesis’s guided; all of which are cogs in the gear box of Maneklal Gajjar’s life. A craftsman of Saudagiri blocks and a wife who is no more, a wife who helped in his work, virtually otherwise ran his world and together they brought forth their two daughters. Daughters who broke all social taboos and apprenticed to the trade; they are married but the skill is not yet forgotten. So the stories move as Manek kaka unravels the weave of his life.

‘Saudagiri’, the trader; textile print of that name is what sustained Pethapur. Floral, geometric with distinctive borders is what dictated fashion in Siam and it originated and was conceptualized here in Pethapur. Workshops were connected to a trading company, in Maneklal’s case, ‘Muskati and Co.’ one of the three in Surat. The basic designs arrived delicately traced on paper from Siam. The artisans then began to work their magic on wood, embellishing the pattern with designs of their own. The number of relative bocks each principle unit had, was determined by it color variations.

And this is where the journey begins to wax lyrically. The ready blocks, oil soaked master pieces start their life purpose by being loaded by ‘Rabaris’ on camel carts to be carried to Ahmedabad and the banks of the Sabarmati. Their journey’s ended as they were welcomed by traditional block printers, ‘Khatris’ and ‘Bhavsars’. Undulating swathes of fabric, the excess dye washing off in rivulets of color, floating over and under flowing water.

Bales of printed fabrics was hoisted on to barges to reach the port of Cambay and onward to Bombay. Here a ‘Muskati’ company trade ship took over for a long sea journey through the Palk Straits on to Siam, there to be fashioned into garments to suit all manner of people. The return brought back fresh designs and the client was engraved within the border patterns. A successful trade mission meant the company men descending on Pethapur to distribute bonuses and the trade continued until the advent of the Second World War when the Japanese sealed off the land route and a trade ship was sunk by a German Submarine off the port of Bombay. This signaled the death knell for ‘Saudagiri’. The traders never recovered and their trails and privations trickled down the chain gradually marking an end to a way of life, a generations old hereditary craft form of the Gajjars of Pethapur.