It’s been a while since I wrote a blog. I am now writing about travelling to India with a child and textile interest, which I took back in April. I have always loved textiles, and India is full of handwoven textiles. For me, it’s not about quantity; it’s about quality. I wanted to go there and experience it myself. It’s also my first time going, and I have a son whom I had to bring along. My husband has been quite ill (he had cancer in the past), and doesn’t want to take the risk of going to India.
I had a few factors that made the trip more challenging. I am also aware that I am a woman travelling with a young child. So I decided to join a tour. I went with Intrepid, which I found online after looking at reviews. At the same time, I have made some contacts with fabric and natural dye suppliers online, such as Sodhani Biotech.
I booked our flight using Avios with British Airways as they had a great service and generous baggage allowance. With it being a first time in India, I didn’t know what to expect. I am glad that I had the services of a tour guide to get us out of the airport. It was a third and first world altogether. I have been to Mozambique on my own in my younger days, so that didn’t scare me or put me off at all. The tour was brilliant, but it also meant that we had to confine ourselves to the tour itinerary and having to put up with other people for the next 10 days. There is that it also feels like there is a network of shops that the tour would like us to go to. We were made aware that this is part of how the travel industry works.
Places we visited
We had visited the touristy spots like the Taj Mahal and other places. In my opinion, a tour guide or someone who knows the tourist route, like train stations and helps you to guide away from people selling you souvenirs is essential. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be as much of enjoyable a holiday. There were many small cottage industries even on the tourist paths. It was amazing, and people spoke English; life is good. Simple things fascinate me, like a man on his sewing machine on the pavements, hand-woven carpets in a small cottage industry. In parts of rural India, there are lots of handmade items to choose from. Yes, India is noisy and dirty, but look past these. It’s a wonderful place to be, and there is nowhere like it.
My only regret is that I didn’t have much chance to buy enough fabric?!! And network with suppliers due to time constraints. My son was quite ill after swallowing some water in a swimming pool. The weather in New Delhi is quite hot in April. I didn’t have much time to travel due to the heat. Looking back, I would go back to Jaipur and spend more time there. It’s such an amazing city. I recommend visiting Sanganer and looking at hand-carved wooden blocks.
Thank you very much for dropping by and reading this. Here are some links to my blog posts about mordant in natural dyes and printing on paper.
