Narendra Modi’s victory has done wonders to brand Gujarat. From its cuisine to textiles and crafts, experts are all set to discover the state in a new light and reinvent tradition
While the NaMo tsunami was underway and social networking sites were flooded with spoof videos and jokes, one link that got too many likes on Facebook was ‘10 reasons why you should have a Gujarati friend.’ Among the listed reasons were — ladies can borrow some beautiful outfits, you can eat dal-bhaat-saak-rotli and keri no rus and you can excel in your bargaining skills. Now that the verdict is out and the entire nation is under the NaMo spell, you might not have a Gujarati friend, but you surely need to accustom yourself with most things Guajarati. Narendra Modi’s victory in the recent elections has done wonders in promoting brand Gujarat. The treasure trove of skills, craft, cuisine and textiles has been the destination for fashion designers, foodies and cultural enthusiasts but now the craze will be several notches higher. So expect reinvention of Gujarati cuisine, get ready to adorn patolas and bandhanis in different avatars and wait to witness wonders that designers are planning to create with block printing.
Beyond bandhanis
When we met Niki Mahajan last she mentioned how 14 years ago she had a chance encounter with a famous Japanese designer who left behind the comforts of his air conditioned studio to work in a small room in village Mandawa of Gujarat on a batik programme. She was surprised on how the creative geniuses from the rest of the world are looking at our crafts and skills to set landmarks in the global world. We are sure the Japanese designer was not the only one. Thanks to designers like Niki Mahajan, Ritu Kumar, Anita Dongre, Madhu Jain, Neeru Kumar and many others that textiles, prints and embroidery from Gujarat have travelled across the world. But Niki points out that there is still so much about Gujarat that’s waiting to be explored. “We all know about batik, block printing, bandhej from Gujarat, but not many would know that it is the best place to discover so many embroidery styles. Apart from colourful thread embroidery, they have an interesting banni work, mini mirror work done mostly on cholis. I am planning to base my next couture line on this banni work. We need to present traditional craft in a new way to make it popular,” says Niki.
Textile designer Madhu Jain had put up a collection on banni and suf work some 20 years ago. She fell in love with the techniques instantly and could never set apart. Suf has lots of geometrical patterns. It is a flat stitch which can give even Parsi gara embroidery a run for money. It is the most amazing single thread embroidery. Gujarat’s craft techniques are very versatile. The mirror work and all the embroidery can be adapted to any form of national textile like chanderi (Madhya Pradesh), ikat (Andhra Pradesh), mangalgiri (Andhra Pradesh) and paithnis,” she says adding, “I believe Modi will highlight the best of Indian craft.” Dubbed as the textile state of India, Gujarat has one of the most flourishing textile industries in the country. Places like Kutch and Jamnagar are globally acknowledged for the varieties kinds of block printing, bandhanis and embroidery. “We get some of the finest bandhani from Jamnagar. A lot of weaving happens in Bujori village of Kutch. There are several types of tribes who are distinct and different in everyday use of textiles. Embroidery rabari bharat, Sindhi bharat, abla bharat, mochi bharat, quilting and patan patola are widely used in fashion today,” says textile designer Neeru Kumar.
Bite in
All those who have visited Gujarat would definitely feel pity for the ones who without being to the state assume that its food is all about khakra, thepla, dhokla, khandvi, and of course, that everything’s sweet. Food served in the state is the best example of fine balance that Indian cooking is all about.
Says chef Kunal Kapur, “Being a true blue Punjabi I also grew up with the notion that Gujarati food is all sweet. But I was only when I started to understand the intricacies of cooking and balance of flavours that I realised that Gujarati is perhaps the best food. Only they can manage to add sugar with other spices in such a proportion that no ingredient ends up overpowering the flavour of the other in the dish. A few years ago I went to Gujarat and came across traditional food. It is so much different than what we think it to be. I liked Gujarati kadhi and karela cooked with ripe mangoes and little sugar.” Though we have come across Guajarati food festivals at many places, apart from few known dishes there’s nothing new. “We can do some changes to make it more interesting. like I would like to use undhiyu as a stuffing to a vegetable sandwich. Or do a Mexican tortilla with masala thepla by adding cheese and tomato salsa to it. It is only Guajarati cuisine that can offer so much variety in vegetarian cooking,” says Kunal. Experiments with the cuisine has already begun. In his Mumbai restaurant Masala library Zorawar Kalra is already serving khandvi sphere, a dish prepared with yogurt and molecular gastronomy.
The other is Gujarati kadhi risotto. “There are plans to do some more fusion and do something modern with Gujarati farsaan. People are loving the modern take on traditional Gujarati dishes,” says Zorawar. Those who do not believe in fusion, are all set to dig into the history and discover more traditional delights. “We should promote Gujarati cuisine with a punch of tradition,” says chef Davinder Kumar from le Meridien.
Skill at hand
Gujaratis might have been globetrotters but their interiors are not complete without mashru work or other handicraft work from their state. Kalamkari table covers, patch work, bead work by the tribes and torans have been adopted by the entire nation like they were always their own. All we hope to see next is the modern avatars of these traditional craft, keeping in mind the modern interiors.
(inputs Karan Bhardwaj)