Ranidongri - The basket makers in disguise | Story of Indian crafts and craftsmen

Gaatha project was originally conjured only for researching and documenting the rapid erosion of Indian craft clusters and heritage. However, we soon learnt from the artisans themselves that need was not to do research alone, but to restore ‘pride and serious commercial opportunity’ in their ecosystem. Today Gaatha thus aims to bring the lost respect and wealth back to these beautiful and aesthetically rich Indian handicraft clusters. These researches are important because just like Industrial goods sell on ‘features’, crafts sell on the processes / stories / heritage that go into making them.

We should give crafts a fair chance, someone is right now merrily making something for us, singing a folk song, in a humble house, deep inside India.

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Myths & Stories, Visits

Ranidongri – The basket makers in disguise

May 7, 2013

Wives is basket maker weave beautiful grass baskets while their men hide behind the characters they wear, only to come out singing and dancing…like a plant sprouts out of the earth, in ways never heard before.

Their sounds like the sound of the earth, their dancing like the moves of a bird. They sing the welcoming song to invite us in their house, while we sit around their mud-clad, simple but beautiful courtyard, engulfed by the depth of their voices and eyes equally. There are places where guests are treated like Gods. These sing song stories of great men and women from our history and mythology are taken to many surrounding districts by the men of this village (Ranidongri, Madhya Pradesh), seeking for their livelihood…while the women continue weaving in the compound.