Celebrating Christmas at Savista with the Babul tree!

When trying to dream up ideas of how we could evoke the atmosphere of Christmas in the Rajasthan countryside, we found the perfect candidate in the Babul!  With its dark, vertically fissured bark, straight stiff branches, sharp pointed white paired spines, and feathery leaves, the Babul comes closest to the fir tree, and became our “Christmas Tree” this year.  Babul trees  can be seen on the edge of the Savista grounds, and in the countryside all around Savista, and it did not take us long to find one with branches that appealed to us. Our enthusiastic staff – for whom a Christmas tree was a novelty – quickly got down to work, and within hours we had a sturdy branch about 6 feet long set in a pot filled with earth,  with tinsel wrapped around it and little coloured lights twinkling all over.  By the time it was sundown on the day before Christmas eve, our brightly-lit “Christmas tree”, with Christmas carols playing in the background,  truly brought home the  spirit of the festival!

Known as Acacia Nilotica and also called Acacia Arabica (from the Greek Akis meaning sharp point), the Babul (its Hindi name) is a wild tree that is native to all of Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and the Indian sub-continent, including Burma. It grows easily and is propagated by birds that feed on its pods.  In India, it grows abundantly in arid and semi arid climates, where it is also often deliberately planted as a measure to prevent soil erosion. Perfectly suited to sandy or degraded soils because of its capacity to make the maximum use of whatever little water is available to it, and with its leaves capable of folding up against the bright summer sun, the Babul is a tree that is superbly adapted for survival.  When travelling through Rajasthan – or even just hiking cross-country around Savista – it can be seen everywhere, often taking on a dramatic appearance with its tall trunk, spiny branches growing outwards, and dense cloak of yellow sweet-scented flowers when in season (July and November, its flowers giving it the name “Scented Thorn”).

The Babul has multiple uses for animals and humans in the Rajasthan environment.

Due to its thorns, it is often planted as a boundary wall around farms.  The wood is durable and termite resistant, and farmers use it to fashion ploughs, cart-wheels and other heavy duty farm equipment.  The dark bark and pods have an astringent quality, making them ideal tanning and dyeing materials.  The leaves make for good fodder for camels, sheep and goats; they are also used to make a a poultice for ulcers.  The tender twigs are chewed by villagers as an excellent herbal toothbrush-cum-toothpaste-cum-mouthwash-cum-gum-strengthener (“Babool” toothpaste is a brand that figures prominently among the products made by a reputed Indian company manufacturing drugs and personal hygiene products based on Ayurvedic principles for modern markets).   The gum ( a dark resin) of the tree (giving it its other name Arabian Gum Tree) is an integral ingredient of medicines prepared by practitioners of indigenous Indian systems of medicine for a variety of uses, e.g., to cure wounds, and to treat diarrhea, dysentery, liver and spleen disorders, tuberculosis, typhoid, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.

Botanical details:

Family: Leguminosae

Sub-family: Mimoceae

Walking to Fatehpura, a village about 4 km from Savista, is like an idyll.  The first and lasting impression is of the great and unspoilt beauty of the landscape.  A fairly smooth kuccha (unpaved) walking path is in existence and makes our progress easy.  We hardly meet anyone as we walk along comfortably; the only visual evidence is of nature and industrious agriculture.   On either side of the path stretch well cultivated fields showing the early tender green presence of wheat, garden peas, mustard and barley growing on  soil that looks dark and richly moist despite the generally sandy nature of the terrain.  Interspersed among the fields and along the pathway  are trees – mostly thorny sturdy babool, a tree suited to semi-arid soil conditions –  which provide shelter to busy birds exploring what the fields have to offer.

Between stretches of fields we pass a couple of homesteads. It would feel strange, indeed, if  in India there were not even such a minimal encounter with human presence.  A few young women busy with weeding or looking after their buffaloes look up and smile at us briefly.  A few small children, chubby and relatively clean and well clothed, give a startled and curious stare. It is still 4 in the evening and any older children must be still at school.  The men are probably away at work.  There are no idlers to be seen;  so different from the more urbanized villages that abound in the area.  Occasional patches of marigold, clearly being cultivated for the market,  add a splash of brilliance to the deep browns, greens and yellows on the ground and pale blue in the sky.  Little vegetable gardens hug the homesteads, from across the thatch housing the buffaloes; we can see thin green fingers of garlic and spring onions, the little leaves of fenugreek, potatoes, aniseed, spinach and turnips.  All this is evidence that the families in these homesteads are eating reasonably well.  Cowdung cakes are stacked to dry against the walls of the buffalo shelters.  These are families self-sufficient in grain, vegetables, milk and fuel.  Their men and women work.  Their children go to school.

At Fatehpura itself, beautifully-tended fields covered with crops reach for  the horizon.  The village houses are ranged along the other side of the main pathway.  They have large compounds shielded by high walls of thorny twigs.  Another striking image – even more so than the unspoilt and uncrowded beauty of the landscape – is the spotlessness we have encountered all along our route, and that continues through Fatehpura village;  the blessed characteristic of sparse populations.  The  homesteads along the route do not seem to be generating visible litter.  The feeling of being in an idyllic bubble begins to give way, however, when we get to the end of the village and closer to the main road that runs past it.   Although the landscape is still relatively empty of people, barring an occasional shepherd and his wife in traditional dress leading a flock of goats and sheep, or farmers on motorcycles also in traditional attire, plastic bags and plastic tea glasses lie piled up by the roadside. Evidence of modernity and prosperity in village India. Traditional knowledge does not equip people with the means to dispose of synthetic wastes.  And nobody is giving them the new knowledge either.   Apart from this, the idyll is still  intact, but we are reminded of how tenuous this is.

Diwali lamps

Today is Diwali, Festival of Lights.  Diwali Mubarak!  Naya Saal Mubarak! Diwali and New Year greetings to all!

 Diwali – from the Sanskrit Deepavali –  means “rows of lamps”.   Uniquely marked by the lighting of myriad oil lamps (now combined with decorative electric lights) in homes and public spaces; flower decorations to homes and shops, streets and parks; firework displays and the  bursting of fire crackers; the making and sharing of infinite varieties of sweets; the buying and gifting of new clothes and precious jewellery; and, most important, the reunion of families and friends – Diwali is one of the most joyously celebrated festivals of India.  It is India’s equivalent of Christmas in the West.

 The significance of Diwali is manifold, and there are as many symbolisms as there are cultures inIndia.  The two most important stories may loosely be termed the north Indian and south Indian. 

 In northern India, Diwali is celebrated as the victorious return of Lord Rama to his rightful throne in Ayodhya after 14 years of unjust exile.  It symbolizes the triumph of the forces of light, i.e., truth and justice over the forces of darkness, i.e., deception and greed.  Diwali follows within a few weeks of Dussehra, the festival celebrated across north India as symbolic of the destruction of the demon king Ravana by Lord Rama as a prelude to his return to Ayodhya.

 In south India,  the story of Deepavali has a powerful king Mahabali at its centre.  Bali was a great and wise king, famed for his fabulous generosity; it was said that nobody who came to Bali with a request ever left empty-handed.  But Bali’s arrogance and complacency arising out of is own reputation proved to be his undoing.  So drunk was he on his own fame that God – Maha Vishnu – felt compelled to come down to earth to teach a lesson in equanimity and humility.  Taking the form of a poor midget Brahmin who approaches Bali with a timorous request for just three paces of land, God demonstrates to Bali the folly of arrogance which arises out of a false sense of self and ignorance of one’s place in the cosmic scheme of things.  In gratitude, Bali prays that his lesson be commemorated by the annual lighting of ‘rows of lamps of wisdom and awareness ’ to  dispel the darkness and futility of self-delusion that can entrap even the most accomplished of persons.      

 In Rajasthan, Diwali is the most important publicly celebrated festival for several additional reasons.  The day following Diwali marks the beginning of the traditional new year for the people of Rajasthan.  It is also the beginning of the new financial year for the trading and business communities that dominate the regional economy of Rajasthan.  Following a grand puja (dedication) to the Godess Lakshmi – the godess of wealth and prosperity – businesses and shops open their new account books.  Throughout the Diwali week shops and markets remain open,  entire market areas are festooned with colourful decorations, sweet shops spill out onto the road, and textile and jewellery shops lay out their choicest wares to tempt customers.  It coincides with the agricultural calendar -  the new harvest has just been taken in, and there is ready cash in people’s hands.

At Savista, every electric light on the property is on for this evening.  We have also lit oil lamps all around the pool, at the gates, all through the Eastern Court, and at various points across the grounds.  Against the dark of the moonless sky – Diwali is always on a no-moon night – the flickering lamps have imparted a magic to the property.   All of Savista’s staff received gifts of clothes, sweets and cash. Those of the staff who live at Savista are wearing their new clothes and preparing to set off fire works, and those who live in their own homes in the nearby villages – mostly women – are enjoying their holiday, wearing their new saris and sharing with their families the sweets that they carried home. Tomorrow their brothers will visit them and share in the feast that their sisters will have prepared for them, for Diwali is also an occasion for siblings to renew their relationship. 

photo taken by Jeremy Fritzhand

About a month ago we had two lovely visitors from the U.A.E. come to stay at Savista. And from our first meeting, they clearly expressed interest in textiles, even sharing with us pages torn from a magazine highlighting the beauty of authentic textiles of Jaipur. The couple was most interested in purchasing textiles, less interested in witnessing the process (entirely understandable on a short trip to Jaipur).  So we shared our knowledge of the best shops to go hunting for authentic Jaipur textiles, told them a little but about our relationship with the neighboring block printing town of Bagru, and sent them on their way.

The two came back exhausted loaded with shopping bags, and at some point during that day asked to hear a bit more about Bagru.  Our block printing workshops.  And our half day tours to the printing workshops.  Bagru, only 8 km from Savista, is home to artisans of the Chhipa community who are renowned for their style of hand block printed cottons.  They have kept this beautiful tradition – using mostly natural fabrics and vegetable based dyes – alive in Bagru for at least 350 years. The long life of this craft is attributable to its prime natural environment.

Considering that Jaipur is known for its history, architecture and, one must not forget the crafts using precious stones, gold and silver, leather, textiles, etc. we expect many of our guests to have made a note whether mental or in their travel books that these are the things to see or buy while in the Jaipur area. This very reasonable notion encouraged us to strengthen our relationship with our friends in Bagru, hoping to bring the interested parties directly to the source of block printed textiles.

The men and women of the Chhipa community produce beautiful meters of fabric day in and day out, without much of a notion of where their fabric will be going and what it will become. Their products are sold at a distance from the environment in which they are produced, and visitors who come to buy textiles in Jaipur do not get to see the hard work, time and care that goes into each meter of fabric.  So, the half day tours and the block printing workshops were created by Savista – working with a few select artisans of Bagru – to showcase this beautiful art form.

Now, our couple from the U.A.E opted for the half-day tour to Bagru. It was long enough to see each step of the process: from the carving of the block, to the dyeing of the fabric, the block printing, the drying,  and examples of the final product in various styles. Of course, no length of fabric can be chosen, a block carved, fabric dyed, printed, possibly dyed again, maybe even printed on once or twice more, dried and sold, within a half day time-frame. And because of the natural time constraints built into the process, our guests taking the tour to Bagru get to visit the Chhipa community, see the carving of the block in one shop, the dyeing in another home/workshop, etc. etc.

This tour opens up many types of opportunities: the opportunity to see a community beyond its bazaars, with a local at hand to answer questions. The chance to see workshops of many different shapes and sizes, as well as varying printing techniques such as Dabu:  printing with mud such that further layers can be printed atop and the mud can be washed away leaving negative space. And, finally, the opportunity to see the finished work of a master printer, and share a cup of chai with him.

I hope that you have enjoyed the photos of our Bagru trip and should you want to learn more about our half day trips to Bagru or blockprinting workshops, please visit: http://www.savista.com/block-printing.html or contact us at: info@savista.com

The rains have been particularly bountiful in Jaipur this monsoon season.  And Savista and its environs have benefited greatly from nature’s generosity.

On Tuesday September 6, the sixth day after Ganesh Chaturthi, we decided to go in search of a water body in which to immerse our Ganesha – the turmeric representation of the god of auspicious beginnings that had been sanctified in our puja just a few days earlier.

We did not have to go far.  Less than 20 km from Savista stretched the brimming reservoir of Hingonia.  There was water for as far as the eye could see.  We drove along a winding country road  that took us through green fields and little villages.  We passed by men in white tunics and dhotis, colourful turbans, gleaming earrings, and luxuriant moustaches who pointed to the road ahead, until we stopped in astonishment at the largest expanse of water any of us has ever seen near Savista.

And here is a beautiful classical south Indian rendering of the popular composition Vathapi Ganapthim Bhaje in the raga Hamsadhwani, on the guitar.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8faakv_34

A few posts have been piling up here at Savista. One on Eid, another on Ganesha. So we hope that you will welcome them like a well meaning belated birthday card, a chance to celebrate for another day, to savor the sweetness a little bit longer…..

Here at Savista we pride ourselves on our commitment to an environmental ethic. Over the past few years our sustainability initiatives have been big and small, some only discernable to the critical eye, and others in plain sight. This list includes the decision to paint the roof white in compliance with the albedo effect, solar water heaters and a chemical-free freshwater pool that also waters the garden and recharges the aquifer. We have not plastered the place with Reduce, Reuse, Recycle signs and buzzwords as one would if these measures were in accordance with a fad, but have instead incorporated these environmentally friendly measures into the lifestyle of Savista, quietly installing low-flow shower-heads, dual flush toilets, CFL light bulbs and energy conservation appliances that are here to stay.

So, what next?  A very important component of one’s carbon footprint after energy, meat consumption and transportation is WASTE! It seems that it is time to look closely at our waste, and ask some important questions. Where did it come from? What is it made of? And when we are done with it, where should it go?

Up until this point we have composted our organics and recycled our bottles and cans, but because the production of non-organic waste is so minimal, disposal has never been a pressing issue. But even with limited production, these remain important questions and often times lead to positive self-reflection, an inquisitive mind and creative action.

STEP ONE: SORTING. We have created a space where we can sort our waste into the following categories: plastics, metals, electronic waste, paper, cardboard, batteries and light bulbs. The categories will expand as time goes on, but for now this is all that we have come across.

Responsibly disposing of one’s waste becomes much more difficult in a rural location. In the city, one can feel pleased to have sorted out recyclables and place them outside to be collected. The process is not as simple in the countryside. Waste is typically burned or buried here. And only that which one receives a return on will be collected, but what about the rest? Burying toxics such as light bulbs, batteries and electronic waste in an unlined pit can lead to chemicals leaching into the groundwater. And burning of such toxics is another type of harmful pollution to the air and lungs.

STEP TWO: RESEARCH. That brings us to step two. As we come to the end of our products lifecycle, we will sort and hold these materials while research as to their proper disposal continues. This is where we stand currently, in the research phase, having taken a pledge to dispose with our products properly (step three), to change our purchasing patterns (step four) to limit waste accumulation, and to focus on reusable items (step five).

There will be plenty to come on this subject, look out for further posts showcasing Savista’s progress as well as some tips to a more environmentally responsible lifestyle!

For more food for thought, check out: www.storyofstuff.com ! Annie Leonard does a wonderful job of putting the lifecycle of our products into perspective: harvesting materials to disposal, enjoy!

Although it’s been a while since our last post, Savista continues to thrive in the countryside of Rajasthan. The contrast of the white haveli with the green foliage which surrounds it is strikingly beautiful, and gives one a sense of peace and tranquility. It is for this reason that we want to invite you to come celebrate the Independence Day and Ramadan Eid holidays, in what many have called their home away from home. Continue reading →

At long last, we finally decided to bite the bullet and take Savista into the digital age with this new blog. Why a blog? Because our guests more often than not come as strangers and leave as friends, and we’ve been looking for ways in which to stay in touch with our growing community. And as anyone who’s visited us knows, we thoroughly enjoy a good conversation, sharing our own experiences of travel in India as well as new projects and happenings underway at the estate. Continue reading →