I feel ill. I ate a pear and an orange earlier. My stomach is slightly upset and I think it is getting worse. I do not know whether to blame fruit; all the greasy street food may be to blame. I have perhaps four times at a restaurant which had a wholesome thali – other than that I have eaten booth-vendor fare.
I am at Sankatha Guest House. I made a reservation with Sanjay a few days ago and there is no room for me. I do not know what is happening but I think I am staying in Sanjay’s room when he returns at 9.
Krishna and his friend are assocated with this place – Krishna speaks a lot of English and Prakesh not so much. I got on Prakesh’s vespa this morning and went about twenty minutes away to what they called the “Muslim area.” I did not see more people in what I consider to be Muslim dress there than most other places.
Faruk, my guide and salesperson there, showed me around. First I saw young boys hammering holes into what I think were cardboard cards. They were 16x3x0.5″ and punched according to patterns on paper.
Next we went into a room with ten looms, two of which were in use. The cards at station one go into the loom at this station. It works by some mechanism similar to Babbage’s difference engine. The loom applies the brocade pattern. There was a boy around watching but perhaps the loom requires some skill to use. Each loom was 4x3x7′ and the room was dark but I saw shiny silver thread. Faruk said it was was silver metal, and that gold was once used but is not attainable anymore.
Next we went into a room with three kettles on top of brick chimneys. One kettle was hot with boiling liquid; this kettle was manned by two young men who each held one end of a pole diameter 3″ length 4″. Around the pole’s center was white string – presumably silk – and as I understood this was a process for bleaching the light-brown natural fiber. The men let the yarn rest in the water fifteen seconds, lifted it for three seconds, then returned it in a cycle. A cold kettle contained dye. I saw piles of raw, bleached, and dyed silk.
Then we went into the silk shop. I think before I visited two in Delhi and one in Varanasi. I asked few questions any of those times, but this time I had plans to ask about getting a Western business suit.
Faruk showed me sets consisting of duvee cover, two pillow cases, and two cushion covers. All were beautiful and much finer than anything similar that I had ever seen, although I do not know this market. More later…
I am unwell and it is late. Perhaps I will look for Sanjay.