While we live in a time when capitalism and commercialisation are at their peaks, there are a handful of people who still take pride in being social advocates for traditional arts and craftsmanship. When we met Anar Patel (founder of Craftroots and Gramshree), she floored us with her simplicity and impeccable knowledge of Indian arts and crafts.
A self-proclaimed “passionate social worker” and a dedicated handloom supporter, Anar has spent almost two decades in reviving some of the finest crafts of Gujarat through her initiatives. While she spoke extensively about her work with the artisans, we couldn’t help but wonder how does the daughter of Gujarat’s former CM, Anandiben Patel, still manages to stay rooted without getting affected by her powerful political family background. The credit goes to her mother’s strict upbringing as she tells us and recalls, “My mother used to teach in a school when my brother and I were young; we had a much-disciplined childhood. In class eighth, my mother asked me to teach slum kids and learn about the difficulties they faced. That changed my outlook completely and I decided to do something for the marginalized strata of the society. I decided to be a social worker because I am a firm believer of Gandhiji and Vinoba Bhave’s philosophies of life. Through my work, I want to empower the artisans and craftsmen of our country so they get the dignity and respect for their exceptional talents.”
As one would assume that with so much support from the local community and coming from a renowned political family, she might have political ambitions for future, but Anar dispels all the rumours and says, “My family is an advantage, since I always got respect wherever I went. I met all kinds of people through my background, and people were willing to work with me without asking too many questions. I recently organised the Sabarmati festival and everyone assumed that I would contest at the election. Honestly, I don’t have any political ambitions. If someone offers me a ticket, I might think about it, but on my own, I will never go for it. My brother and I, we don’t want to get into politics. Politics is very tricky, there are a lot of games that people play; more than the opposition, there are fictions from within the party and I don’t have that bent of mind, so I would like to stay away from it.”
Anar, who recently inaugurated the three-day long India Design Confluence (IDC) 2018 in Ahmedabad, credits the weavers for teaching her patience and how to focus in life. She says, “Like most people, I was also an impatient soul and wanted an instant result. However, when I worked with the weavers, they taught me that weaving is just like meditation and I spent hours looking at them working endlessly without losing focus. In the year 2001, when Kutch suffered an earthquake, I went and stayed there for a year. I saw amazingly beautiful products, but the artisans lacked marketing skills. I had just finished my MBA from Nirma University, and I wanted to do something for them. I think when we do anything superficially, it doesn’t sustain for long. And so despite my strong background, I took the longer route and started working with the craftsmen. Both Gandhiji and Bhaveji spoke about experimenting in life because without trying no one would know their true potential; and when there is no satisfaction, there is no spiritual connection. At the end of the day, what do we all want? Peace and happiness. And this work gave me that joy.”
Anar feels that now that she has laid a solid foundation for craftsmen, and so the next level in her plan is to initiate a university for crafts in India to solidify the ecosystem. “In our country, we have so many kinds of crafts, but there is no way to impart that knowledge to the next generation. There is no craft’s university or dedicated course to promote handiwork anywhere in the world; and since we are a country with a rich heritage, we should create something like that to bridge the gap between the traditional crafts and technology. If we’ll have well-equipped labs, research centres, and students who want to learn more about these things – the industry will grow. For example, we worked with natural dyes extensively and it used to leave colour, so we took the dyes to the lab and got a technology to work with it. Similarly, in our state, farmers started growing Kala cotton again and we revived it in just two years after we introduced the long-staple variety. Unlike BT cotton, it doesn’t destroy the land, so it was a win-win for all. We need more places where we can look into such matters and innovate. There should be mandatory craft courses in all design and fashion colleges to promote it.”
Apart from her social work, Anar also loves to paint and cook in her free time. Speaking about her family, she says, “I live with my husband Jayesh and we have a daughter Sanskruti. I met my husband in an ashram and he has been the biggest support in my life. My daughter is currently studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, New York. She is an aspiring actor and wants to try her luck in Bollywood. She has an interest in handloom, but wants to pursue acting full time. She recently got a tattoo ‘Jayana’ as a combination of both her parents’ name and wants to go by that name in her acting career. As she is not living with us currently, I spend my leisure time in painting and reading spiritual books. Currently, every alternate day, I run 10-12 km at the Sabarmati Riverfront as I have been reading a lot about fitness and nutrition lately. I love to cook for people, and when I get time, I cook all kinds of vegetarian food for everyone.”
As she now works with artisans from states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and more, her wardrobe is a treat for handloom lovers. She mentions that she loves to collect Patola saris, hand-woven Tangaliya shawls, and Shibori saris. “The best thing about handloom products is that you cannot create two identical products, so every piece is unique. In India, I like designers who are connected to crafts. I like Ritu Kumar’s block printing, Bandej by Archana, Raw Mango, Anita Dongre, Anju Modi and such labels that promote Indian crafts. For me, the handwork by an artisan is as good as a couture piece. In India, we still call it as heritage, but if we get glamorous ambassadors to promote the crafts, it will soon be falling in the couture category. I think we need to talk about these things and put names of the artisans so their work gets recognised.” Her dedication towards the artisans and the native crafts of India stems from her deep-rooted respect for handiwork, and she believes that the work of skilled craftsmen should get credit wherever the credit's due. Her organization presently works in eight states of India, and she calls herself a lifetime volunteer towards the cause. Speaking about her contribution in changing the mindset and uplifting the craftspeople, she says, “One of the most important things we have been trying to do is to change the mindset of the people towards artisans. They are not bechare (helpless). They are artists who spend hours on handlooms to weave beautiful textiles and we shouldn’t bargain with them for petty deals. Earlier, government only invited them on promotional platforms, which did not help them in anyway. When I started working with them, the first thing that I wanted to change was the attitude of sustainability instead of providing relief. We wanted to enable them to start their own business and the biggest challenge was to change the mindsets of the artisans, as they were apprehensive to work with new materials. For example, Patola sari is a heritage product, but it doesn’t sell throughout the year because it is costly. We asked them to make borders or dupattasinstead of sari, so more people could afford it, but most of them refused. We spent a lot of time convincing them and so many of our initial workshops were failures and nobody showed up. It took us a long time to bring the change among the weavers and the farmers who have now understood the importance of self-sustenance, instead of looking for the government help.”
