There are now 8 malkha centres working, 4 in Andhra and 4 in other places. Wish we could get regular news from the ones in other states, but communication is not their strong point... we'll share news as we get it.

We're all packed for the Kala Ghoda festival. We have about almost 3000 metres of malkha from our 4 Andhra centres, about half of it in the natural undyed which remains our most popular fabric. The rest is natural dyed or block printed in Sutanu's prints.

The organizers have given us a 5-day slot, from the 6th to 10th of Feb. The venue remains open from 11 in the morning to 10 pm. More later from Mumbai...

Last year when we began production of malkha at one of our new centres, the first production that came off the looms was 500 metres of very loosely woven bleached fabric. We rejected it for sale, and have been selling it off extremely cheaply as defective stuff. Just to try it out we made some nightwear out of it, and found it to be really really comfortable for the summer ...

Mayank Mansingh Kaul and 5 other young designers have banded together to open a store called Afterhours, in Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi. Mayank has seen our fabric and loves it, and we have just sent samples so that the others can see it too... we hope they will like it and have a special malkha show in their new shop, which is opening in a few days, on January 19.

Shalini Subramaniam of Plantation House [Bangalore]writes: "I'm happy to let you know that my store's open and everyone who's visiting the store loves your fabric!!"

Now we have to work on coordinating production and market... we have a huge demand for indigo and red, but we're getting more undyed kora and less of the colours... we're working on it!
And Satish's new loom design is already in production and on order, it is simple but beautiful and is going to be a huge hit in the market.

This month is going to be a busy one for malkha. Firstly we had to move our Hyderabad office and are now in temporary quarters with the prospect of another move soon. Then, preparations are on for the Kala Ghoda Festival in Mumbai early next month, friends, please pass the word round. We had a visit from the Khazana team and were happy to introduce them to the malkha process before the Mumbai show, we hope Khazana will become a regular customer. Sonya Khan of Yellow Leaf is their designer and is used to working with khadi.

Deliveries of orders have been delayed because of transport disruptions in Andhra [both for and against Telengana activists protesting], of yarn to and from the dyeing centres and of the fabric. We apologize to our customers.
... and a peaceful New Year to all