What a beautiful poster Either Or has made for their malkha show... and here is what they say:

This winter

Either or
proudly presents

 Malkha,
 The new khadi

As the spirit of Christmas sets in, we bring to you the beautiful
range of the new khadi- Malkha .
Malkha – malmal and khadi is the new fabric that attempts to bring
together a possibility of love and harmony by combining the harmonious
efforts of small scale farmers and weavers with the love of the
unbaled natural cotton, and thereby bringing together a fabric that
brings with it a revolution of a kind.

With prints and plains in natural and non toxic colours, the malkha
fabric resonates the connection with its natural environment

Join us in this festivity and support the birth of a new beginning:
Celebrating with fabrics, saris and duppattas
At Either Or , Sohrab Hall
21, Sassoon road
Pune -411001

1st dec-10th Dec 2012

11.00am-7.00pm

Malkha is now selling online at itokri.com, a step forward in our search for market access... and seems to be doing well too, since stock is to be replenished already...here's the link:
                     
   www.itokri.com/collections/malkha-the-freedom-fabric

Working hard to try and make the February 'Gandhiji's textiles of peace: khadi and malkha' event at Crafts Museum happen...though not much help so far from the Khadi and Village Industries Commission...perhaps we should just do a smaller, simpler event this time, just malkha at the Attic, for example

The Diwali millet sweets mela was not the grand success we hoped it would be, in spite of media coverage in newspapers & by TV channels. Not many customers, though the ones who did come liked what was on offer. Perhaps the traditional taste for millets has been too long forgotten? perhaps the present over-40 generation is too used to our limited diets of rice & wheat, and the young don't have the time or inclination, yet, to try 'health food'? Or perhaps Diwali & the day before were not the right days to hold the mela?

Well the inaugural Nature Bazar at the new premises, Kisaan Haat, Andheria Modh, near the Chattarpur Metro stop in Delhi comes to an end today. It is obviously going to be the new tourist attraction for Delhi residents & visitors, and we look forward eagerly to find out what Dastkar plans to do here in the coming months...

Is indigo toxic? Here is an extract from the paper A Future Vision for Natural Dyeing, 2000:

Ten years ago we tried our hand at indigo production at the village of Tondamnadu near Kalahasti.  The wife of the farmer from whom we leased the land and the tanks told us this story: Ten years before us, somebody tried to make indigo.  At that time chemical fertilisers had newly reached the village, and some sacks of it were stored near the indigo extraction tanks. Three puppies ate some of the fertilizer and became violently ill. One wandered over to the vats where the indigo solution was being beaten, drank some of the indigo froth from the tank, and survived, the other two died.

Oops.. apparently the malkha.in domain has expired... will try & get it up asap.
Meanwhile production is booming at the 4 old centres since we installed generators as a temporary solution to the power problem. Need to start looking into renewable energy possibilities pretty soon.
And the good news is that our natural softening process for the fabric seems to be working! Hope to have it in place in a couple of months, perhaps in time for the Kolkatha show.