After setting the silk threads in the warp, she pulls the wooden bar to tighten the fabric, which will come out as a silk sari in the next five days. As she pulls the bar, her legs pedal mechanically on the pedal and her eyes bulge attentively.
“For instance,” she says as she takes a quick break to stretch her arms, “my two sisters have already finished their graduation. Unlike me, they are still unemployed, though.”
Bhawani came to Kala Guthi two decades ago when she was still a teenager and joined the textile class. After the government gave the Kala Guthi the status of the first textile and ceramics school of Nepal two years back, Bidari enrolled in a four-year textile course which will be equivalent to Intermediate level recognized by the CTEVT.
“I receive 2,000 fellowship Rupees every month, apart from lunch and bus fare” she beams.
She is one among 32 students – 20 residential and the rest day scholars – who are taking textile courses at the Kala Guthi presently.
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The Nepal Srijanatmak Kala Guthi is a trust, and now a school, which was established 25 years ago on the initiative of Urmila Upadhyay Garg. But according to her, it had started long before that, when Tulsi Meher Shrestha – the Gandhi of Nepal – persuaded her father to take her to study at the Gandhi Ashram in Wardha, India.
Upadhyaya studied in Wardha since she was nine. During those times, her family was in exile in Varanasi, and her father was a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi. So, even before she attended her school, she was already impressed by the Gandhian philosophy.
“It was there I understood the value of giving,” Upadhyaya smiles. It was also there the first woman fine artist of Nepal learnt to weave. “From the beginning, I loved weaving. I also became more proficient at it.”
The generous ambience of the ashram planted the seed of generosity in her from the very beginning. After completing her diploma in arts from the J J School of Arts in Bombay (Mumbai), Upadhyaya exhibited her first solo exhibition in Nepal in 1959.
Unexpectedly, B P Koirala, who was then Prime Minister, visited the exhibition. He was so moved by the displays that he invited King Mahendra to the show, who bought all her paintings.
It was with that money she went to Paris to study arts.
“Time was different then,” she remembers. “Even politicians were interested in art.” In fact, B P Koirala admired her works so much that he asked her to gift one to him. “He kept that one with him even during his imprisonment.”
She was also so moved by Mahendra’s generosity that she decided to give her life for Nepal. The result: the Nepal Srijanatmak Kala Guthi.
When Canada-based mathematician Krishna Garg proposed to Upadhyaya for marriage, she accepted it on two conditions – first, they wouldn’t have children; and next, they would work for Nepal. Garg is a retired professor of Mathematics from the University of Alberta.
Garg accepted, of course. During her stay in France, she met Pablo Picasso and learnt etching from the famous English artist William Hayter.
“Hayter was another person who taught me that art was more about helping people than selling them,” she says, remembering the incident when Hayter gifted her his two precious paintings on her marriage. “These are,” he told her, “for those days when you’ll run short of money.”
After moving to Canada with her husband, she saved all her earning for Nepal. The fund was later named Society of Friends of Nepal (SOFON). Presently, the Guthi is also funded by the Wild Rose Foundation of Canada, which gives it matching funds. “We’ve also received technical aid from India and Japan,” Urmila says.
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SC upholds Pashupati Mahasnan Pota Guthi land as non-transferab...
Currently, the Kala Guthi has extended its silk farm on ten ropanis of land in Lubhu, south of Patan. According to Nasir Ahmet, the famous Benarasi textile artist, who has been teaching at the Guthi since 1981, at least two kilograms of silk thread is produced at the Guthi everyday.
From one cocoon, around 1,600 meters of silk thread can be extracted.
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“Before, we used to weave silk threads with hands, but now we have two reeling machines,” informed student Santoshi Khadka, who is with the Guthi for the last six years.
At present, the Guthi has 50 handlooms, most of which were brought form Varanasi. The Guthi also has a hundred-inch-long loom, which is the biggest of its kind in Nepal. Besides textiles, the Guthi is also famous for pottery, woolen macramé, silk, cotton and woolen garments, sweaters and other handicrafts.
Although she has already mentored over 10,000 Nepali trainees and students, Urmila still feels she can do a lot more. “Every artist must have a pain in her heart,” she says, “and maybe this is mine.”
Upadhyaya is currently in Nepal for the last six months for a grand exhibition which started from March 28.
