Whilst travelling try to meet those involved in making handicrafts, textiles etc. Thanks to NGO Paramparik got contact of Roopraj Durry Udyog, Salawas i.e. about 35 kms from
Jodhpur, Rajasthan. U see Rooraj making a dhurry. Visited Feb 2013. To know what is a Dhurrie Rug Click here
Rooraj home cum workshop is about 6 kms from Salawas, the road to his village was just being laid. The home has three huts like these and a couple of largish covered areas where
he weaves. Happy to see home powered by solar panels. Home is spotlessly clean. To read about Indian Dhurries Click here
This is the hut on left of earlier pic. Temperature inside is atleast 4-5 degrees lower than outside area. During winters hut is warm, in summers it is cool. Note how it is made. Wall till
about 7 feet, bamboo going upwards with a log of wood providing support in centre. Used to store dhurries and sleep.
U see Roopraj (right of pic) and his wife weaving a dhurry. Requires lots of time and effort. Hope the younger generation are willing to put in similar effort and carry forward this
century old tradition. Note the rings and bangles in wife hand. She made some lovely chai (tea) for me.
Most artisans live in interior areas and might not be able to showcase their products hence at esamskriti, we click pics of their products to showcase them. Roopraj may be an exception
because he has earned a name far and wide. Anyway the next few pics show Roopraj, other work. Two largish dhurries.
Asked Roopraj to lay out dhurries of various designs to take this pic. He has 3 sons, one is studying to become an engineer, another is doing B.Com and a third is being trained by him to
make dhurries. Engineer son studies in Jodhpur, handles email, courier and web site maintenance. Roopraj gets orders from Designers in Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi has done well but is still
very humble.
Smaller size dhurries. Was told that agriculture keeps them occupied for 4 months of the year, rest of the time they make dhurries. Roopraj has a telephone landline and offers
to deliver products anywhere in the world thanks to a tie up with DHL. He showed me two packets for the U.S.
Left of pic on a box u see a credit card acceptance machine. Roopraj has the facility to accept Visa and Master card payments. Right of pic below bed in white are parcels ready to
courier. I never expected to him to have a facility to accept payment by credit card. WOW! To buy his products email rooprajdurries@gmail.com, or call 91 9982400416, 91 291 2110065.
I requested Roopraj to take me to similar artisans, did not seem too keen. Here is a worker who undertakes job work for Roopraj in a village i.e. a couple of kms away from his home.
To know about method and materials in dhurry making Click here
On the way out saw sign for another dhurry producer Shri Balaji Durry Udhyog in village Salawas only. U see his work. Contact person is Malaram Mundel whom I could not meet since
he was away. I liked his work though the scale appeared to be smaller than Roopraj. Contacts 91 98280 81488, 91 86968 59176, email malaram43@gmail.com
I loved this design made by Malaram Mundel. To see his short movie on You Tube Click here
Loved these durries of Roopraj. Visit his site Click here