Nirona, a less explored place of Kutch. Less explored but not less beautiful. Actually, what happens is we are becoming habitual to visit all the famous and known places, but in that quest these unexplored places stays left behind; so we miss to discover the actual magic of the culture and tradition of the particular place. As the saying goes,"Go the extra mile, it's never crowded".
So in this post I will show you the three folds of Nirona:
Rogan Art
Copper bells
Lacquer Art
Firstly, the most prominent and beautiful Rogan Art. Do you feel that you have heard this word "Rogan" somewhere?? Yes! it's the very same art piece name, that India's honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi gifted to the US President Mr. Barack Obama. The Rogan Art is generations old art; it has changed it's forms over generations but the basic concept remained the same. So what actually this art form is?
This is the art which is done on cloth, and it is mostly known as "TREE OF LIFE", because the designs done in this art are represent a tree. The colors used are totally natural made; Castor oil is heated in jungles (as oil produces very bad odor when heated) and after some days the remains(jelly like substance) are put into water. After the jelly is produced, natural substance are added to it to form different colors; for example coal or iron rust is used to produce black color. Then when artist want to use the color, he takes the jelly on the palm as melts it with the help of body heat on the palm. Then after the strings of colors are drawn with the help of metal stick and the strings of colors are manipulated into different shapes as required by the artisan. The cloth is half folded before painting, so that the outlines of the shapes can be mirror imaged on the other side of the cloth. The detailing work is done after the outlines become dry, and they aren't mirrored.
The video below shows how it's done:
https://youtu.be/gFdxmYopwsY
Now, the second fold of nirona is Copper bells, this is also an generations old art. The artisans cuts out the MS metal sheet and molds into the desired shape of bell. The fascinating thing about these bells are that there are no welds in making this bells. When the copper bell is made it is loaded into the furnace for heating it and than it is dipped into solution of 5 metals. The designs and carvings are made in bells to give them unique voice and chimes. As Kutch is a district with many villages, this bells are tied around the cow's neck, so that owner can identify their cows. These are also used as wind chimes.
See the video below to know how these are made :
https://youtu.be/DaDgB_Ktlhw
The third and final fold of Nirona is Lacquer art. This is the art where a piece of babool wood is attached to handmade lathe and a piece of lac gives color to the wood due to friction.
Watch how it is done in the video below:
https://youtu.be/wUGfUrURGvc
This is not it. The main art of Nirona is hospitality of the people. You can visit Nirona without any travel guide and though you can enjoy there and get every information. Everyone is so friendly and will provide you with history of their art and they will also show you the live demo.