Pandey’s hand block prints bloom after PM visits stall
Jaipur: Awdhesh Kumar Pandey, a traditional hand block printer of Sanganeri print has become a celebrity after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited his stall at the ongoing Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit -2024 in Jaipur on Monday.
The scribe did not get time to speak to him as visitors were thronging his stall and were clicking selfies with him and taking photos of the block print that Modi printed on a cotton cloth.
Taking out time, Pandey said, “Modi visited my stall and inquired about the hand block prints, which is 300 year old art. He asked for minute details and had a discussion about this hand block print for a few minutes.”
“I showed him by printing a design on the cloth, and Modi was so enthused that he too wanted to print and he printed a design which is 150 year old,” he informed.
Today people are visiting his stall and inquiring about the Sanganeri print and about the products. He said the photo of Modi printing a design with his own hands has been covered by all the newspapers and channels. This would certainly give a boost to the Sanganeri print across the world. People have become quite enthusiastic to know about it.
His son Kusiram Pandey, who is a designer, makes designs by carving on the wood. Modi himself printing a block print on a cloth has encouraged his art, which will certainly give a boost, Awdhesh added.
He said soon global demands will increase resulting in an increase in exports. Awedesh said that delegates from Denmark and Japan have shown their interest in working with him.
Awdhesh said that this hand block printing sector has a huge employment opportunities and with the increase in demand, the employment will increase.
He said that the blocks are made of gurjan and sagwan wood on which intricate designs are carved, which are mostly flowers and leaves. The cloth used is superior quality cotton and colours are made from natural colours. For black colour, which is called syahi, it is made by fermenting ghode ka khurnal (horse shoe), gud (jaggery), water and gum of babool tree and is left to ferment for 30 days. Similarly, the red colour, which is called begar, is made from geru mitti, gum of babool tree, fitkari and water and colour is ready in two days.
On one last question about differentiating between Sanganeri print and Bagru print, he said Sanganeri print has outline, while it is not there in Bagru.
