Are they wheels of fortune still?

An institute near Belagavi spells out the need for an indigenous craft to survive. Who is listening?

Potters wheels

trainees

You will find machines lying around in the courtyard of the Central Village Pottery Institute run by the Khadi and Village Commission at Khanapur, 25 km from Belagavi.

Located on the banks of River Malaprabha, the centre was inundated with three-feet water during the floods in August this year. This made the electric machines inoperable. Marks of water-logging can still be seen inside, too. These potters’ wheels were to be distributed to the students upon completion of their training programmes. Most have been hence repaired, it’s said.

The institute, established in 1954 to promote pottery, offers courses like Pottery Supervisor, Master Potter, Artisan Course in Pottery, Black Shining Pottery and White Pottery. Student intake for each course is between 5 and 25. Currently, a batch of 10 is learning pottery for a duration of four months, held together by a paltry staff of seven.

Khanapur clay

Khanapur is known for its red clay, which makes it the hotbed of brick manufacturing units, as also the yellow clay, used for making idols. Pots made at the institute use both in a proportionate mixture. The clay is chosen from sites near the river bed and brought to the institute in large quantities. It is then sieved and mixed in large bunds specially created for the same. Mounds of this mixed clay are used to teach the students, who sit on a small stool, with a bucket of water, and operate the electric potter’s wheel, which come with variable speeds. It has replaced the older manual wheel.

The students get a stipend of Rs 1,500 per month. The housing facility is provided on campus while they have to cook their own food. The students have access to an electric wheel.

Suraj Kumbhar, just after 10th standard, has come from the nearby Hukkeri taluk, at the behest of his maternal uncle, who also trained here. Suraj says his uncle makes a grand 2,000 rupees per day at his pottery unit near Hukkeri and sells his ware to customers from Bengaluru and Mumbai. Suraj, too, plans to start one after learning the craft.

Tejaswini Joshi (in her 30s), from Gadhinglaj, in Kolhapur district, is already making lamps using cow dung and clay, and plans to expand her repertoire by learning new methods and designs of pottery.

The trainer, Kumbhar, has been working here for the past 10 years. He demonstrates how a vase quickly takes shape from a small mound. With a few rudimentary tools like a sponge, stick and a piece of brick, he draws lines on the vase and smoothens it.

Beginnings

Started in 1954 in a rented place by the Khadi commission, it was soon taken over by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission in 1957 and was moved to this premises in 1963. Though the institute lacks the lustre it once enjoyed when experts from NID, IIT and IIM lent their expertise, it still remains one of the key centres that imparts scientific pottery techniques to learners.

It has on its premises a testing laboratory, three huge kilns for baking pots, a sales area, a section for terracotta and chinaware, and the main hall where students learn amidst rustic settings.

The three kilns are fired once in 15 days using wood and scrap materials collected from the premise. A 110-feet-tall chimney spews smoke when the kiln is fired. The sales counter offers very little in the form of variety, and the ware is just displayed on the floor. The prices range between Rs 20 and Rs 200.

This is not a centre for sales, we’re informed, but for training. But customers come from Goa, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Hubballi. Subsidised loans, expertise, training, mentoring, exposure to markets and exhibitions are some of the facilities offered here.

Simple, complex & in-between

The students learn basic shapes of pots, from an ashtray to a vase to more complicated ones like animals, figurines, clay stoves, tandoors, idols, abstract figures, lamp shades, face masks etc

Earlier, the institute has provisions to make glazed earthen pots with lids used to store pickles and salt. Alas, not anymore.

A small museum showcases the stuff made here. With the basic knowledge gained at the institute, students go on to set up their own units. It is up to them to bring about innovation in design and aesthetics in something as simple as earthenware. The staff is willing to organise training programmes for women entrepreneurs, school children enthusiastic about the same. As is with several government programmes, this one, too, needs to keep up with the times.