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Pitha - Rice cake

Pitha is the common name used in Assam for rice cake. The Boro pitha is traditionally prepared during the harvest festival. In earlier times indigenous varieties of rice were used for making pitha. Each household has its own way of making pitha/ rice cakes and it is generally women who engage in such activities.  Now-a-days with indigenous rice varieties slowly disappearing, hybrid rice varieties are used for making pitha; and pitha is no longer related with festivities alone.

Grazing the Grounds

Suman Bai Goojar is a resident of Puraani Basti, one of the oldest settlements in the town of Pipariya, Madhya Pradesh. Hailing from the semi-nomadic pastoral Goojar community, hers is a narrative where fields are connected to pastures and communities to spaces. A snippet from our recorded conversation:

Moving Roundabouts

“The tea and snack joints at Mangalwara Chowk have always been very integral to the town of Pipariya. During the 1950’s and 60’s, there were two very popular joints here. One of them was called ‘Bharat Hotel’ and belonged to a Sindhi fellow. Sindhis came to this town after partition and set up small scale confectionary shops. The other one was run by Mr. Shyam Jaiswal. These joints were the hubs of all the political and social gossip in the town.

‘Hliang-Phi Jaothi’

Each time when Hin Lad Nai villagers work on their farmland – either alone or with their friends and families, they usually practice the ceremony called ‘Hliang-Phi Jaothi’. In Hliang-Phi Jaothi they offer some of their food to the guardian spirit or ‘Phi Jaothi’ before having lunch.  In practicing the ceremony, they first prepare some food on banana leaves, they pray and call on Phi Jaothi to eat the food. The eldest man from each household does this this process. He holds the rice pack (made from banana leaves), and lays it on stump before squatting down and praying.

Rice Varieties in Myanmar

The different varieties of rice are differentiated on the basis of their qualities, nutrition, features, and taste. Though there are many varieties of rice, based on my interview, Paw San still takes the first place. The rice shop owners that I talked to said that Paw San is the best seller althoug its 'price is a little high'. Mostly, people from the middle class consume it. But Shwe Bo, Zi Yar and many others are moslty used by the Hta Min Sai, the restaurants, because of their low price and suitability for their business. 

Libraries of a Town

Bhagat Singh Library and Cultural Centre (1983-1990) was an initiative of a grassroot organisation called Kishore Bharti in Pipariya, Madhya Pradesh. The Library/Centre focused on creating social awareness through reading, writing and community based activities. While the library started as a space for all the sections, a need was soon felt to add a separate slot to encourage women readers. In the following excerpt, Rekha Vyohaar, a resident of Pipariya, shed light on how the setup was significant to the women at the local level:

Multiple Currency Transactions among Traders along the Togo/Benin Border

The traders here accept all the three West African Currencies for transactions (CFA, Niara, Ghana Cedis). Irrespective of whichever currency a buyer offers, the shopkeepers are able to convert and give change when required. It is interesting how they (shopkeepers) are not limited in anyway among themselves despite the physical border restrictions.

Bakhri (2)

Bakhri II
 
The community Bakhri (Granary) at Thuribari, Kokrajhar, is one of the few such Bakhris seen nowadays in Assam. Community Bakhri is representative of a communal living and sharing. Located in an open village space just opposite the Brahma temple, these three small raised mud houses look ordinary but the significance and relevance of them in Thuribari community life is clearly visible from the well-maintained condition of it. 

The Making of a Street Market

The Shadipur Shani Bazaar, known for the cheap and affordable stitched and pre-stitched fabric it offers, is one of the main attractions of the Shadipur neighbourhood. Spread entirely by word of mouth, the low prices at the market attracts customers from other parts of West Delhi, India. Hi-end boutique owners from Karol Bagh come here as well to buy fabric and bling to accessorise their products.

According to Bobby, a resident who sells children’s clothes in the market,

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