Calico Museum

Yesterday we made it to the Calico Museum. We went with Vernell and John. As you may recall, this is the place that we tried to go to a couple of weeks ago but they wouldn't let Anna in. This time we arranged to have Grace watch Anna for us. I was a little bit surprised at how nervous I was to leave Anna with Grace. It took me off guard because I have left Anna with people before and for longer but I guess this time it's the first time in India (although Anna knows Grace and her daughters) and I didn't have any formula or milk to give them. She has been eating solids but so far I will often feed the cereal or whatever and then nurse her to kind of top off the tank. I did send the rice cereal and told Grace how much we often give her. As we were driving over to the museum I remembered that I had wanted to tell her to call us if there were any problems but then I realized that if there was a problem, Grace would just take care of it and wasn't likely to call us.

The front gate where the guards tell you not to take in cameras, phones, bags or babies (all of these pictures are from the internet).

While I was a bit nervous when we first dropped her off, I calmed down and was able to enjoy the museum. We were a little late getting there (the tour took off just as we were signing the book so we had to catch up) and only three of the four of us could go in (not an age thing this time, they only let in 20 people at a time and there were already 17). Fortunately, John had been in before so he enjoyed taking a walk around the block and napping at the guard's station right by the front gate (they wouldn't let him just wander the grounds).

A mosaic terrace. Jason also really appreciated the railing.

The museum is in a really cool old building. In fact, Jason probably spent more time looking at the building than at the fabrics (embroidery isn't really his thing). There was a ton of stuff in it too. Every room was stuffed and the tour guide was kind of rushing us along. This was partly so they could turn the lights off. Because you have to be so careful with old fabric, they would turn the light on just before we entered a room and then off after we all left. The rooms were arranged by state which would each have it's own focus or technique that they would specialize in such as tye dye (way more sophisticated than what hippies did), bead work (kind of reminded me of some Native American stuff), embroidery, 3-D designs (like little triangles that popped off or bulging eyes on the people in the designs), and dying individual strings multiple colors and making the design that way.

An example of the embroidery work. Gujarat is also known for the little mirrors they like to add to the fabric.

Half way through the tour, we went into a second building where they had not only fabrics but also statues, book pages, and information on how the things were made. Jason pointed out that this might have been more interesting at the beginning so he could have a better appreciation for what went into creating the fabrics (obviously he has never quilted or done needlepoint). The whole tour was two hours which was quite a lot and even I was a little fabric-ed out by the end of it.

Another example of what they had.

As we were walking back to the reception area through the gardens, one of the peacocks that was walking around a grassy area earlier decided that now was the time to display. He has his tail fully extended and he was right in the middle of the grass and walking back and forth and turning around. It was amazing. I don't know that I have ever seen a peacock in person doing that. It reminded me of the birds of paradise from the Planet Earth movie series (on the rainforest part - I highly recommend them all).



After the museum we went to lunch at a place called Barbeque Nation. Vernell was needing meat and there's nothing quite like an all-you-can-eat meat buffet. We ate ourselves silly and went home and had Grace bring Anna to us. She had had a good time and was sufficiently happy to see me. Grace had made a rice and dal (lentil) dish for Anna rather than make the rice cereal and gave us the leftovers. Then we all took naps. It was a great day all around.