It all started when I happened to see a table-top created from wooden blocks that were earlier used for printing on cloth in Jaipur. I decided to look for block printing units that still printed on textiles. I retraced my steps back to Sanganer, which was known for making handmade paper and block printing textiles, where I had gone as a cub reporter for one of my first assignments. I found that most of the units were not using blocks anymore, but had switched to screen printing, which to my mind doesn’t have the personality of a proper wooden block for there is a mass produced look to the garment.
I remembered how my mother used to mention that Chipiwada in Chandni Chowk was the place where chipas or printers on cloth could be found. In earlier times, these block printers would do kachha printing that could be washed off and the cloth reused was a dear commodity those days. I convinced my maternal uncle, who was ever willing to join me in my unusual escapades, to hunt for chipas way back in 1984. While I was talking to a shopkeeper, an old man, almost bent with age, came up to me and said: “There are no block printers here anymore, but I can show you old blocks.” We readily agreed and followed this man as he wound through some really narrow gallis to an old house where we climbed a steep staircase. By now, our trepidation was growing and so was our nervousness. God forbid if there was a problem of some kind, we would never be able to find our way out of there! But those were relatively innocent times.
Lined up in open shelves were rows of iron tubs with piles of wooden blocks. It was like many lifetimes unfolding: I imagined all those tables laden with cloth and the peculiar sound the blocks would make as the chipas dipped them in colour and pressed them hard on the cloth. There was a plethora of blocks with many colours called datta and other technical names. We asked the old man if we could buy some of the blocks. He was happy to give us the whole lot, as he lamented how his sons had not followed his art. But we took a few and pressed a `100 note into his hand calloused with years of hitting the blocks. He very reluctantly accepted the money.
We happily took our booty home and tried hard to print cloth with all kinds of inks. But nothing actually worked! However, they worked beautifully on paper with poster colours! Years of New Year greetings were created from these blocks! But the magic of the blocks stayed a part of my aesthetic experience. Then that tabletop in a hotel triggered off a deep desire to see block printed textiles.
I found block makers in the outskirts of Delhi who still created blocks and were willing to show me traditional blocks that have fallen into disuse. I decided to create paintings using some of the blocks and later decided to use them to create saris and dupattas for myself. Slowly, several friends started to ask me to create saris for them using specific colours or specific blocks and when gallerist Mahesh Bansal saw me wearing some of my block printed saris, he asked me to create a whole exhibition of wearable art, which he is now being presented as Treyi.
Treyi means intellect and I feel that aesthetics is a combination of head and heart both. Given my propensity for pure fabric, I decided to use my absolute favourite Kanjeevaram silk directly sourced from weavers’ cooperatives in jewel colours and shot colours, where the warp and weft is of different hues. The blocks using pigment colours have been used differently in each work as it is individually created and has a distinct personality. Many of the blocks have calligraphic writing in Hindi and Sanskrit to highlight the importance of the written word, as for me, the written word is sacred and aesthetic at the same time.
Neither my mother, nor my uncle who had accompanied me on the Chipiwada escapade, are alive to see these works, but wherever they are, I am sure they are smiling at my perseverance for once! It is like life coming a full circle.

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com