Amidst the windy breeze and implacable drizzles, Mehar didn’t want to go home. Playing with the mud and clay became her cherished pastime in this salubrious weather.
“What were you doing outside in this weather?” shouted Shyam Lal.
“Papa, I was just playing with mud and clay. Look at what I made today.,” said Mehar with extreme delight. She was always so complacent about all the little crafty things she made.
“Papa, I want to learn pottery too. I don’t understand, why you left it? Isn’t it so satisfying to make all those beautiful things with your own hands.”
Little did Mehar comprehend the miseries of the terracotta potters who lived in the streets of her town.
Creative. Artistic. Prolific.
They knew the art form better than anyone else around. However, the demand of terracotta products shot down like crazy, leaving all these artists wage-less for months.
How could Shyam Lal explain her daughter that pottery no longer helped earn a living and the art form was slowly dying.
Mehar was adamant. She wanted to know why such a winsome art could be left to just die and vanish in the past.
Although just 15, she understood every word that her father had to say about the journey of potters and the downfall of terracotta pottery.
“I don’t know what to say, papa. Can we not do something to change this? Anything at all?” uttered Mehar in sadness.
“I have spent months trying to save it, and there’s nothing I could do. There’s nothing any of the potters here could do.”
“But, what if I follow what I love to do and try to uplift the art form?”
Shyam was unsure. He knew no one wanted to buy terracotta products anymore.
The father and daughter had a profound conversation where Shyam explained how people fail to realise the numerous benefits terracotta has over all other alternatives that are used by people nowadays.
Mehar had so much regard for all the potters in the colony and the art form. She understood that pottery was a tough row to hoe but the beauty of it overweighed the challenges. Having your hands over the baked clay and shaping them into various shapes and sizes was a feeling like no other for Mehar.
Shyam helped her. Helped her in every possible way to learn the art and skills. Mehar spent months exploring the baked clay and every time, there was always something new that she wanted to create.
Years passed by and Mehar still had the patience and the determination to learn more. Finally, she completed her school and by then, she had managed to excel the art of pottery with the will to revive the ethnicity that existed a hundred years back.
Initially, she set up hotspots around the town and talked to the potters who were willing to contribute and bring a much-needed change. Mehar collaborated with NGOs around and held awareness campaigns. She managed to form a small team with her friends to support the cause.
Within a period of 3 months, there was a significant change, all the households locally started using terracotta products.
It was finally time to step out of the shell. In the beginning, she paid weekly visits to Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata and started educating people about how these products could be more beneficial and by this, the society could also give back to the culture and save the dying art form.
Shyam Lal was proud of her. He never thought that his little girl would wish to do anything related to pottery and now, she was here making a huge impact PAN India.
So often, we forget to look upon the old cultures and neglect them without realising how it impacts thousands of lives.
It’s still not the end.
Appreciate old art forms. Revive the ethnicity. Bring back terracotta products
-Saanya, Shubhi, Prakhar