How did all this start?
I am often asked, so here is my story.
I was a single parent and I was a Waldorf/Steiner teacher, a
Steiner teacher stays with the same class throughout the primary years.
2003 was the last year with my class and around October my
middle son says “Oh Mum, we’re fine now, you don’t have to wait at the end of
the phone when we are at Dad’s”
I was flabbergasted - what to do with myself? Time to
step away from my class and my kids, time to let them grow up.
After so many years where school and kids had been the whole
focus of my life I was struck the thought “Time to get a life”
For the first time in my life I had a small stash of savings
so I thought “right I have always wanted to go back to Paris or go to Rajasthan,
I can afford Rajasthan”
So I got a passport and a ticket and found myself in
December sitting on a plane flying to India. I freaked out and thought "What have I done?" but with the plane taking off from Sydney it was too late to panic, I
needed to get into it.
I landed in Delhi in the middle of the night in December, it
was cold, dark and ssssooooo strange. I felt like I was in the opening scenes
of the original Bladerunner movie.
It was the old airport in those days, the highway into town
was being built- by hand- at that time. People scurrying around everywhere, up
on the big pylons with welders throwing out sparks against the dark night. Traffic
piled up around a huge bull in the middle of the road.
Eyes like saucers I really wondered what I had done but the
smell seemed so familiar and so home-like, a long lost home. “I must be mad”
was all I could think.
And so my affair with India started….
MADE BY HAND rang
through my mind most days- looking at all the new sights. Meeting artisans and
poking around in people’s workshops, I felt blessed and so in my element. Make
it yourself had always been my mantra.
That first trip I met people like Yaqoob in Udaipur and
learnt about tie and dye, we still visit his workshop and now take classes with
him or his younger son. Raja was only a young lad in those days and now he is a
married man with kids and makes his father so proud following in the family
tradition.
I also met Praveen at this time, he caught my heart and it
started loops of traveling away and back again.
I had the great idea to focus my final exhibition for my Masters
of Visual Arts degree on my experiences in India and in Far West NSW…. It held
a resonance for me and gave an excuse to return.
Talking to friends at the Newcastle Creative Embroiders one
day, some said they wanted to come with me and do like I do, get their hands
dirty.
Well you could have knocked me over, in fact I was just bending down to
pick something up at the time and did end up on my bum!! Haha.
As a teacher, excursions were my favourite thing, so I thought
how hard could it be? And so my first tour started, much research and planning
and in Feb 2006 our first tour was on the road.
I wanted to take people to meet all the artisans I had met
during my travels, to experience visiting their workshops and homes, see the
sites and eat the local food. As much of an immersive experience as I could
organize.
As an artist I knew I was better off when people bought
directly from me rather than through a gallery, I knew people liked to visit
and see my studio. It seemed the right way to organize it for my artisan
friends as well.
I am a compulsive DO-er, getting my hands dirty was the
highlight of my first trip… so a must to include as well.
Local food tells you so much about a place, I love to cook
and always explored the world through my kitchen long before I could hop on a
plane….
Now days I see people using the terms Sustainable Tourism,
Cultural Tourism, it makes me so happy. That is always how I have thought, I
did not realize it would become a “thing” one day and others would do
so too…. Let’s hope it spreads wide 😊
As a kid I remember the first time I set foot in a library,
I had just started school and it was across the road from the pub my father
liked to drink in. Open until 8.00pm it was a blessing because we had to wait
in the car until the pub closed at 10.00pm to go home. They had National Geographic
on the front stand- it was love at first sight.
The world is such a vast and amazing place and waiting to be
explored. I like to read, I am curious and want to know more, bought myself a
set of Britannica
Encyclopaedia on Hire Purchase when I was 16, so I might be
compulsive…. hmmm. The ability to Google is a great thing- I know you have to winnow
the chaff from the grain but info, however acquired has always been like that.
I had lists in my mind of where I wanted to go, knew the map
of the world upside down from a young age and ….
Life got in the way. First son in early 20’s and a single
parent by the time I had 3 kids I felt like Lucy Jordan…. thinking I would
never see the world.
Weird sometimes a door opens.
You can jump and hope to land well…. Who knows what might happen?
Or you can play safe and let the door close.
I have been extremely blessed, yep sure sometimes it has
been a bit tough but I have had the chance to meet many wonderful people,
travel to so many inspiring places and then been able to share it all with others
who like to participate in adventures.
Great stuff.
Happy travels
Change is always a part of life; challenging times call upon you to step up and believe in a good outcome and let it open up.
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