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-------- Original message -------- Subject: From: [email protected] To: goachitra <[email protected]> CC: We will never stop collecting objects that tell the story of our ancestors! When we arrived in Anegundi with our students from Carlton College, Victor kept an eye out for tractors full of sugarcane and big fires, a tell-tale sign of jaggery making season! He was keen to document the extraction of sugarcane juice using traditional methods. Having already witnessed the process in Goa and restored a traditional "Ghanno" built in 1882, Victor was on the hunt for an older, different sugarcane crusher... He asked around Anegundi village, looking for a contact, a connection, which we found in the man running our cottages and someone reliable introduced by our tour operator. He introduced us to Sikandar or Chikki, our auto driver, language translator and guide! We hopped into our auto, the hunt was on! Lush green paddy fields whizzed past, as we travelled deep into the country. We got lost, trailed bullock carts of sugarcane and got lost again, until we heard there was one machine in a small village called Chikkajanthakal. Entering the village with full josh, we were soon disappointed when they told us that the original wooden crushers were discarded, but we did spy a beautiful manual, Post-Industrial, three-drum metal crusher. We explained our cause and tried to persuade them but the owner did not want to sell it because it belonged to their ancestors. Still...we were warmly invited for soft idlis, delicious homemade chutney and kadak chai! By now, our Man Friday, Chikki was completely involved in the hunt! He whispered another lead to us, we hopped into the auto and whizzed away to another farm closeby. There, sitting bang in the middle of the field was the same crusher! Under a sheet of plastic, another one! An old Chacha, Budhaan Saab, warmly greeted us, as Victor explained who we were and why we had come there. Relentlessly, we asked for other objects that would make up the entire set of the crusher. In a little shed we found large, shallow pans, 16ft in diameter! Like treasure hunters, we peered further into the shadows, eyes glinting. Tucked into the bamboo rafters were rusted metal and wood tools of the sugarcane trade, and even a large metal sword! Once again, our excitement was short-lived. The two crushers and the pans belonged to two brothers, and once again, as a matter of family pride, Budhaan Saab politely declined to donate or sell. But our tenacious Victor did manage to ask him for two of the smaller objects, a metal Kathka that was used to scrape the sides of the metal pan and a wooden Gaura used to cut chunks of jaggery as it was formed. At Goa Chitra, the search for objects will always continue! We know that Goa was under the Vijayanagara kingdom in Hampi and we want to collect as many objects from our indigenous heritage to map out similarities or influences. How can you help? Well...Keep your eyes open, stay curious, ask questions and above all, reach out to US! Want to know what else is happening at Goa Chitra? Get social with us! Find us on: FB-Goa Chitra Museum Instagram - @goachitra_official Sent from my vivo smart phone
