Anil is a large-hearted man, so as soon as he realised our curiosity and drive to learn all things pottery related he offered that we conduct our own “black firing” under his instruction. Anil has a small self-made raku type kiln. It is rectangular with an open top, has a grill between the firebox and … Read more
Our first experience in firing a wood kiln was at Mitraniketan’s pottery unit. It’s something we really wanted to do and hopefully do much more of because we intend to eventually build a kiln of our own and wood fire our own things. The kiln happens to be huge: with a chamber that can fit up … Read more
We barely took notice of a large coarse rubble like mound lying opposite the pottery unit until it was time to make more clay. To our surprise this heap was the raw source of clay. We were clueless about earthenware clay preparation and still do not understand certain aspects. Early one morning, Sumalet directed us … Read more
We travel in pursuit of experiencing cultural influences and traditions on local pottery so that we can learn and develop through these impressions. Mitraniketan’s pottery unit is a traditional Indian pottery and one we were on the lookout to visit. The pottery produces terra-cotta wares for daily Indian life such as drinking water tanks, food … Read more
We were fortunate to be introduced to Mitraniketan and its ethos of self-sufficiency. In addition to pottery and ceramics we are also interested in organic farming so when we discovered the KVK (farm science centre) we took the opportunity to visit the facility. One morning, Mr. Marimuthu the manager of KVK, took us on a … Read more
We met Pushkaran, a retired engineer, after ending our vow of silence at the end of a vipassana course. During conversation, we told him about our pottery journey and in turn he invited us to a project, which has a pottery unit that he was sure we were going to benefit from. The project is … Read more
Three days after we broke our vows of silence we took refuge in paradise: Varkala. After some serious effort, we found a picturesque, solitary, cottage huddled between a coconut grove in the mangrove. We haggled a bit with the rickshaw driver “owner” and he generously agreed to a minimal amount. It was quiet and private … Read more
I had and have times where I didn’t or don’t feel well at all, my mind is running wild, endless thoughts, sleepless nights accompanied with aimless time killing during the day. And so meditation, “relaxing” and “controlling” the mind, sounded really good and familiar to me. It sounded similar to what I tried during the days … Read more
After our arrival in Trivandrum, we realised we had a night to kill until our 10-day Vipassana Meditation Course held in the hilly outskirts. So, we spontaneously decided to spend the night at Kovalam Beach to relax, swim, eat seafood, raw pineapples and mangos and drink beer before our long abstinence. The only “productive” thing we did … Read more