It's night time in Bangalore

(First India trip for skirt mission Oct 2003)

Hi D.J., it is...night time in Bangalore and it's been
raining for few days straight. A novelty. Turns out
it's been paid for rain, I was told Americans are
dropping some chemicals (!???) to bring some much needed
moisture to the area and the Indians are paying a
hefty sum for it. Stranger than strange. Or was that
the burlap bag I saw from my rickshaw that was hanging
on a guys handlebars and brimming over with cut up
chicken legs. Raw. yum.

I love you. I love India. I love Sylvia. And I
haven't even seen Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba yet.

After a rough start landing Tues. night with a
horrible hotel being recommended and escaping in a
rickshaw with my luggage in the rain and jet lag.....

It's day four and great we've accomplished much. I
can't believe the things we've found. Same as before
but with some additions. I first spent two days in
Delhi. Good meeting with factory head. They are
awaiting these new fabrics, there are 3-4 new colors
and trims that look like the most dazzling saris
you've ever seen and will make a very nice addition.
I think women will go crazy for them.
You can't believe how beautiful they are. All are from
the same shop. And price is very close to the same.
WE FOUND THE BEST heavy dark cottons with prints that
are made in the North and they are going to make the
BEST big sack pants, and ...for Fall wear. They give
me a thrill. I am in fact only thrilled. Everything
to date exceeds my expectations.

Will tell you in person the funny coincidence of how
Julia and I first met up via telephone. Literally like finding
a needle in the haystack of India.

In two days we've hunted and gathered and fought with
rickshaw drivers (or she has) she is a feisty little
Argentinan terrorizing unsuspecting little Indian men
with her thick rolling accent and "milihana"s.

Best news in the whole world is...I don't need to go
to the State where the fabrics are made to do my own
sourcing. Sylvia has all along been telling that the
shop where she buys can also make...but I assumed they
were retailers trying to get in on something. Sylvia
does not trust anyone, she stays at the register and
negotiates material per meter down by 5 rupees and
checks all the math. She fights and tells bad shop
keepers she is not foreigner she lives in India (they
charge special prices for Westerners). She is plain
funny. But very good for me. She knows
Bangalore inside and out and all the places. From two
years of footwork. And it is exhausting work under
these circumstances and contrary to my previous
belief, these little sources are a find. The shop where she buys
she actually likes the men. Really, she doesn't like
or trust anyone in India. These men are retailers
with a good business (hand loom is a specialty and
when they get stuff it's gone quickly).
And they are wholesalers, on the second floor a nice
(Indian style) office with clients from abroad
and... Mick Jagger was there with a few of the Stones..
they didn’t know who they were til they were gone!

And thirdly they work direct with weavers. They are three
relatives. One is in charge of sourcing from master
weaver who employs about ...20,000 families in twenty villages in some
State (won't tell exactly where). But they are one of
the ones keeping the art form alive. Hand loom is
becoming more rare. AND these villagers only practice
the ancient art form as taught by old time master
weavers. That is why the product they make is so
good. The German lady client bought up everything
they had in stock and took it to Bombay (for
manufacture). She told them don't let the art form die..
And we sat at end of long day..(had to search other shops for some colors and
fabrics they didn't have) ...we sat upstairs and cut
swatches of all the bundles being sent to Delhi and
wrote instructions and notes and sizes to be made and
meters and....had some tea and I asked a lot of
questions about timings and process and them and their
villages and had some arguments if Sai Baba actually
is God.

But best potential this presents is...simplicity of
supply chain. I can have trims and fabrics made by
same place. And I really like them as people. And
Sylvia has had work experience to test them for one
year.

Back to villagers:
This would mean having them produce all trims and
fabrics. (each village does one color or design, they
have 20 managers one for each village). The way I
described to them I would order and have back up
fabric also made is exactly how they
run....AND we "The Girl Skirt Mission"
could...adopt the villages?? (just my thoughts so far).
They produce for one client enough fabric for 1,000
suits (7,000 meters) a month so...they do have this
capacity.

WOULD love to put pictures of the weavers (women and
men do it) and the dyers and all the people that make
the girl skirts and their story of keeping this
ancient art form alive on ..the website. Maybe build
them a ...small school, toilet, who knows what ...down
the line. THIS is a great idea. It feels really
right. I'm so happy.

So....I write from the internet cafe across from my
nice hotel (sorry was only two nights and only way...to do this right)
It's like a remote island to escape from the toil of the day.
We've done our job for now... tomorrow four days in
Puttaparthi (one dollar a night rate :)...and back in
Bangalore to finish up some more materials they are
holding and more of the pants all next week. I'll be
in Delhi last two days or so to oversee the finishing
and pack my suitcases filled with goodies. This
is...the best yet.

Ms. Sylvia has an Italian women in the ashram bringing
her magazines from Italy for Spring...all is Indian.
She wants Sylvia to make some things for her to sell,
and she was considering it...until I slapped her
skinny thong wearing ass.

She started designing by making her own clothes and
having people constantly stop here and ask where she
bought them.

I'm tired and it's late and I've done Thursday and
you've just started. Feels good to be leading the
world in time. Or at least the USA. Wish I had time
to stand on my head.

XXOO
send me a boo
I'm off to the village and to make a few samples there
to test the new trims and fall at Swami's feet with gratitude.
I don't jest.
Big hugs and Love,
Milijana